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Jowettdriver

Member

From: Norwich

Registered: 2018-09-27

Posts: 15

New member saying hello ... and a couple of questions

Hi All,

So my names Tim and I have just bought a 2004 Fiat Scudo 2.0 JTD SX. Paid £900 for it, 107,000 miles, straight body work and clean cab area but needs a little bit of love.

A little about myself, I run a small engineering business (one man band) so making/fixing bits etc is not an issue for me. I'm a pretty competent mechanic having rebuilt engines, gearboxes etc in the past. I've been lurking for the past couple of weeks after finally letting my beloved E39 BMW go, 18 mpg around town and 27ish on a run (petrol) was just not something my small business could afford, oh what fun that car was though!!

So decided a Scudo looked the best option for me, I also own a very tidy and original Fiat Cinquicento, along with a second generation Fiat Ducato that my wife and I converted into a motorhome a few years ago, so do love my Fiats.

So on to my new purchase!

First question is has any one else come across having a clutch pedal with a lot of travel in it because the pivot where the pedal joins the master cylinder is very worn? Looks like I will need to take it apart and possibly sleeve the pivot point.

Second question, Drove it home from Sheffield to Norwich yesterday and it ran very well apart from when nearing norwich all of a sudden the bakes started to bind, both the front wheels equally, not the rears. Pedal also went very hard at this point but i'd say thats expected with how hot they were. This morning they seem to have released because I can roll it forward on my drive with no effort at all. I have read about possible issues with the cross shaft needing lubricating or the brake servo adjusting, just wondered if anyone else had had the same issues and how they'd fixed them? (I have searched but not much seems to have come up on this forum).

Thirdly, I have a garage bill to say it has just had its cambelt done, but from the itemised bill I can see they only replaced the belt, not the idlers or water pump. Is this normal? In the past i've always tended to replace the water pump and idlers as a matter of course, but I don't know these engines at all so just wondering what the norm was. I will be giving it a very thorough service over the nest couple of weeks so may well pop the cover off and have a look to make sure it is actually a new belt, not that I don't trust mechanics or anything!!

Sorry for the long winded post, I'll stop there but I expect more questions will pop up in the weeks to come.

Many thanks in advance

Cheers Tim.

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2004 Fiat Scudo 2.0 JTD SX

Casper

Member

From: East Lothian

Registered: 2015-12-20

Posts: 2,180

Re: New member saying hello ... and a couple of questions

Hi Tim. Is you Fiat yellow with red doors? I got the later Siecento for the wife. This is it on the clean day. The for sale picture

As for your issues i dont know. Just thought i would say hi. Only issue i had with brakes was coming down the hills in the Black Forrest Germany where they were overheating and i did get a hard peddle. Pulled over and let things cool and they were all good again but i had the 1.9 non turbo Expert

That ended up being to small as a camper for two and a rottie so sold it for an LDV convoy and did a throw together conversion as being a Jock i like things cheap

Welcome

Casper

Member

From: East Lothian

Registered: 2015-12-20

Posts: 2,180

Re: New member saying hello ... and a couple of questions

Oh aye. I would have change the belt as a kit also but as its now done cheap i would just roll with it and any signs at a later date of parts failing change straight away as a kit.

Jowettdriver

Member

From: Norwich

Registered: 2018-09-27

Posts: 15

Re: New member saying hello ... and a couple of questions

Thanks for the welcome!

No our Cinquecento is Red, we bought it from an old lady who had owned it from new and done a whopping 29,000 miles in it in 22 years. We've put 10,000 miles on it in 18 months - poor thing doesn't know whats hit it!!

Just a quick update, on the binding brakes it looks like someone has had the master cylinder changed at some point and whoever fitted it had no idea about adjusting the servo push rod to suit the new master cylinder. It was protruding 3.5mm to far, which wasn't allowing the master cylinder to return back far enough to open the transfer port that stops pressure build up when the brakes warm up in normal driving, so slowly the pressure was increasing, causing the brakes to bind more and a viscous circle was started. All sorted now, with a full fluid change and new front discs and pads. I wouldn't trust the old ones as they had been thoroughly cooked

I'll leave the timing belt for now but when i have time I think i'll take it off and replace it with a new belt kit and waterpump, just for my own peace of mind.

Cheers Tim

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2004 Fiat Scudo 2.0 JTD SX