Was not sure where to place this post- knew it had to go on the forum, but was not sure what section.

In the end -had just enough of a tie in to put it in the coupe section.

Had friends over this weekend. And they brought up a fiat 500XL-one of the new suv style things. They are petrol heads-with two classic cars. But zero mechanical symphony.

Apparently Sunday was "drive it" day or something - if you have a classic/or a sports car you have to take it out. They insisted -So we agreed to take out my coupe. Que- my normal quick checks-pressures/fluids/ just a quick check over before we went out for drive.

That prompted them to check their car. Tyre Pressures all over the shop. Water in squirters..low-but some. The horror story was the checking of the oil. My friend checked it twice and remarked-and I quote "well the oil is so clean since the last service I can hardly see it...how about that for good engineering". You can see where this is going....

When I checked - the reason it was hard to see was that the dipstick was dry.

Completely, utterly bone dry.

And when I say dipstick-I'm not talking about just the chevron area- I mean there was not one bit of moisture I could detect on any part of the dipstick! With only 4.3 litres in the engine when full-that meant little oil in the engine at all.

Two litres of oil from the nearest gas station later (we took MY car) The first litre just got to the base of the dipstick. Throwing out caution in went the other litre- and that took it just above the max,

The car was fired up-and went noticeably quieter a few seconds after firing up as the oil circulated around. Apparently with tyres correctly pumped and oil IN the engine- the drive home was much improved.

My Friend has form in this area. A number of cars, broken, boiled over, or driven in to the ground over the years. Regrettably that includes a Coupe 20NA and a fiat cinquecento-BOTH which had their lives ended early when they were driven dry without enough oil until the engines died.

So if you own a modern fiat- or know someone who does- they get to join the forum motto "check the oil".

Oh yes- the coupe tie in. The dipstick, as near as I could tell without lining them up side by side- looked the exact same in size/shape/length and design as a coupe dipstick. So if you loose one and need a replacement- a 500XL dipstick should do.


Regards to all

MM

My misses has a 500X also. Brought new in 2017, she normally changes every 2 or 3 years but really hasn't seen the need now as it's only done 30k. Ours is 2.0 litre diesel 9 speed auto with auto 4x4, I will check the sticks one day, we may need more specifics on your mates.