Fiat Croma Owna (+ other car related occurrences)

[jmsguzzi]

18 minutes ago, Bstardchild said:

Definately ^ WD40 is rubbish for idle control valves that are sticky

If you don't have an ultrasonic bath and some solvent - manual method is normally quite effective

Remove it - 50% fill with carb cleaner

Fingers over holes - agitate for a few mins

Drain - note colour of liquid removed

Repeat until carb cleaner coming out after agitation is nearly same colour as new stuff going in

Unbeknownst to me we’ve had carb cleaner in the garage for the guzzi this whole time, so I’ll try cleaning it again on Monday. Also bought a multimeter today to check if there’s actually power getting to it.

[Bstardchild]

1 hour ago, jmsguzzi said:

Unbeknownst to me we’ve had carb cleaner in the garage for the guzzi this whole time, so I’ll try cleaning it again on Monday. Also bought a multimeter today to check if there’s actually power getting to it.

They are effectively a stepper motor - people clean the valve end with spray cleaners but don’t realise that the motor and commutator are also exposed - hence the 50 % fill up and agitate process - they were notoriously shit on senators and carlton 12v & 24v engines having normally done 100 k miles without being touched - proper clean and they are good for another 100k

[jmsguzzi]

Looks like the previous owner decided that his Fiat needed a bit of added BL quality*...

[jmsguzzi]

The roffle C3 is serving me well, over 150 miles covered today and it even got to meet it’s piss coloured brother. Pix for @eddyramrod as requested!

[eddyramrod]

Yay!  Good to see it getting some action :)

[jmsguzzi]

Progress on the Croma is slow but steady, fitted new thermo + coolant temp sensor yesterday so she’s getting up to temp now. Don’t expect much else to be done until I move the C3 on, 2 car insurance ain’t pretty when ur driving license is only 3 months old!

[omegod]

There was a Croma buried, and I mean fooking buried in an old yard near me, put up pics of any unotanium trim stuff and I'll see what I can scavenge for you , I'll likely get cut up I'll take one for the team.  

[jmsguzzi]

15 hours ago, omegod said:

There was a Croma buried, and I mean fooking buried in an old yard near me, put up pics of any unotanium trim stuff and I'll see what I can scavenge for you , I'll likely get cut up I'll take one for the team.  

True hero, off the top of my head there’s a cover to the right of the steering wheel that’s missing and this scuttle trims knackered anarl. I’m not desperate for em though if it’s a PITA to get to!

[jmsguzzi]

Well it wouldn’t be autoshite if both my cars weren’t disposing of their oil a lot faster than they should be, this is the present the C3 left me this morning.... after sticking a litre in last night.

Luckily the Cromas not losing anywhere near as much.... for now.

[jmsguzzi]

Well the roffle win C3 was moved on today after an MOT fail,  big oil leak made it unviable for me and I got a decent offer from a mechanic I know. Next task will be getting the Croma daily driver ready.

[Macscrooge]

Loving the Croma - especially that upholstery!  

[Dick Cheeseburger]

Only just spotted this. You're living the dream if this is your almost first car and you're only twenty three. I can only assume you have to beat away all the interested ladies  with large balls of pizza dough. 

I still have a lasting memory of being in the back of a Croma in Brittany in about 1990. I was mid teens and on a French exchange. It seemed a pretty rapid car at the time and would have been only a couple of years old I guess. I still can't believe yours looks so tidy despite its age. What a find. 

 

[eddyramrod]

Bloody hell, what a fail list!  I almost feel guilty now, I didn't see any of that coming at all.

[cobblers]

4 minutes ago, eddyramrod said:

Bloody hell, what a fail list!  I almost feel guilty now, I didn't see any of that coming at all.

Not much of a fail really, two 75p bulbs, a £3 wiper blade, swap the spare tyre on and  spend £2 on the jet wash at tesco to clear some of the oil off.

[Floatylight]

Not much of a fail really, two 75p bulbs, a £3 wiper blade, swap the spare tyre on and  spend £2 on the jet wash at tesco to clear some of the oil off.

Smoll FL's had quite an oil leak, the sump had gone porous - £40 for a new one..

Sent from my SM-A505FN using Tapatalk

[jmsguzzi]

On 2/4/2020 at 11:21 PM, cobblers said:

Not much of a fail really, two 75p bulbs, a £3 wiper blade, swap the spare tyre on and  spend £2 on the jet wash at tesco to clear some of the oil off.

Jet wash did nowt trust me, oil leak was a head off reskimming job, I was advised by two trusted mechanics not to bother. Common problem on these apparently.

[jmsguzzi]

Had the Croma into a mechanic today because the steering rack was hanging on for dear life by only one bolt. Had a few more issues diagnosed properly, I definitely need a new idle control valve which is simple enough, plenty on eBay. I also need to source a new Speedo transducer and washer motor which is proving a little more difficult, can any shiters help out??

[Jds1]

Try here https://www.ricambio.co.uk/ worth an email or phonecall.

[jmsguzzi]

Finally managed to get the Croma running as a useable daily. It’ll sometimes throw a fit when idling and drop down to 600rpm or so but a blip of the throttle seems to sort that. A new eBay sourced idle control valve seemed to be faulty, luckily it was refunded and I can make do with the old unit for now. Anyway I went out with my new Pentax and accidentally* managed to use a whole roll of film on it!

[Jim Bell]

Looks great man. Good shooting. 

[jmsguzzi]

Pics worthy of the eBay tat thread with the amount of times I didn’t get the whole car in frame ?

[RobT]

I love this thread.

Taking photos of your 1988 Fiat Croma with a Pentax has a winning quality about it too (in my mind they are a bygone brand, but evidently not after a quick search).

[eddyramrod]

I love those photos!  They belong in an early 90s Italian gangland thriller :)

[jmsguzzi]

2 hours ago, RobT said:

I love this thread.

Taking photos of your 1988 Fiat Croma with a Pentax has a winning quality about it too (in my mind they are a bygone brand, but evidently not after a quick search).

The Pentax is actually how I came to own the Car. Won the camera on ebay and when I went to collect it this was outside, belonged to the camera sellers deceased Dad!

[stilo_active]

What a fantastic thread. That Croma is lovely. 

[jmsguzzi]

Washers haven’t worked since I got it, nothing from the motor, track down new old stock bottle with motor, fit it, still nowt, faff on taking off the wheel to have a mess about with the stalks, still nowt, refit old motor that I’d previously tried everything to get to work....

Bingo!

 

IMG_3229.MOV

[lanciamatt]

I will be the earth points on front 

[jmsguzzi]

34 minutes ago, lanciamatt said:

I will be the earth points on front 

Cleaned them up a while ago, knocked a couple of warning lights off for is.

[Dabooka]

Just caught up on this thread, and it's been a great read for a great find. Hope you get the washer working.

Where in Sunderland are you? Just roughly, I'm not going to stalk the Chroma. ?

 

[jmsguzzi]

11 hours ago, Dabooka said:

Just caught up on this thread, and it's been a great read for a great find. Hope you get the washer working.

Where in Sunderland are you? Just roughly, I'm not going to stalk the Chroma. ?

 

I'm in Seaburn!

Looks like the vid of my washers working only shows up properly on mobile.