Fiat Coupe Forum
- Founded by Kayjey & James Northam
- Funded by the Club for the benefit of all owners
Fiat Coupe Club UK
join the club
Fiat Coupe Forum
 
» Announced
    Posting images


» Related sites
    Main club site
    fiatcoupe.net


» External data
    owners listed
 
Who's Online Now
3 registered members (Jamiepm, DaveG, 1 invisible), 356 guests, and 3 spiders.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Forum Statistics
Forums69
Topics113,543
Posts1,340,439
Members1,785
Most Online731
Jan 14th, 2020
Top Posters(All Time)
barnacle 33,521
stan 32,122
Theresa 23,296
PeteP 21,482
bockers 21,070
JimO 17,917
Nigel 17,366
Edinburgh 16,662
RSS Feeds
Club Events
Club Information
Track Events
Rolling Road/RWYB
Social Events
Non-UK Events
Coupé Related Chat
Coupé Spotting
Coupé News/Press
Buying/Selling Advice
Insuring a Coupé
Basic FAQ's
How to Guides
Forum Issues
Technical Problems
General Maintenance
Styling
Tuning
Handling
ICE and Alarm
Coupés for Sale
Coupés Wanted
Parts for Sale
Parts Wanted
Group Buys
Business Forum
Other Vehicles for Sale/Wanted
Other Items for Sale/Wanted
Haggling/Offers
Ebay links
Other Cars
Other Websites
General Chat
Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
One of those days... #1654356
24/11/2021 10:19
24/11/2021 10:19
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 1,833
Brisbane, Australia
Boosted7 Offline OP
My life on the forum
Boosted7  Offline OP
My life on the forum

Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 1,833
Brisbane, Australia
It has been a while since I last drove the coupe (and even longer since I posted on the Forum!) but I needed to move it out of the garage on the weekend. Flat battery, so jump started it with the the trusty Skoda Superb. All good, except the blowers in the cab were now stuck on full and wouldn't turn off even after turning the engine off (!).

Went for a drive and after 10minutes the blowers shut off completely on their own. All fuses fine. Tried wiggling the cables down near the fan motor, resistor and climate control box. No luck. Remove centre console, all looks OK behind the switch. Sent out a couple of SOS posts on Facebook but most folks are in the UK and it's probably 2am so not much help forthcoming!

Reached the end of my tether and booked it in to an auto electrician for this morning. Got in car, battery flat again, jump started car, arrived at auto electrician all hot and sweaty due to having no blowers (very humid here in Brisbane this time of year). Went to pop the bonnet and the cable has gone all floppy. Snapped cable. Spent about 10mins fumbling around with a screw driver prodding and poking at the mechanism through the grille, no luck. By now it's pouring rain and the auto electrician has better things to do than stand around watching me. So I gave up and drove home, spent the next hour trying to follow the how to guide on this forum but all the photo links are broken apart from one very handy drawing of the mechanism - bingo, finally got the bonnet released using a long tent peg of all things.

Rang auto electrician to see if I can come back but he's busy now until next week.

So I've got a car with a dead battery, broken bonnet release cable, dead blower/fans (AC also broken incidentally) living in the sub-tropics approaching summer. Oh and the centre console is half off, and the bonnet release plastic handle is sitting on the floor (auto electrician helpfully managed to pull it off completely) so I'll have to figure out how that goes back together.

I remember now why I rarely drive this thing anymore. Think I'll stick with the Skoda.

Anyone else ever had days like these with their coupe??

Last edited by Boosted7; 24/11/2021 10:21.

1998 Steel Grey 20V Turbo
Re: One of those days... [Re: Boosted7] #1654361
24/11/2021 12:10
24/11/2021 12:10
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 16,662
Auld Reekie
Edinburgh Offline
Club President, member225
Edinburgh  Offline
Club President, member225
Forum veteran

Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 16,662
Auld Reekie
Bad day indeed Boosted!

Bonnet + handle totally repairable though.

Once the grille is off you may have enough cable left to reposition the collar-with-grub-screw. If not a 2m bike cable will do it, check at the slot in the handle what shape the cable end is. Hope the two attached pics help.

Meanwhile temporarily tie a cable to the bonnet spring and trail it outside the bonnet so you still open it after closing laugh

With the centre console off you take the opportunity to check the contacts as described here and make sure the little fan is working and not clogged up with fluff.

I guess it's time for a replacement battery?

Attached Files
Bonnet cable handle.jpg (138 downloads)
BonnetRelease handle1.jpg (137 downloads)

BumbleBee carer smile
Re: One of those days... [Re: Boosted7] #1654363
24/11/2021 12:20
24/11/2021 12:20
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 1,833
Brisbane, Australia
Boosted7 Offline OP
My life on the forum
Boosted7  Offline OP
My life on the forum

Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 1,833
Brisbane, Australia
Thanks Edinburgh! Yes those photos are super helpful. I'm hoping I can get by using the existing cable - it has snapped at the loop part up near the latch mechanism so might be able to fix with a bit of new wire crimped with the existing cable clamp if that makes sense.

Then I need to sort the blowers. rolleyes


1998 Steel Grey 20V Turbo
Re: One of those days... [Re: Boosted7] #1654364
24/11/2021 12:25
24/11/2021 12:25
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 16,662
Auld Reekie
Edinburgh Offline
Club President, member225
Edinburgh  Offline
Club President, member225
Forum veteran

Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 16,662
Auld Reekie
Yes you've got the idea before you splash out 3 dollars on a new cable laugh

It's the initial inertia which gets one down, once you get started it's great!

You're right about Moosey's diagram in the howto btw, that's one of the clearest pointers I've ever seen cool


BumbleBee carer smile
Re: One of those days... [Re: Boosted7] #1654365
24/11/2021 12:51
24/11/2021 12:51
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 626
Westcliff-on-sea,essex
aust_powers Offline
Enjoying the ride
aust_powers  Offline
Enjoying the ride

Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 626
Westcliff-on-sea,essex
Hi Boosted,

I have had many of those days and because of that Coop Paranoia is alive and well here smile

After a few issues over the year (teething problems is the nicest thing I can say) and being a weekend car I have a procedure before I drive off:-

1. Approach car and walk round checking there are no new dings or scratches that may have suddenly appeared.
2. Check condition of paint and note it looks slightly more faded than last time smile
3. Check Tyres visually look ok.
4. Unlock car and open boot to check for any water ingress.
5. Gently pull bonnet release hoping it wont snap smile
4. Check oil, Brake fluid reservoir, coolant and look around for any thing "Out of place" smile
5. Get in car, deep breath turn key press start button.
6. Check clutch operation, release handbrake and drive off smile
7. Enjoy drive while keeping eye on Temp gauge, Oil pressure and lastly speedo smile
8. Get home, switch off and check for any leaks under car and walk away until next week smile

Cheers

Austin


GT28rs,Pro alloy FMIC,Blueflame exhaust,SIP, Bosch 440cc,Helix organic clutch,Stage 3,331bhp,295lbft
Re: One of those days... [Re: aust_powers] #1654366
24/11/2021 13:07
24/11/2021 13:07
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 16,662
Auld Reekie
Edinburgh Offline
Club President, member225
Edinburgh  Offline
Club President, member225
Forum veteran

Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 16,662
Auld Reekie
Originally Posted by aust_powers
deep breath



You forgot to include this in all of your eight points laugh


BumbleBee carer smile
Re: One of those days... [Re: Edinburgh] #1654368
24/11/2021 14:41
24/11/2021 14:41
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 626
Westcliff-on-sea,essex
aust_powers Offline
Enjoying the ride
aust_powers  Offline
Enjoying the ride

Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 626
Westcliff-on-sea,essex
Originally Posted by Edinburgh
Originally Posted by aust_powers
deep breath



You forgot to include this in all of your eight points laugh



True, Perhaps we need a 'deep breath' emoticon smile

Austin


GT28rs,Pro alloy FMIC,Blueflame exhaust,SIP, Bosch 440cc,Helix organic clutch,Stage 3,331bhp,295lbft
Re: One of those days... [Re: Boosted7] #1654370
24/11/2021 19:31
24/11/2021 19:31
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 524
The Netherlands
J
jaaps2 Offline
Club Member 1560
jaaps2  Offline
Club Member 1560
Enjoying the ride
J

Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 524
The Netherlands
You don't have a Barnacle Widget to check? If not, not so high on the CP scale tongue

Last edited by jaaps2; 24/11/2021 20:55.

20VT, build in 1997, first used in 1998
https://youtu.be/mI0jZIIBc2w
20VT6 plus, build in 1999
Re: One of those days... [Re: Boosted7] #1654379
25/11/2021 06:49
25/11/2021 06:49
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 33,521
Berlin
barnacle Offline
Club Member 18 - ex-Minister without Portfolio
barnacle  Offline
Club Member 18 - ex-Minister without Portfolio
Forum Demigod

Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 33,521
Berlin
1) get in
2) turn key
3) drive off

It's called 'character' laugh

Although there is a step zero: find out where the car actually is... it's in dry storage somewhere in Worcestershire but I don't actually know the address laugh

Neil


[Linked Image]
Don't get no respect! Coupe Fiat 1994-2000 - an owner's guide <-- clicky!
Re: One of those days... [Re: Edinburgh] #1654381
25/11/2021 08:09
25/11/2021 08:09
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 1,833
Brisbane, Australia
Boosted7 Offline OP
My life on the forum
Boosted7  Offline OP
My life on the forum

Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 1,833
Brisbane, Australia
Out of interest, does the slam panel have to be removed to replace or repair the bonnet cable?


1998 Steel Grey 20V Turbo
Re: One of those days... [Re: Boosted7] #1654393
25/11/2021 11:45
25/11/2021 11:45
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 21,482
Aldershot
PeteP Offline
Hon Club Member 005, Membership Secretary
PeteP  Offline
Hon Club Member 005, Membership Secretary
Forum Fossil

Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 21,482
Aldershot
No, just replace the inner otherwise there is a lot of work involved

An inner cable for the rear brake of a bike will do the job it needs to be 2 metres long. Something like this

Similar from any bike shop in Oz I expect


16VT and X1/9 1500

We must all do our part for the planet.
I unplugged a row of electric cars that nobody was using.

Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.1
(Release build 20190129)
PHP: 7.3.33 Page Time: 0.017s Queries: 16 (0.007s) Memory: 0.7953 MB (Peak: 0.9194 MB) Data Comp: Off Server Time: 2024-03-29 00:38:04 UTC