Hi as a newbie please can somebody help me,

I have found a 20VT that I am thinking of buying (see details below), it has a new engine 4K ago, but the turbo has not been replaced. The power delivery is not a fierce as the other 20VT I drove. Would this be due to the turbo? if so how much will a new turbo cost or a=can I get my turbo repaired??

Should I make the purchase?

also if there is lacquer coming the from bumper a few dents, how much will this cost to get fixed?

I hope you can help me, thanks

Manual, 48,800 miles, 48,800 miles, ink black, 6 months tax, Brembo front brakes, new engine (recon) Oct 2006 (cam belt replaced at the same time), 4k miles on the new engine, 3 owners, Alpine CD 6 changer, leather seats, full service history, good condition. £3,095. ono

Spend a fiver on an RAC Hpi check before you do anything. Very low mileage and many coupes have been clocked.

I have seen all the history and already done this check it was more to do with the price and mechanics.

Where was the engine fitted and can they confirm this work has been done?

yes I have seen the receipts for the engine it was a re-conditioned engine and cost 3K to be fitted, what do you think?

Are engines re-fitted bad news?

There are enough decent coupés around, so I would not bother with this one. In 5 years time you will not have such choice but now is a different story.
It's hardly any cheaper than buying a good one that has not had an engine replacement (usually caused by oil starvation/belt failure/overzealous modding).
Yes, an engine replacement should always mean a turbo/clutch/cambelt as well at the same time.

cambelt clutch has been done its only up for 2500 so I could spend the money on the turbo? it has also had all the discs changed. The rest of the car is pretty sound and I guess the engine has only done 4K. I dont know what to do know somebody help me!

It did drive well too

As Weyland says there are decent coupes about. It could be great value but you could be buying a lot of trouble

what else could go wrong if the cambelt. engine disks havebee replaced I have driven the car. and I get the turbo fixed?

At £2500 just have it. If it drives good and all is well checked then just go for it.

Where is the car?

Who re-conditioned the engine? Was it done by Mr. dodgy round the corner or by Fiat / Proper specialist? Most likely cause would be oil starvation...... the owner has not bothered to check the oil properly.

If it does not pull that well it is not necessarily the turbo - it could be an electronic issue with the boost valve etc. or could be the engine itself. If the turbo is dying then it will be smoking....

If it's had a new clutch and belts + discs all round then that is worth a grand!

The paint issues will cost very little to put right.

If you buy a 20vt or 16vt now dont expect to spend peanuts on maintenance. They are cheap to buy, but not cheap to keep in good condition.

Thanks for your advice suba, the car is in East Sussex, it has been on autotrader at £3095, I really want an ink black and could spend 5K on a 2000 model and still have all the same problems.

The car has been owned for 6 years by the previous owner in that time the engine blew. So he got a reconditioned one fitted I will find out where this engine was sourced from. I will call the garage in a minute. The owner used the same garage the whole 6 years (Chewters garage)

The dilemma should I get this one or buy one for 2K more with an original engine? or just buy this one and get all the niggles done straight away?

answers on a postcard please

everyone gone quiet on me is it because I am a newbee?

maybe its because I said answers on a postcard! sorry about that

No way of telling without the history of the new engine. even then you are reliant on the owner maintaining the engine

You could just as easily buy one on the original engine that's been low on oil with 40 k on the clock that is worn to bits......

A grand here or there in the ownership of a 20vt is not a lot of money, you could buy a car that you thought was perfect and find that 6 months down the line you need to replace engine mounts, wishbones, fuel pumps etc.

I have just spoken to the garage who did all the work and the car has had £8423 over the last 6 years on engine, manifold, brakes etc etc. he has printed all the receipts out for me. I think the garage is quite expensive though as a cambelt change was 900 quid! shall I go for it and buy the car?

It sounds pretty good on paper.

Perhaps you can see if someone from here will come with you to help you check it over.

John

yeah could do but I think I need to move fairly quickly or someone else will nab it! seems to me whatever one you buy you will have to spend lots maintaining it so even if I get an LE model it will cost 2.5K more but I could use that to get this one up to scratch.

tricky buying these cars isn't it!

Where are you based?

I bought my first Coupe without even driving it but it was only 3 years old at the time.

My second one I bought after driving it poring over the history but failed to spot the leaking oil cooler pipes and the fact that the aux belts weren't changed etc etc.

Any old car could have almost anything wrong with it. If it drives okay and everything seems to work correctly buy it.

After buying it I would take it to Powerfiat or Motormech for a health check. I did after buying mine and got a priortised list from Rog@Powerfiat.

John

I am based in sunny brighton, where is powerfiat and motormech,

I think I am going to buy it the owner is 45 year old and loves fiats he must have to spend 8.5K in bills over 6 years!
It drives well I did all the normal checks from the buyers guide on here. the only thing is the power delivery is not as fierce as some but I think the turbo needs an overhaul. so I can get that done but it drove fine and so many mechanical things have been done and no boy racer parts have ever been fitted.

I just have to bite the bullet

PowerFiat are in Basildon Eseex and Motormech in Birmingham

I'd go for it given you have spare cash for maintenance/turbo

If i get it I will post some pics if anyone is interested.

Certainly would be.

£8.5k is not that bad a coop will cost around a grand a year in maintenance average.

I'd get an AA/RAC condition report first. Ask the garage why did the original engine fail at 44k? And what is the exact status of the 'recon' engine - genuine Fiat exchange unit with warranty, or just a secondhand lump from who-knows-where? Seems a bit odd that the recon engine had a cambelt change done, if I read it correctly. And I'd assume that the turbo needs replacing. Hmmm... think I'd tread carefully on this one.

If the turbo is not smoking then it does NOT need replacing!

If you are installing a new engine or recon etc. then why on earth would you not replace the cambelt?

If you are installing a new or properly reconditioned engine it doesn't need a replacement cambelt, does it. New means...new.

Yes you do, unless you mean that that the new engine will have a "new" cambelt fitted rather than a replacement cambelt fitted but its the same thing really as the replacement cambelt is a new cambelt at the end of the day, at least it should be!

This is getting confusing. What I meant is that a recon engine will already have a brand new cambelt, or it's not a 'recon' - more of a 'con'.

Yes recon should have a cambelt done.
Second hand engine wont.

oh no I dont know what to do now. I think 2.5K for all of the above is about right. but as for turbo it must be fine I noticed no smoke or farty sounds. so thanks for the input but is anyone brave enough to help me sum this all up :>

Hiay, This sounds like a genuine car being sold by a genuine seller.
The car has a good history with what sounds like a fairly new engine, and you spoke to his garage mechanic who confirmed what work and money has been spent.
I feel 2.5k is cheap for a car that has such a good history, IMO i'd buy it.

Go for it, you'll love it

Joe

cheers

I think I am going to get it, just need the push cheers

Power delivery could be something as simple as a stretched throttle cable

yeah true that I have got the money out the bank so I might go and give it a few more checks before I part with the cash

get it, you will always be abit suspicious of any car. ink black turbo sound lovely to me, it will only get snapped up by someone else,i'v been there, it's very annoying when it happens and you end up wishing u'd just gone for it :-)

OK I am going to have another check just before I buy it what shall I check out? I have the guide from here but is there any tell tail signs for turbo on its last legs? and how do you check wishbones?

Hi aza,


Turbo check should be in the buyers guide too. Basically take it for a test drive, stop, get out, leave engine running at idle and chat to the owner over a cuppa tea. Come back 5-10mins later and check for tell tail blueish smoke coming out of the exhaust. If there is smoke, the turbo is on its way out.


Re: Wishbones. When my front ones were knackered you could hunker down in front of the front tyre, hug the top of the tyre in your hands and pull/push on the wheel and feel a bit if give or play. When I changed the wishbones there was no movement at all.


If you have the cash it's cheap and straightforward to have the wishbones changed anyway. I think my new front wishbones were about £75 plus an hours labour by my local mechanic. Actually the wishbones could have been cheaper than £75. It was a while back. Don't go to a main Fiat garage/dealer as you'l have to remortgage your house and sell a kidney for this kind of work!!!

Oh yeah that's telltale and not "tell tail"

And my mother is an English teacher.....

The wishbones dont last long, so if they are knackered then just replace them - 90% of coupes probably need them changing!

I may be alone here, but I find it worrying that in 6yrs and 45k miles the owner as spent over 8k on the car. It should be absolutely mint if that is the case or he just does not look after it!

more like its an expensive garage I did mention a cam belt change was 1000 pounds at this garage that the owner uses

You're definately not alone bockers in thinking £8.5k spent over 6 years and 45k miles is wildly excessive. Personally I would walk away from it with alarm bells ringing in my head. A case of some cars having TOO much history!!! IMO figures of £1000 a year maintance are way off the mark too, at least I hope they are. (Have some fccukers got a vested interest in seeing that car sell !!!)

My 98 20vt (65k) has FSH and all reciepts and I doubt its total maintance bill would come to £500/yr. My bill last year came to around £600 but that includes 4 new tyres(still best part of a year left in them), cat back s/s powerflow exhaust (lifetime guarantee), standard servicing filters/fluids etc and off side wish bone.

^^^Yeah true. I think however, there comes a cross-over point when the car needs a wad spent to get it back to being a good to drive, reliable car. It may mean spending £1000-1500 and I'm not talking about the usual cambelt change either.
After that hurdle, you only have tyres and brakes to worry about for a number of years.

Its 8.5k not spent at powerfiat or motormech, so would be more like 5k if the owner didnt have his pants pulled down.

I've just read all 5 pages of this thread
Buying a coupe is about risk and how much you're prepared to take.
Low risk = buy from forum member/trusted garage = top money
High risk = unknown private seller = bottom money

It sounds to me like you're not keen on risk and you've got a £5k budget. Why are you looking at this car? Solo Italia have a 2000 Ink black turbo (with the high-back recaros )for £5,600 with 12 months warranty. This car is likely to hold it's value much better than the one you're looking at and you've got complete peace of mind.
Always buy the best car you can afford. Don't buy a cheap one and think you'll spend a bit to get it right.
The amount of money this car's had spent on it worries me.
AFAIK, this is a no-brainer if you want an ink black turbo.

I have brought it did all the tests outlined in the buyers guide checklist and its all good. Turbo had a bit of lag and the power delivery is not as crisp but I think its a streched throttle cable. I will upload pictures once I get it.

Thank you all very much for help and tips. You are a great help.

I will upload picky's soon after I have spent the weekend cleaning her up.

Cheers
aza

Congrats!

Now the fun begins!

cheers stan

Yes Congrats aza, welcome to the world of fiat coupe paranoia , and an ever-dwindling bank account but on the plus side you'll smile every time you see it in the morning.

Joe

yeah but cars dont ever make you money, unless your name is Boycie! cars are for fun and I went for the Coupe as it made me smile when I got it

Marlene!

These cars make me smile all the time, even when I'm threatening to burn it because it's pi**ing me off! or maybe that's just the pyromaniac in me.

Well lets hope you prove me wrong and enjoy trouble free ownership.

Welcome to our world

Well done aza.

She will certainly make you smile!

The evening I got mine home, I think I went back out to the car about 30 times just to have another look, before I finally accepted that the neighbours were getting hacked off with doors opening and closing, car driving off, coming back 20 minutes later, going in, coming out repeat repeat.

All this plus the sound of my inane giggling as I walked around her, gone midnight

Mind you I was back out at 6:30 the next morning

Enjoy matey.

Well after 2 days of ownership of the car in question breakdown has occurred. The Auxiliary belt has broken and I spent a sad hour on the side of the road.
So now I have to get it fixed, it happened at very low revs whilst turning round and I hope it has done no more damage.
Still it was fun while it lastest all of 2 days!

I hope I get more luck once it is fixed. : >

Aza

She's easing you in gently then

Don't let it put you off!

I do feel scared as I have never had a car break down before.
Maybe the car was not used to me.

I was not even driving it that hard. part of me wanted just to sell it straight away. As I felt so anxious, and now I know what everyone means by feeling paranoid about there coops!

That's life with owning one of these cars, after a while you'll get to know ever noise and when it sounds wrong you will know straight away.

I was sad to read that you had problems after only owning the car for one day, what is the situation now is it in a gargage for a new aux belt?

Joe

yeah it is being fixed tomorrow I have found a good local garage who did the engine change a year or so ago.
It is a horrible thing to happen especially after checking everything using the guide on this wonderful forum.

oh well lets hope everything will be done and not cost a fortune!

Don't worry, it'll be ok in the end, a year from now when you have spent a little bit and have a nice coupe, you'll be glad you got it and the money spent won't matter so much, hopefully.
At least after owning one, you'll know a hell of a lot more about the cars (I know I will) like how they should ride and handle, what to look for mechanically and body-wise, what to "feel" for when driving it and a load of other stuff, that can help seperate the good from the bad.
If you get another in the future, you'll be able to pick up on a lot of things very quickly (obviously not an impending belt failure but we're not all mechanics!) but there is always an element of gambling on any old second-hand motor, no matter how much homework you have done.

here are the pics of the lovely car before it broke the aux belt. It is now going to Powerfiat to get the problem fixed properly:

http://s257.photobucket.com/albums/hh239/aza_mint/