[abhijeetveer]

Just had a look at NGK website (NGK Partfinder for Cars & Light Commercial Vehicles), the original plug mentioned for the palio i.e ngk bkr5ez has a default plug gap of 0.8mm and in the manual there is no where mentioned about the plug gap. Maybe I should try to reduce the gap to 0.8mm. Pls have a look at the link guys

[abhijeetveer]

The battery came today. Did multimeter test to check if everything was perfect. All was good. But when I went for a drive later after 15 minutes and switched on the ac this time the ac blew out hot air instead of cold. It worked perfectly 15 mins back. Kept it running for a while and noticed something strange. The cooling was strictly okay but certainly not like before. The vents on the side were blowing outside air and not cool air whereas the centre vents were blowing cool air but not like it should be. Ad in not that cool air. The ac was serviced a month ago during the extensive service. What could be the problem?

[abhijeetveer]

Also noticed some kind of "ssssss" noise coming from under the steering wheel column. Along with some "kich - kich" noise while the car is moving from the front right tyres.
This might sound strange, but when the car is in neutral and standing still the car revs till red line when the accelerator is tapped but when the car is moving and I try accelerating hard it struggles to go beyond 4k rpm. Pls help guys Ive already spent way too much to let go off it. But Im helpless as in spite of spending so much and so many mechanics its still not perfect. Still waiting for the elm327. Fiat ecm software has been downloaded since last 2 months.

[abhijeetveer]

Originally Posted by vijaycool

Clean the MAP sensor too. I really feel that we can start our own independant home garrage for palio's . Mech told me Hazard switch cluster gone bad as sometimes the indicator wont work. I need to fiddle the switch to make indicator work. Today i find out too much dust and sticky oil. Once cleaned well its as good as new. Some where in the wiring is messed up for the blinker indicator in the dashboard.
OT: I have found a way to increase the airflow to the driver and codrive side A/C vent.

Look all around this thread for this specific post. Please tell us how to increase the airflow on the side vents, my side vents even on full speed works like the center ones at 1 speed. summers are nearing

[revvhed]

Hi Guys .. I've just got a Palio 1.2 and was wondering where to give it for servicing in Mumbai. After reading the horror stories with the FIAT A.S.S. on this thread i'm wondering if i should give it to an Authorized Service Center or not. Can any FIAT owners in Mumbai please give me their honest feedback and guidance on this. Is there any FIAT Authorized Service Center in Mumbai that is recommended ? There's not much wrong with the car at the moment, except for a slight power steering sound when i turn left and jerking at low speeds sometimes. I figured it would be a good idea to take it to an Authorized Service Center only so that i could get genuine spares and in the hope that they would be proficient at diagnosing and solving FIAT problems, but after reading Abhijeetveer's experience i'm very scared lest they ruin a perfectly good car. FIAT gurus please help.
Thanks in advance.

[vijaycool]

Abhi: I wont nit pick those minor squeaky irritants if my car gives consistent mileage above 10. Since I do not have a functioning speedo I dont know my cars mileage.
I know the problem with the A/C. Open the passenger side door, Push the seat completely back take a torch and crawl underneth passenger side dash. You can see a flap which controls recirculation and fresh air intake. Push the flap towards the engine firewall and you can see the blower blade. Thats it your A/C will perform good. If this didnt work you may need to check with the mech.
Regarding with my A/C there is a connection gap of almost 2 cm in the junction. I couldnt put my hands as the access is too narrow. I need to open the dash to fix that issue . Regarding increase the airflow you just need to block the air flow in the centre blower by 1~2 cm on the sides. I am yet to do this but the A/C is too cold even in chennai's super hot heat wave climate. I am just using 30% A/C in city. Yesterday while installing the car audio the installer opened the flap. During return the A/C felt too bad and running 100%. I thought some cooling coil broken during ICE installtion. The simple method to check fresh air mode flap is to roll the windows up, switch off the A/C, run the car upwards of 60 kmph. Keep the hand near the vent. If you feel air is coming from vent then the flap is open.
Do you feel the steering to be slightly tight when the A/C is turned on? In my car the steering is free when the A/C is not turned on and slightly heavy with A/C. I doubt the A/C and PS is running on the same belt.

[vijaycool]

Originally Posted by revvhed

Hi Guys .. I've just got a Palio 1.2 and was wondering where to give it for servicing in Mumbai. There's not much wrong with the car at the moment, except for a slight power steering sound when i turn left and jerking at low speeds sometimes. Thanks in advance.

Congrats on your purchase. If its running good they dont take it for the service now. Run atleast 1000km to get the feel of the car. If you feel something not right note it with a piece of paper and keep it in the car. Later you can refer the same to the mech. Regarding jerking, my car jerks bad esp. in 2 gear when you let off the accelerator and when it pressed again. It wont happen always. The possible reason is kaput TPS (Throttle Position sensor), clogged fuel filter, clogged air filter, dirty ICV (idle control valve). Check the airfilter if its dirty just change it. Also change the fuel filter. you can see some improvement.

Regards,
Vijay

[vijaycool]

Originally Posted by abhijeetveer

Also noticed some kind of "ssssss" noise coming from under the steering wheel column. Along with some "kich - kich" noise while the car is moving from the front right tyres.
This might sound strange, but when the car is in neutral and standing still the car revs till red line when the accelerator is tapped but when the car is moving and I try accelerating hard it struggles to go beyond 4k rpm. Pls help guys Ive already spent way too much to let go off it. But Im helpless as in spite of spending so much and so many mechanics its still not perfect. Still waiting for the elm327. Fiat ecm software has been downloaded since last 2 months.

Just now saw your post so couldnt add my comments earlier. Is your earth proper? To test take a multimeter set to DC volt. connect one lead to the negative of the battery and other one to the ECM body check the voltage diff. It must be in Mill Volt. If the values in volt obviously you need to redo the neagative terminal. Secondly there are some loose sensor wire that playing up during acceleration. Check the MAP sensor wire and lambda wires. Disconnect the battery and do a throttle relearn procedure. Atlast report the outcome in the forum

[vijaycool]

Small update: I have changed the backlit color of the clock from green to amber. Now the contrast is much better in day.

[abhijeetveer]

Originally Posted by revvhed

Hi Guys .. I've just got a Palio 1.2 and was wondering where to give it for servicing in Mumbai. After reading the horror stories with the FIAT A.S.S. on this thread i'm wondering if i should give it to an Authorized Service Center or not. Can any FIAT owners in Mumbai please give me their honest feedback and guidance on this. Is there any FIAT Authorized Service Center in Mumbai that is recommended ? There's not much wrong with the car at the moment, except for a slight power steering sound when i turn left and jerking at low speeds sometimes. I figured it would be a good idea to take it to an Authorized Service Center only so that i could get genuine spares and in the hope that they would be proficient at diagnosing and solving FIAT problems, but after reading Abhijeetveer's experience i'm very scared lest they ruin a perfectly good car. FIAT gurus please help.
Thanks in advance.

Congratylations on your purchase. Living in mumbai I would advice you to stay away from the authorised workshops. They have taken me for a ride. At least stay away from the workshop at worli. My advice is to stay away and get hold of some independent garage around.

Originally Posted by vijaycool

Abhi: I wont nit pick those minor squeaky irritants if my car gives consistent mileage above 10. Since I do not have a functioning speedo I dont know my cars mileage.
I know the problem with the A/C. Open the passenger side door, Push the seat completely back take a torch and crawl underneth passenger side dash. You can see a flap which controls recirculation and fresh air intake. Push the flap towards the engine firewall and you can see the blower blade. Thats it your A/C will perform good. If this didnt work you may need to check with the mech.
Regarding with my A/C there is a connection gap of almost 2 cm in the junction. I couldnt put my hands as the access is too narrow. I need to open the dash to fix that issue . Regarding increase the airflow you just need to block the air flow in the centre blower by 1~2 cm on the sides. I am yet to do this but the A/C is too cold even in chennai's super hot heat wave climate. I am just using 30% A/C in city. Yesterday while installing the car audio the installer opened the flap. During return the A/C felt too bad and running 100%. I thought some cooling coil broken during ICE installtion. The simple method to check fresh air mode flap is to roll the windows up, switch off the A/C, run the car upwards of 60 kmph. Keep the hand near the vent. If you feel air is coming from vent then the flap is open.
Do you feel the steering to be slightly tight when the A/C is turned on? In my car the steering is free when the A/C is not turned on and slightly heavy with A/C. I doubt the A/C and PS is running on the same belt.

I didnt try to go under the dashboard because I didn't want to dirty my hands so I gave the car to kamal air for the ac work. Estimates are Rs 5300. The elm 327 and fiat cable its on its way. It should be here soon. just saw yesterday that a bluetooth version of elm exist. Do I'm going to order that. If anyone is interested in buying the usb cable elm then you can get in touch with me.

Originally Posted by vijaycool

Just now saw your post so couldnt add my comments earlier. Is your earth proper? To test take a multimeter set to DC volt. connect one lead to the negative of the battery and other one to the ECM body check the voltage diff. It must be in Mill Volt. If the values in volt obviously you need to redo the neagative terminal. Secondly there are some loose sensor wire that playing up during acceleration. Check the MAP sensor wire and lambda wires. Disconnect the battery and do a throttle relearn procedure. Atlast report the outcome in the forum

Will be doing this once the car is back on tuesday.

[rikhav]

Hi Abhijeet
What exact work is Kamal Air going to do on your car's AC?

[abhijeetveer]

he is gonna completely overhaul the ac, along with checking for leaks (which he said are not present as reported today), disconnect the heater (since we dont require it in india), clean and check up every valve, blower etc. Palio requires extensive labor to open the ac (dashboard needs to be opened up etc) and as far as i know kamal is very good at their job. While I was there someone called inquiring for ac of some aircraft (over heard it), the call was diverted to the owner

[rikhav]

Hi Abhijeet
I had given my Petra for AC service at Correa as the AC cooling had become very low. I was charged 2600 for full service and gas charging. This also included labour charges of opening and fitting the dashboard.
Its a different story that again after a few weeks the AC was completly dead and I had to replace the cooling coil as there was a leak in it and that could not be reapired
Correa gives 3 months warranty for gas leaks
The cooling is very good as of now but I have the same problem as you have. The side vents throw very little air comparing the centre vents. But since the cooling is sufficient I am OK with it
Also FE is very low with AC. But this is not a new problem.

[abhijeetveer]

Originally Posted by rikhav

Hi Abhijeet
I had given my Petra for AC service at Correa as the AC cooling had become very low. I was charged 2600 for full service and gas charging. This also included labour charges of opening and fitting the dashboard.
Its a different story that again after a few weeks the AC was completly dead and I had to replace the cooling coil as there was a leak in it and that could not be reapired
Correa gives 3 months warranty for gas leaks
The cooling is very good as of now but I have the same problem as you have. The side vents throw very little air comparing the centre vents. But since the cooling is sufficient I am OK with it
Also FE is very low with AC. But this is not a new problem.

I dont really know why kamal guys charged me so much. Thankfully the ac works just perfect now. The heating issue was due to the diverter which is now disconnected since we dont require hot blower in india. Kamal has done a decent job, just that while fixing the dashboard back they had some issue with some wires of the odometer, the wires were all aging n breaking resulting in breakage and fuel gauge not working, new wiring had to be done for which kamal charged me a whooping Rs 1200. I badly need a new wiring harness for the whole car cause all the wires are giving up moreover wires inside the engine bay are giving up along with the sockets. Wiring harness doesnt seem to be available anywhere in mumbai atleast. All the shops that i went to are saying it will be available in the company since they require the chassis number of the car etc. I'm kinda giving up on this vehicle after spending around 75k. Spent so much since I didn't have intentions of selling her before. It feels bad to know that even after spending so much on the car it still isnt back to perfect. Engine still has a lot of life, pickup is still great. Just 52k on the odo. The idling issue remains, gonna give it one last try at my good old garage with the good old mechanics who know this car in and out. If it works out then all good. If it doesnt then I'm putting the beast up for sale. Or maybe break it down and sell the parts as a lot of things in the car are brand new. Anyone wants? Selling the car directly wont get me a good value.

[abhijeetveer]

Came back from a nice drive from worli to nariman point and back and i must say the car doesn't fail to impress me. It always puts a smile on my face whenever i drive her. That's the good part and the only reason which is not stopping me from spending more on her. Tomorrow is the day, will take her to the garage around 12ish put her on the ecm reader and figure out what could be the issue. Also going to try reducing the plug gaps to 0.8mm as mentioned by the ngk website. Very little misfires are present, a general person wouldn't know only a person who know how butter smooth the 1.6 engine usually is may figure it out. Infact the mechanic couldn't find the issue. Another thing I noticed is during acceleration (normal or hard) from a standstill there is some strange kat kat noise coming from the passenger side. Wonder what that could be as suspensions and bushings are around 10k kms old also axle was repaired couple of months back but this isnt axle noise cuz this happens during normal straight line acceleration too. Pickup all great till 4k rpm where it gets stuck for a second or so and then it pulls all the way till redline. This happens only in petrol, on gas it is all good. So will be figuring that out tomorrow too. Maybe as mentioned by Vijay, it could be lambda, map sensor or wires. Will be checking with the garage guys if they can make a new harness for me tomorrow.