First Time Delta Owner

[JH88]

Hi All,

 

This last Sunday I completed the purchase of a 2011 Lancia Delta 1.8L turbo (petrol).

I spent roughly a month looking for a family vehicle that was not your regular run-of-the-mill 5-door/station wagon cars.

Quick run down of the vehicle specs:

Year: 2011

Mileage: 108,800kms

Engine: 1.8L petrol Turbo

Colour: Black

Transmission: Automatic

Model: Elegante (dual panoramic sunroof with opening sunroof on drivers' side), Electronic seat adjustment + Heated seats for front seats.

Previous owner had the ECU tweaked to boost power from 200hp to 250hp. Original owner replaced all 4 brakes housings with Brembos, not sure regarding the discs though.

Car is very clean inside with minor signs of wear and tear. External Lancia badges have faded unfortunately.

 

All in all, I'm very proud to be the owner of such a beautiful vehicle.

 

Now I have a few questions for you guys:

A) What mechanical issues should I keep my eye out for? Previous owner said the turbo was replaced at 80,000 kms, timing was done at 90,000kms and last service (fluids + filters) at 105,000 kms.

 

  The shifter knob has been badly abused and needs replacing. I have attempted to search online but with no success. Local Fiat/Alfa service centre told me the part itself would cost roughly 600 Israeli Shekels (about 125 GBP). This to me seems stupidly high. Any suggestions?

 

C) All 4 tyres should be replaced, urgency on the rears. What brand would you guys recommend that can give a good quality performance at an acceptable price?

 

D) For the Modifiers: What performance modifications would you recommend that don't require oodles of hours in a shop? I was thinking about starting with dampeners and springs to get better some better handling. I'd also like to tweak the throttle response in low revs, when gradually applying throttle from a traffic light there seems to be a 1-2 second delay between pressing the accelerator and the engine waking up. A full exhaust system for a more throaty noise would be nice, not something that can financially be done right now, but a project for the future - happy to get some recommendations for kits + sellers. Is it worth investing into the air intake system at an early stage? What would you do for the most Bang for your Buck in regards to intake? 

 

E) Is there a dedicated section for uploading pics of our vehicles?

 

Looking forward to participating in the forum and enjoy many thousands of kms on my new toy 

 

Josh

[JH88]

After looking around multiple tyre shops and comparing prices, I've decided to close on Dunlop SP FM800's.

I've read good reviews online and also compared the FM800 to the Asymmetric 3 on tyrereviews.co.uk, the FM800 seems to do a bit better on paper.

 

FM800 is coming in at 95 GBP. Is that an expensive price? The Asymmetric is 10 GBP more.

[Nello]

I could not see those Dunlops on Blackcircles? Not sure what supplier you use or have access to over there - Asymetrics come in around £82 here for me.

[JH88]

I could not see those Dunlops on Blackcircles? Not sure what supplier you use or have access to over there - Asymetrics come in around £82 here for me.

 

Gotta keep in mind that we unfortunately have high import taxes

[JH88]

I've had the following warning lights come on since Monday:

- Hill Holder unavailable

- Steering Column Assist unavailable

- ESP unavailable.

 

Anyone experienced all three of these at the same time before? I'm heading going to the mechanic tomorrow to check it out anyway to be safe.

 

On top of this, there seems to be a leak in the air conditioning drainage. Water is dripping from somewhere at the bottom of the centre console into the passenger side footwell. The plastic panel has been taken away and the drainage hose got a few good shots of high pressure air to clear out any blockages, but still dripping. Any thoughts?

[Andrewgrale]

I've had the following warning lights come on since Monday:

- Hill Holder unavailable

- Steering Column Assist unavailable

- ESP unavailable.

 

Anyone experienced all three of these at the same time before? I'm heading going to the mechanic tomorrow to check it out anyway to be safe.

 

(MOST LIKELY A BATTERY OR A BAD CONNECTION)

 

 

On top of this, there seems to be a leak in the air conditioning drainage. Water is dripping from somewhere at the bottom of the centre console into the passenger side footwell. The plastic panel has been taken away and the drainage hose got a few good shots of high pressure air to clear out any blockages, but still dripping. Any thoughts?

 

(I'M NOT SURE WHERE THE SYSTEM DRAINS AWAY WATER GATHERED FROM THE AIR CON, BUT CHECK THE OUTSIDE DRAINS TOO, I HAVE SEEN THEM CLOG WITH SILT AND BITS OF LEAVES)

 

 

Hope that helps

[JH88]

So this is where I currently stand. My vehicle is spending the night at the mechanics'. Went in for new dampeners and the suspension controller arm (i think that's what it's called, the base piece of the Macpherson front suspension). All parts had been pre-order and had arrived. Once the mechanic started taking the dampener out we noticed that the dampener mounting was completely ruined.

The new part was ordered but arrived late in the afternoon, so work will only start tomorrow morning

 

In the mean time, Dunlop SP FM800 tyres were fitted.. we'll find out soon how they are.

 

In addition to this, I am still searching for an online store that can sell me a replacement automatic gear knob (part number 55344680). I have located 3 stores, Poland, Netherlands and Ukraine, but none of them ship internationally. I literally have my credit card in my hand ready to pay but no-one wants my money...

 

No update yet on the air conditioning leak.

Apparently my coolant temperature sensor has also died.. When I drive, the  coolant temperature indicator raises and lowers at will. Sometimes I can be driving for 20 mins and it still has the indicator pointing at 6 o'clock.

 

If anyone has a site to buy the gear knob online, please let me know. Other than that, updates will come

Edited June 28, 2018 by JH88

[Nello]

JH - Pretty sure I have had those errors before - though only temporarily. Are they on permanently? I have found that cars with Canbus systems - you need to treat them like Operating systems on your PC. When starting the car I always switch on the ignition then wait a few seconds to allow Canbus to 'read' its circuits before firing the engine. This has prevented any errors you may get if you start the car too quickly (that's my theory anyway.) I'm going to be away with work for a few days but if you are really struggling to get that Gearknob I could ask my local Fiat dealer for you?

Obviously it may also cost a little to send on to Israel but may work out cheaper ordering from here? Do you want me to try? Just double check that's the right Part number you need as I don't think they allow returns.

Edited June 29, 2018 by Nello

[JH88]

Thanls for the offer Nello, I sorted out an order through a polish fiat/lancia/alfa dealer. Highly recommend! Their website is http://www.autoczescisklep.com/it's all in polish, but if you contact them via email they have salespeople that write in perfect english. I ended up paying 600 zloty (about 120GBP) including shipping.

 

Regarding the warning lights, they are not always on. My mechanic thinks it may have had something to do with the suspension mount, as they appear much less often now that it is all fixed.

Air conditioning drips have been fixed. Turned out there was some kind of blockage behind the dashboard (access on LHD is through passenger footwell). The water built up and had spilt over into the cabin filter (Pollen filter? Air con filter?) and was dripping from there. New cabin filter and a good shot of air pressure  has cleared everything out.

[Nello]

Great stuff  have we seen any photos of your car 

[JH88]

Back on page 1 i posted two pics. Haven't got any recent shots... desperately need to give her a wash first. Only problem with a black car (especially Lancia special black), she needs a clean constantly.

[JH88]

A few weeks have gone past and finally the new gear knob i ordered from Poland has arrived.

Two problems:

 

1) The black central section of the gear knob has not been installed correctly and sits on an angle. I attempted to fix this by pushing the corner back into place but no success. Thought about completely removing the black section and trying to install it correctly myself, but possibly breaking it and then having to buy another one (124 GBP!) plus wait an additional 3 weeks for delivery held me back. 

I'm thinking that once it's installed it won't be such an issue, what do you guys think?

 

2) The nice guy who owned the car before me didn't want to spend the money needed to replace the gear knob, so he decided that a whole lot of epoxy would simply do the trick.. (it didn't).  Now I'm stuck with trying to remove epoxy in order to install the new knob..  any one got any ideas? This is the rubbish that needs removing.

Edited July 24, 2018 by JH88

[MikeyRules]

A few weeks have gone past and finally the new gear knob i ordered from Poland has arrived.

Two problems:

 

1) The black central section of the gear knob has not been installed correctly and sits on an angle. I attempted to fix this by pushing the corner back into place but no success. Thought about completely removing the black section and trying to install it correctly myself, but possibly breaking it and then having to buy another one (124 GBP!) plus wait an additional 3 weeks for delivery held me back. 

I'm thinking that once it's installed it won't be such an issue, what do you guys think?

http://cdn.chryslerforum.co.uk/public/style_images/defraction/attachicon.gif20180724_181330.jpg

http://cdn.chryslerforum.co.uk/public/style_images/defraction/attachicon.gif20180724_181343.jpg

http://cdn.chryslerforum.co.uk/public/style_images/defraction/attachicon.gif20180724_181351.jpg

 

2) The nice guy who owned the car before me didn't want to spend the money needed to replace the gear knob, so he decided that a whole lot of epoxy would simply do the trick.. (it didn't).  Now I'm stuck with trying to remove epoxy in order to install the new knob..  any one got any ideas? This is the rubbish that needs removing.

http://cdn.chryslerforum.co.uk/public/style_images/defraction/attachicon.gifDamage.jpg

Did you manage to fix it in the end?

[JH88]

Haven't had time to dedicate to it unfortunately. I'm planning on doing it together with my mechanic just to be safe.

I'll take some pics along the way and post when it's complete.