[praful]

Originally Posted by DRIV3R

@Praful : Congrats on the Palio buddy! Good buy.

And yes, the rear wiper IS mis-aligned. It should rest a little higher on the rear windscreen.

Thanks and I will get it checked at the upcoming service.

Originally Posted by Nutty Nair

Oh! nothing official about it. This guy just can't seem to click bad shots. Makes us ordinary mortals go green with envy when we see his pics . You should see his work in the photography threads or flickr.

@praful - Congrats, mate! Palio is still a looker & your car looks to be in very good condition. This is what you call a "beautiful" choice

PS: Personally I like the looks of the old Palio better than Punto. Guys, its just my opinion, pl. don't flame me for this

Yup, I've seen him in action for the past few months and you are absolutely right about not being able to click bad pics!


Thanks, and I do agree with you about your views on the Palio's looks.


Another update that I missed.

Whilst reversing out of the garage a few week back I accidentally broke the right side rear view mirror!


Anyways, as luck would have it only the glass had shattered. Bought a new glass from TASS and fixed it.

Its 280/- for the Pre-Stile glass and 800/- for the Stile glass.

[Dr.AD]

Praful, congratulation on your Palio! It is a beautiful car. I am driving a Palio 1.2 (pre-NV model) for many years now and I have enjoyed every moment of it. Mine is also silver, just like yours, so your car pictures remind me of my car and make me feel like getting up from my chair and driving it away, far away (I mean driving away my car, not yours ). You have made a great choice and you will surely enjoy it.

I am in the frustrating process of test-driving and selecting a new car to buy, and every time I test drive something and then drive my Palio, I like it even more. May be it is just love for the old machine, but there is something in the old Palio that is really unique and special. My original plan was to replace the Palio with the new car, but now that is changed and I am going to keep the old Palio even after I buy a new car. It deserves to be kept and not traded.

Originally Posted by Nutty Nair

PS: Personally I like the looks of the old Palio better than Punto. Guys, its just my opinion, pl. don't flame me for this

I somewhat agree. Punto looked extremely stunning when it was launched, but after a year, it is looking just a little bit boring (may be because it is getting more common than Palio in Bangalore; are all Palio owners trading it in for a Punto?). On the other hand, the Palio (not the Stile, but the pre-Stile) still looks great and every time I see a well-maintained Palio on the road I envy the driver. It is a timeless classic. I am not sure if Punto will age that well. May be it will. Great if it does, because after all, it is indeed a great car.

[praful]

Thank you Dr.AD!

This is certainly a resonating opinion amongst people that the Palio's looks are aging gracefully. Thumbs Up to the designers at FIAT.

You're quite right about the Palio to Punto upgrade (if I may call it that!), but in my case it was a bit opposite. My folks got the Punto, I fell in love! And then I bought the Palio and I feel in love again!


Everytime I take the car on the highways, I just keep saying the sentence... "I love this car!!!" Lol!

[jacs]

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

On the other hand, the Palio (not the Stile, but the pre-Stile) still looks great and every time I see a well-maintained Palio on the road I envy the driver. It is a timeless classic. I am not sure if Punto will age that well. May be it will. Great if it does, because after all, it is indeed a great car.

Palio was a majestic hatch in its times with almost no competition and hence won the hearts of many. But Punto has to fight a lot with its competitions.

No doubt on the pre-stile version, its one of the best designed hatch.

[praful]

Dropped my first car for its first service under my ownership!

Gave it Concorde Motors, Mysore road, Bangalore. Car was running fine with no issues as such just a few rattles from the panels here and there and some clicking noises from the suspension.

From the time I took the car there was some tik sound coming when the clutch was depressed. On taking delivery of the car I had dropped it for the FIAT free service camp in Mumbai and they had advised that its a clutch cable change. So I left it to be done at the next service. The service advisor called me this morning and informed me that the entire clutch assembly along with the master cylinder needs to be replaced and the total damage will be about 9.5K or thereabouts.
Apart from that the rear brake cylinder(s) (not sure I heard it right, coz after the clutch heart attack everything else sounded a bit blurry) which need to be replaced.

Have decided not to get it done for the moment, will take a second opinion and then take a call on what needs to be done. I'm still a noob when it comes to car, but I still feel for car thats run 24.5K I feel entire clutch replacement is just crazy.

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by praful

From the time I took the car there was some tik sound coming when the clutch was depressed.

Praful, is it a continuous "tak-tak" sound (like something rattling at high frequency) when you depress the clutch? If so, this could be the clutch release spring bearing problem.

I had this "tak-tak" rattling sound when clutch was depressed in my Palio 1.2, and it turned out this bearing had to be changed. I lived with the sound for about 6 months (mostly because the mechanics could not identify the source for a while and when they did, the bearing was not available for a while), and then changed the clutch release spring bearing. Then the noise disappeared for a while, but unfortunately, after another 6 months or so now, the sound is slowly coming back.

Does your problem sound similar to this?

[praful]

No Dr.AD, mine is slightly different. When I depress the clutch fully there is a tik or tak sound. It just comes once. And the clutch is a bit hard in comparison to another Palio 1.2 that I drive once in a while.

Concorde TASS loves to replace parts than fix them, I've given them the go ahead for the rear brake cylinders for now. Clutch replacement is on hold and I will take another opinion from Hariprasad Automobiles after I get delivery of the vehicle.

[planet_rocker]

Clutch check - slot in 1st gear - pull hand brake - slowly release clutch without accelerator - if the car stalls - clutch is ok - if the car doesn't stall - clutch needs work. Also while releasing clutch (without hand brake on), if there is a judder clutch needs work in future. Then, if the car's pick up is abnormally low @ higher RPM, clutch will need work.

Brake Cylinder - actually the rubber seals (buckets/bockets??) of the rear drums start leaking due to wear n tear and hence leaks brake oil in the drums - hence needs change.

[praful]

Originally Posted by planet_rocker

Clutch check - slot in 1st gear - pull hand brake - slowly release clutch without accelerator - if the car stalls - clutch is ok - if the car doesn't stall - clutch needs work. Also while releasing clutch (without hand brake on), if there is a judder clutch needs work in future. Then, if the car's pick up is abnormally low @ higher RPM, clutch will need work.

Thanks planet_rocker. Tips and info like these are invaluable to first time car owners like me.

I will try the slot in 1st gear with handbrake technique once I get delivery of the car. For the second thing about the judder when releasing the clutch, there is none. Or at least I did not perceive anything.

Originally Posted by planet_rocker

Brake Cylinder - actually the rubber seals (buckets/bockets??) of the rear drums start leaking due to wear n tear and hence leaks brake oil in the drums - hence needs change.

That is exactly what the SVC advisor said. He said one was leaking and another was jammed.

[jacs]

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

Praful, is it a continuous "tak-tak" sound (like something rattling at high frequency) when you depress the clutch? If so, this could be the clutch release spring bearing problem.

I had this "tak-tak" rattling sound when clutch was depressed in my Palio 1.2, and it turned out this bearing had to be changed. I lived with the sound for about 6 months (mostly because the mechanics could not identify the source for a while and when they did, the bearing was not available for a while), and then changed the clutch release spring bearing. Then the noise disappeared for a while, but unfortunately, after another 6 months or so now, the sound is slowly coming back.

Does your problem sound similar to this?

Have you ever observed any issues with clutch release, i mean release not happen quickly or step by step release?

My clutch was feather soft compared to other Palio's(my friends used to envy me) but later i realized its due to the wornout MC which lost temper and had to replace it for around 3.5K including labour in Concorde. Now its very hard being new with its full temper .

So far my experience with Concorde, Hosur road is good. I do a full service every year from them which involves a complete fushout with necessary spare replacement and it costs me around 4-6K usually. And once its 6 months from major service, i do a quick service from Green tracks but stricly no parts change or mechanical works and would not cost more than 1 to 1.5K.

[praful]

Originally Posted by jacs

Have you ever observed any issues with clutch release, i mean release not happen quickly or step by step release?

Apart from being a bit hard and the tik noise there were no release related problems with the clutch.

[extreme_torque]

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

I somewhat agree. Punto looked extremely stunning when it was launched, but after a year, it is looking just a little bit boring (may be because it is getting more common than Palio in Bangalore; are all Palio owners trading it in for a Punto?). On the other hand, the Palio (not the Stile, but the pre-Stile) still looks great and every time I see a well-maintained Palio on the road I envy the driver. It is a timeless classic. I am not sure if Punto will age that well. May be it will. Great if it does, because after all, it is indeed a great car.

Be rest assured the Punto has aged well. The Grande Punto was launched in 2005 and it still continues to turn heads. There are newer cars but none looks as special as a Punto which is half a decade old.

[praful]

Finally service is done. Here's the break up

1. Oil Filter - 82
2. WD40 Rust Treatment - 160
3. Rear wheel Cylinders * 2 - 821
4. Brake Oil - 75
5. Service Charge - 1050
6. Brake Job - 450+600
7. Mudflaps * 4 - 400
_________________________________
Total - 4005/-

The click sounds from the front suspension/brakes seems to be subdued now and the car is running smoother now. Did a small speed run on the way back on NICE road! Topped out at 150, did not have the proper road to go further.

But the clutch issue still remains.

[neoonwheels]

I can give some inputs on this clutch thing:

1. The sound comes only when the clutch is 80% through its travel.
2. The car stalls if put the hand break on and releasing the clutch slowly (At least it used to be a year back)
3. Palio always had a hard clutch and I have driven other Palio with almost equal hard clutch but there was no sound when the clutch was pressed in that car.

According to one of the FIAT techies (Was working with BUB pune), this is a clutch release spring sound which is not a major issue.

Praful: Take a second opinion and let us know if the clutch assembly has given up.

[praful]

Originally Posted by neoonwheels

I can give some inputs on this clutch thing:

1. The sound comes only when the clutch is 80% through its travel.
2. The car stalls if put the hand break on and releasing the clutch slowly (At least it used to be a year back)
3. Palio always had a hard clutch and I have driven other Palio with almost equal hard clutch but there was no sound when the clutch was pressed in that car.

According to one of the FIAT techies (Was working with BUB pune), this is a clutch release spring sound which is not a major issue.

Praful: Take a second opinion and let us know if the clutch assembly has given up.

Actually the other Palio I drive at time has a comparatively softer clutch. So I was a bit worried, but I will definitely take an second opinion because the kind of mileage figures you were getting I am sure you were pretty soft on the clutch so @ 24K getting clutch replaced sounds pretty blasphemous to me!

Infact the service advisor told me that clutch replacement happens every 30K kms. I was shocked to hear that, because from limited experience I know that only the clutch plates are changed and not the entire assembly.

For the first time in the ~5K kms of ownership I pushed the car for performance yesterday on an empty stretch of NICE road. Hit the rev-limiter in 1st, 2nd & 3rd. It did not go till the limiter in 4th coz I think its got to do with it being an overdrive gear (Techies can clarify!). Was bored of my mileage conscious 2-3K RPM shifts, took a temporary break from that for a little pedal to the metal. And contrary to what I thought of this 1.2L engine, I am actually pretty impressed considering that its an overweight, underpowered car the performance it put out was pretty good.