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2003 Fiat Stilo JTD 128.8k few months MOT £2.75 a ticket


bramz7

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Christ, don’t envy you attempting that one.

 

Mine was exactly the same tho, drove 100% better afterwards. Ended up changing both rear springs on mine at the same time as one had snapped right at the end.

 

Oh and the back box on mine had almost entirely lost its outer layer, I wouldn’t worry, it managed the 18 months we had it like that.

 

Blanking off the EGR with a 2p coin also had ours running better. Doesn’t bring the EML on either.

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Yo bollox are you making your own tofu?

 

It's quite satisfying to rebush cars and make them drive like almost new.

 

I know someone who had two Stilo JTD estates in their family, they didn't seem to have any issues with them over 200k miles and they didn't rust even exposed to the billions of tons of road salt the authorities put on the roads here.

A better Golf made in Italy that's totally overlooked and ignored.

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  • 4 weeks later...

They really are a surprisingly decent old crate these.  I've been half-arsedly keeping my eye out for an estate version to use as a work car and general hack, but it seems to be quite difficult to find one as specced up as yours - cruise and climate appear to have been options that few Stilo buyers ticked.

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The cruise is shite on this. It 'works', but unless the engine is doing a bit of work, i.e. going uphill or resuming a previous speed, the engine feels like it's only running on 2 cylinders, it's really rough and you end up doing a 'nodding dog's motion, it's well annoying.

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Think I'll look out for a cheap Stilo in winter, they're decent hacks. Plenty in the bargain basement searches I have.

good winter hack indeed,cheap to buy,cheap to run and don't piss water in or rot like the more popular so called quality cars (VW golfs),my Jtd 3door is very good in the snow and after 8 years ownership has averaged 55 mpg,it will be a very hard act to follow.
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  • 1 month later...

Clocked up 7000 miles in this now!!! To celebrate I took it to the air con man to have the AC looked at.

 

He pressurised it and identified a perforated aluminium pipe running across the bulkhead. Just chafed through over 135,000 miles I guess. Looking around I cant find a new pipe, and it looks an absolut bast to change anyway. So I've bought some 10mm copper pipe, a bending tool, some 10mm compression fittings and a tube of loctite 243 sealant. I'm going to chop out the manky bit and splice in a new section. Can anyone think of any reasons why this won't work?

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Yeah the copper pipe itself is good up to like 1000+psi, and the AC only gets up to ~300 on a really hot day seemingly. I reckon the compression joints are gonna experience an axial pull of about 10-12kg, I reckon they should hold at that. I've spent £30 on stuff to fix it so it's worth a gamble I reckon.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Done 8000 miles in this already would you believe. Did a quick oil change on it today. Made a bit of mess but not too terrible. £25 delivered for some ECP 5/40 Semi synthetic plus a Bosch filter off eBay, not bad eh.

 

Got some pipe & fittings too so I am gonna have a look at the AC pipe tomorrow and try to splice in a new bit.

post-24-0-58797900-1534626994_thumb.jpg

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Top bombing Wing Commander Bolls.

 

I remember the advert for these when they first came out. I can't remember what the advertised features were, but they were very fancy and made we wish I could afford a new car.

 

You're all set to do the suspension bushes on a series land rover now after that job.

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So today I had a look at this air con pipe. It must be one of the very first bits they attach to the painted bodyshell as it runs across the bulkhead and various fuel and other pipes are installed over the top of it!!! I have spent about 2 hours with one arm down the back of the engine like flippin James Herriott. I had to saw it off, and then saw it in half again in situ to get the bits out. Here it is on the bench:

 

IMG_20180819_193541194.jpg

 

It was leaking just south of where I had chopped it in half where the aluminium had corroded. I decided to replace pretty much the whole stretch of pipe. I'd bought some 10mm copper pipe, and some 10mm compression fittings from Screwfix!!!! Started like so:

 

IMG_20180819_194746206.jpg

 PLently of loctite to hopefully work like a sealant on the joints.

 

Joined it like so:

IMG_20180819_195809288.jpg

 

 

The copper pipe was quite bendy so I cut it 'over length' and tried to fit it so I could trim the length to suit. No pics of me trying to fit it cos there was nothing to see really, all the action was well out of sight down the back of the motor. I spent about an hour trying to get it to clip into the original clips but it just wouldnt have it. I hate loose pipes and missing clips and so on - eventually I modified a couple of the original clipping points and got it in nice and solid using them and some cable ties. Also bought some new O-rings for the bulkhead joint but typically none were the right size so the old one has gone back in with some red rubber grease on it. Here it is half-installed:

 

 

IMG_20180819_201804863.jpg

 

The routing is similar but it doesnt go behind the fuel pipes any more!!!

 

Here it is right down the back of the enigne:

 

P1080844.jpg

 

IMG_20180819_201812552.jpg

 

P1080843.jpg

 

Eventually I got it all clipped in and connected up the top end. I must say I'm quite pleased with it!!!! It certainly looks liike quite a decent repair. The aircon man might take one look at it and laugh his bollocks off ("Domestic plumbing fittings? fucking LOL mate!!!!') but I did my best eh. We'll find out Thursday as I have it booked in for another pressure test and hopefully regas!!!! Fingers crossed!!!

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Just been to the Aircon dude. Made him promise not to laugh at my 'repair'. To be fair he didn't laugh and actually looked quite impressed when he leak tested it and saw that you really could fix an Aircon system with ordinary household plumbing fittings!!!

 

Anyway he gassed it up, we tested it and the compressor sprang straight into life and within 30 secs it was blowing at 9 Deg C. Re-checked my connections again when it was fully charged and they seem leak-free. WIN! I've just driven home freezing my bollocks off in the first car I've ever owned with actual working air conditioning!!!! Bloody fantastic!!!

 

Total cost for everything, leak testing (2), pipe, fittings, regas & test: about £70! Bwargain!!!

post-24-0-12383100-1535050516_thumb.jpg

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Just totted up that this thing owes me £590 altogether although I have done 8000 miles in it, giving an ownership cost of 7.4p/mile, plus fuel. Unless something dire happens I should be able to get a lot of miles done without too much additional expense though hopefully. Suppose I might do the cambelt on it soon if I am feeling energetic.

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