MikeyRules

All Italians grumble! Good tip about the ball joints...I'll have to remember that for when it inevitably fails!

Actually Neil scrap what I said lol... On closer inspection I'm not sure it does which is odd?? I know I'm used to driving diesels but always assumed petrol were the same in that respect!? Especially as it's not unheard of to get crap in fuel...

Fuel FILTER.Part Number: 68086606AA ; 68091621AA

Yeah mine was like yours and worked ok if pressed hard... However by wiggling the hinge (as Neil puts it) it now opens much more easily. You should give it a try!

This is probably the most missed item in the service schedule like pollen filters... I always change it at every service and just treat it like any of the other consumables. I'm not sure what the official line is, but with 18k or two years between services I'd say it's a given.

Ah that's good to hear! Yes he's a star, honest, genuine and a real enthusiast too! He's got a nice twinspark GTV as a rolling project and is always looking at Alfa's on eBay to buy... Think he might be addicted like us ha-ha

Who sorted it? Nigel?

Wow he raced with some of the F1 greats like Nikki Louder and James Hunt, what a legend! I bet he has some amazing stories to tell! This is how good the Panda is! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvjSp8wk3wA

Hey you're welcome fella! Nigel's a top bloke. I love those little 4x4 Panda's. They're very capable and great fun in winter especially when you sail past all the BMW and Audi's stuck at the first hint on snow and ice!

Ha-ha good luck with that one!

Did you get the wife's destruction sorted Neil? Or have you still got 'bruised' wheels??

Hi, Sounds like neither garage knew what they were doing to be honest! Compete twonks as it takes about two minutes to reset both counters!! I use Nigel Snape for all my personal and stock cars. He's a Master mechanic, factory trained and ex dealer network so knows his way around anything Italian. He can reset both the oil degradation and mileage lights for you in minutes! All of his details can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/Master-Tech-Vehicle-Services-1503549283203097/

Right well the rebuilt turbo is now back on the car as of today, so hopefully that's the end of it...It's had an oil and filter change at the same time for obvious reasons.... Luckily we were away last week so I didn't miss it too much... Although the Mito got rather more of a thrashing through the Welsh countryside than I think it expected! I had to re-learn how to squeeze everyone of the 95 horses out of the naturally aspirated 1.4 which involved way more gear changing than I'd have liked!! Just for future reference I used Universal Turbo's based in Fordingbridge near the New Forest. My friend James is the Technical Director so managed to pull a few strings and get it overnighted to him, fully rebuilt and sent back last week. I can't fault the service and would highly recommend them should you ever need a turbo rebuilding. I'm also lucky to have found Nigel Snape (Master Technician) factory trained (In Italy) in all things Fiat, Lancia, Alfa etc and now working for himself after 25 years in the dealer network. So in essence the best there is but at independent prices. Win Win!!

When you say 'them' do you mean DTUK or different tech/supplier? So is it your perception that the performance diminishes and the fact you've got used to the power delivery or actual facts from before and after rolling road results? I'm just interested to know as I have never had that problem, other than heat soak over multiple runs on a hub centric rolling road as the first run the air temp is always the coolest. I would love to know which box supplier said they were having problems with DPF as that's a totally new one on me....

Yep and wouldn't be without one to be honest. One of my friends owns DTUK http://www.diesel-performance.co.uk/ There's lots of nonsense out there regarding tuning boxes and a lot of it stems from the remap companies as they don't like the box market stealing their business. I've only ever run Andrew's boxes, so can't comment on the myriad of other product out there. But in the 10 years and 15 cars I've run them on, I've not had any issues at all related from using one. In most cases I've gone a few steps further by increasing the air intake with forced induction, and improved cooling with larger front mounted intercoolers, changed to equally distant manifolds and free flow exhausts, ran water/meth systems and even dry NOS into air intake on a 2.4 5 cylinder diesel Spider... The boxes stay within manufacture parameters, so are a safe bet and well and truly tried and tested...Well DTUK's are... In the Spider I was running 287bhp and 505lbft of torque, so that was close to the gearbox limits, but other than that ran sweet.

Ha-ha seems like a lifetime since I did mine!

Erm good question lol. Think it's only about 35k which is not much really for a turbo failure! Although it is running boost and is driven hard when on the welsh roads around north wales!

My wife's off on a birthday weekend, but might be able to go albeit alone... Also depends on whether the Delta's back on the road with a new turbo as it goes in on the Monday before!

Yeah failure of the Garrett GTB1446VZ is rare but one of my friends is the technical director at Universal Turbo's said they have had a couple in for rebuild from the same 1.6jtdm2 engine out of the Mito. It gets diagnosed on the 22nd, so I'll know for sure then, and get it sent to James if that's the case. Basically when you come off boost the variable veins are catching the case by the sounds of things, so possibly a worn bearing?

Well it looks like my turbo is about to fail! It's still boosting ok, but once the engine is up to temp and when you come off the throttle I get a chatter sound which is getting progressively worse. Rebuilds are coming in around £330 from the better turbo specialists, and new from about £625+vat!! Wish me luck!!

About bloody time!! I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall to see if you 'grimaced' when it popped off lol

No Rosso's '2.0L Limited comes with the double din factory touchscreen navigation as standard, so is different to yours and obviously is good enough not to need changing... I on the other hand have fitted the Navplus 7'' Android touchscreen HU...

Ha-ha you lucky bugger...NOT! That's what you get for having that 'executive' rear seat lol

Yep exactly that... it powers down after a few sec's and is just slightly annoying but not a show stopper! My radio reception was absolutely awful before the booster, so it was well worth the money!

It's just the front's Rosso with the mahoosive wing emblems on, as the rears are just plain...