Fiat Coupe Club UK

One of those days...

Posted By: Boosted7

One of those days... - 24/11/2021 10:19

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??
Posted By: Edinburgh

Re: One of those days... - 24/11/2021 12:10

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 picture Bonnet cable handle.jpg
Attached picture BonnetRelease handle1.jpg
Posted By: Boosted7

Re: One of those days... - 24/11/2021 12:20

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
Posted By: Edinburgh

Re: One of those days... - 24/11/2021 12:25

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
Posted By: aust_powers

Re: One of those days... - 24/11/2021 12:51

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
Posted By: Edinburgh

Re: One of those days... - 24/11/2021 13:07

Originally Posted by aust_powers
deep breath



You forgot to include this in all of your eight points laugh
Posted By: aust_powers

Re: One of those days... - 24/11/2021 14:41

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
Posted By: jaaps2

Re: One of those days... - 24/11/2021 19:31

You don't have a Barnacle Widget to check? If not, not so high on the CP scale tongue
Posted By: barnacle

Re: One of those days... - 25/11/2021 06:49

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
Posted By: Boosted7

Re: One of those days... - 25/11/2021 08:09

Out of interest, does the slam panel have to be removed to replace or repair the bonnet cable?
Posted By: PeteP

Re: One of those days... - 25/11/2021 11:45

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
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