Interesting advice from US Yugo club re Fiat Engines:

[scooters]

One of the things I have been told about Yugo 45 ownership is that you have to be careful not to run the car at high revs for long periods because the head gasket or water pmp will eventually die. This means that the recommended max speed for a 45 should only be around 60mph according to the advice of several sites, including the UK owners club and elsewhere.

 

TISH! say the YugoUnitedgv group on Yahoo - this from Bill in Florida:

 

 

"FIATs do not break from running them wide open... it's the Italian credo that one must drive as fast as conditions permit, i.e.; flat out all the time. And to quote the late, great Henry N. Manney of Road & Track, "woe unto the maker of a macchina who permits a piston to poke out through the hood (bonnet)."

 

FIATs with aluminum heads (that's nearly every one since WW2) will blow head gaskets if the proper installation/re-torquing is not followed. Some advocate a one-time over-torquing on fitting a new gasket, but I prefer the factory's suggestion of a re-torque to spec after a thousand miles of running. In a million miles of FIATs (the innards of many I've gotten deeply into), I never blew a head gasket. And that includes 633cc and 767cc 600s running 65-70, and an 850 running 75+ for thousands of miles in its 170K before I retired it, still running strongly and perfectly after sixteen years as our "prime mover." Period.

 

I'd suggest installing a new head gasket and doing it properly with the follow-up re-torque. Then run the ears off the little bugger. It won't break. Guaranteed."

 

 

which makes sense to me I wonder if this is one of those 'motoring myths' that have some foundation in truth but are certainly not the norm...you know like: mercedes NEVER Rust or....never touch a K Series Rover....or.....Yugos are the worst car EVA?

[nigel bickle]

Ezperience says that extended high revs pumps all the oil up to the top end..

#

It may be able to do it -but it didnt ''fell right'', and it tended t osmoke thereafter. Your call -natch

[scooters]

Ezperience says that extended high revs pumps all the oil up to the top end..

#

It may be able to do it -but it didnt ''fell right'', and it tended t osmoke thereafter. Your call -natch

 

 

I'd agree with you on that Nige. My theory is that the 903cc engine was designed for 1950's Italian road conditions - so therefore for belting round as fast as you can go on A and B roads and farm tracks but autoroutes were not a feature of the design specification - therefore whilst slamming it around at high revs on a bendy road is fine prolonged hi rev motorway use will result in the symtom you highlighted.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Theres so many factors at work there that I wouldn't even try to understand it, i'd just use it however you feel. Who's to say for example that Serbian-made YUGO water pump bearing surfaces are as finely machined as genuine FIAT ones. Theres no way of knowing, and if there is a difference its quite possible that sustained high-speed running could have a tendency to kill Yugo engines by wearing out the water pump. Or what if the Serbian head gaskets have a slight difference in material properties that makes them a bit more fragile, or a slight difference in the shape of the cast water passages in the cylinder head, I dont know. I'm sure the basic engine design is probably capable of running all day at high speed but theres so many peripheral factors that could have an influence and that you can never understand properly, I wouldnt worry about it. If the HG does pop its an easy and cheap one to replace at least.

 

I imagine the risks of damage to eardrums/spinal cord/sense of humour to be more of a problem after long 'high-speed' Yugo journeys.

[mattblack]

I don't recall any H/G issues with them 'back in the day'

 

Only problem I recall with the water pump was the pulley cracking and coming apart where the 2 halves were spot welded together...

[garethj]

Just drive it as it’s comfortable. My old Renault 8 would hold full speed (a massive 84mph) for as long as the road was clear, but one of my old VWs felt shaky at anything over 60.

 

Recline the seat back a bit, put your elbow on the magnificent vinyl armrest, tilt your head back and look relaxed. This will be much better for other drivers to see than you gritting your teeth with fingers in both ears doing 70mph

[dollywobbler]

It's one of the things that amazes me about the 2CV. Why on earth did those crazy Citroen engineers design the Tin Snail with an engine that was capable of being driven flat out for hours at a time when few other small cars could? I'll drive the 2CV all day at an indicated 70, but wouldn't take my Renault 5 above 60.

 

Similarly, it does indeed seem odd that the rev-happy Italians would design an engine that couldn't hack a bit of high speed work.

[barefoot]

James May said that all Italian cars should be revved & revved until all the little valves jump out of the top of the engine

& perform a little dance on top of the bonnet.

Only then should you change up.

[theorganist]

I don't tend to take the 14 above sixty (apart from the odd burst) as I worry that the engine is working too hard above that speed, it only has four gears. Then again I used to drive my W reg mark 1 Fiesta 1.1 at 85 flat out on the motorway, you couldn't hold a conversation at that speed!

 

I had a G reg Fiat Uno which blew a head gasket, I think it had had a fairly hard life though. I think the mileage was around 90k at the time. It was a great little car though, very smooth and nippy

[M'coli]

Is there any evidence of this being a recurring problem or not? I'd budget for a head gasket and water pump replacement anyway at the age it is - the gasket will probably have rotted and the grease and seals in the pump will have gone dry.

 

Edit: could the problem experienced by Nigel be caused by the oil return drains being full of congealed carbon-infested oil because maintenance schedules weren't adhered to by previous owners?

[CreepingJesus]

I'd go with it. I've never tried a Fiat group engine yet, from pint size petrols to 13 litre diesels, that didn't respond to getting caned.

FWIW, the ex-neighbour who had a 45 used to drive hers that way. It only had 3 gears, and never got near a motorway (not that there's much of that in Fife anyway). I only changed the cambelt at her request, 'cos there was no record of it ever being done. Ditto for the head gasket.

There are probly a few bits of Yugo which will be tricky to replace - the engine ain't one of them.

[scooters]

parts avaliability is ok club has loads and sources others from Serbia - all the oily bits very cheap as are body panels - the caramac interior fittings are avaliable but more expensive. Surprisingly the likes of Unipart still carry quite a lot of parts - they don't seem to have clicked that there are none of the cars left.

 

I suspect he car the usual 2 mile runs under its first owner and under Nige I know it had some decent squirts along the south coast as he used it as his winter driver. I've obviously caned it up from the south and also used it round here as a daily - tomorrow we are going to Nothumbria for a few days and I have to go to Seaham for a meeting on Monday afternoon - as we have quite a lot of luggage to take we'll have to take the two cars. An opportunity for another blast.

 

 

I put far too much redex in it the other day and there is white smoke on pulling away and reversing - getting less the more I use it. Oil is a good healthy colour so suspect insides are clean - does like about 1/2 a lt every 400 -500 miles though, I have moved onto 15 40.

 

I will probably do some mechanical fettling before the winter including replacing the air filter box and PCV pipes and I may even takle a top end decoke/rebuild p more for fun than anything else. Wather pumps cost £12.50 so I may bung one in anyway. Lots of Mayo under the rad cap and in the expansion tank but this is from a lifetime of Womens Institute meetings

[Vin]

The 903 in my Panda 45 is fairly responsive to the odd 70mph stint although it's happy at 60. Like most small engines, it drinks more if you 'thrash' it though.

 

If my Panda is anything to go by then I can well believe you are having great fun with the Yugo.

[warren t claim]

For reasons best known to herself, Mother Claim has asked me to look at a Fiat Seicento for her. It's a 1999 model with the 899 version of the 903cc Wop A Series (Serie A!) pushrod lump fitted. Are HGF problems still an issue with this engine?

[fiatdaft]

no,but fucked hydraulic tappets are.