Technical Brownish grease on dipstick, and blueish stuff on battery (Fiat Panda 2015)

[hapveg]

I've just checked the oil on my 2015 Fiat Panda Pop and the dipstick has some light brown grease on it, and some little 'water' droplets. It hasn't rained in a couple of days.

The battery also has some blueish powder on the red terminal.

I last checked the oil in September, and it was really, really low (nothing on the dipstick, that was the first time I've ever had to top it up). In October it was MOT'd and I told them I'd had to top up the oil and asked for oil change / new filter. I've never seen anything like this on the dipstick or battery before.

Should I be worrying about this, or is it just some kind of preventative stuff used by the garage?

 

[FiatMatt94]

The blueish powder on the battery terminal is corrosion, that looks to be the original battery as well, it's done very well to last 9 years if it is, as for the dipstick it could be either the car does a lot of short distance journeys where it doesn't get time to fully warm up or worst case scenario it could be head gasket failure as it looks like mixture of oil & water, typically known as mayo

 

[hapveg]

Thank you,

it's still got the original battery, and the car does a lot of short distances, very rarely over 3 miles per trip. It only goes on the motorway maybe twice a year. 20k miles in 9 years.

I've had reoccurring problems since 2018 where if the car is idle (especially on a hill) the Check Engine light comes on and I'll get a high idle noise and error messages ("Tyre Pressure Monitoring Unavailable, ESC unavailable, Hill Holder unavailable). An OBD2 gave an error code of P0101 or P0106 (both linked to MAP/MAF).

Turning the engine off and on usually fixes it for a day.

For those errors my garage told me to take it on the motorway at 2am and go as fast as I can. Doing that stops the error for about a year.

I'll take it for a good drive soon.

 

[hapveg]

I've got wire brushes and set of spanners.

Should I be cleaning the corrosion off the battery, or leave it all alone? (will use insulated gloves).

 

[FiatMatt94]

Sounds like it just needs a really good run, the terminals could be cleaned up & then put vaseline on the battery terminals which will stop corrosion.

Thank you,

I've had reoccurring problems since 2018 where if the car is idle (especially on a hill) the Check Engine light comes on and I'll get a high idle noise and error messages ("Tyre Pressure Monitoring Unavailable, ESC unavailable, Hill Holder unavailable). An OBD2 gave an error code of P0101 or P0106 (both linked to MAP/MAF).

As for these other issues I had the exact same last year & it turned out to be a faulty earth strap which goes from the gearbox to the body or could be the battery itself given the age of it, the original Fiat battery's never last anywhere near this long usually, mine gave out at just over 3 years old, one word of advice though with the battery is to buy a well know branded part such as Bosch, Varta etc & not a cheap one as the electric dual drive power steering relies heavily on power from the battery to work efficiently

 

[hapveg]

Thank you very much for the advice.

 

[Herts Hillhopper]

That collection of error codes is the classic ‘needs a new battery’ indicator. Owing to low or unreliable voltage, especially when turning the starter, the various sensors give ‘false errors’ - for some reason ESC and Hill Holder are normally the first to show.

 

[hapveg]

Eurocarparts have a Lion 012 40Ah, 330cca battery for £44

or a Bosch 012 52Ah, 470cca for £92

or a Varta 012 52Ah, 470cca for £112

I'm assuming I should avoid the weaker Lion and go with the Bosch? I'm planning on keeping the car for as long as possible.

 

[The Panda Nut]

The sealed crank case system on the Panda tends to generate mayo. I have a catch can fitted in the crank case breather system. It stops this building up in normal use and the water is collected in a little pot I empty weekly. The oil remoans dry. As long as its just condensation on the crankas collecting in the oil this will fix it.

I find a lttle near-boiling water tipped onto the battery terminals looses the corrosion. A little spray of the battery terminals with white lithium grease keeps it at bay.

I would go for the bigger capacity battery as it will perform better for you in cold weather, as long as the price is good. I think the smaller battery is good for the 169 which can be fitter with either , model dependant.. The Panda 319 is fitted with the higher capacity battery. Probably because its just bigger and heavier - more in keeping with the cake fed Panda look. I put the bigger battery on our 169 a year ago and it has been good.

Halfords do a price match and I have found they honour it. They match internet prices taken within the previous 24 hrs, They offered me an extra sum (I think £10 off in addition if I signed up fro their discount club. This cost nothing other than a few emails of offer, that you can unsubscribe frol easily. This made them cheapest and I happen to like Yuasa batteries as they were and may still be original equipment for Honda. Thats a good enough recommendation for me. I think I bought the battery with a 4 year warranty.

 

[The Panda Nut]

Thank you,

it's still got the original battery, and the car does a lot of short distances, very rarely over 3 miles per trip. It only goes on the motorway maybe twice a year. 20k miles in 9 years..
I've had reoccurring problems since 2018 where if the car is idle (especially on a hill) the Check Engine light comes on and I'll get a high idle noise and error messages ("Tyre Pressure Monitoring Unavailable, ESC unavailable, Hill Holder unavailable). An OBD2 gave an error code of P0101 or P0106 (both linked to MAP/MAF).

Turning the engine off and on usually fixes it for a day.

For those errors my garage told me to take it on the motorway at 2am and go as fast as I can. Doing that stops the error for about a year.

I'll take it for a good drive soon.

Thats not the best idea!! Excessive speed will not charge the battery any more than a sensible run of 50 miles or so. KIt will get you booked and points on your license. AN alternator in good condition will charge at maximum at 2000rpm going mad will not increase the output in any meaningful way.

 

[FiatMatt94]

Eurocarparts have a Lion 012 40Ah, 330cca battery for £44

or a Bosch 012 52Ah, 470cca for £92

or a Varta 012 52Ah, 470cca for £112

I'm assuming I should avoid the weaker Lion and go with the Bosch? I'm planning on keeping the car for as long as possible.

Bosch or Varta are both good, avoid the Lion battery as from personal experience with other cars they're not very good, if you go to a site called battery megastore you should be able to get the same battery for a fraction of the cost of Euro car parts with fast free delivery

 

[Cornish Ian]

Thank you,

it's still got the original battery, and the car does a lot of short distances, very rarely over 3 miles per trip. It only goes on the motorway maybe twice a year. 20k miles in 9 years.

I've had reoccurring problems since 2018 where if the car is idle (especially on a hill) the Check Engine light comes on and I'll get a high idle noise and error messages ("Tyre Pressure Monitoring Unavailable, ESC unavailable, Hill Holder unavailable). An OBD2 gave an error code of P0101 or P0106 (both linked to MAP/MAF).

Turning the engine off and on usually fixes it for a day.

For those errors my garage told me to take it on the motorway at 2am and go as fast as I can. Doing that stops the error for about a year.

I'll take it for a good drive soon.

Sounds like a battery maintenance charger might be useful for you. If a normal car battery is allowed to discharge to 50% capacity or lower it will significantly reduce its life. Any alarm or immobiliser will make things worse and would drain even your new fully charged battery to a dangerously low level in a few weeks of inactivity. Even without an alarm etc it sounds like your car doesn’t get enough running to fully preserve your batteries health, so a top up charge say once a week would preserve your new batteries health. Cheaper than going for a long run just to charge the battery.

 

[Herts Hillhopper]

In passing, another example of why only very short journeys and overall low annual mileage is bad news for cars in general. Engines need to get fully warm to evaporate away the natural moisture (basically condensation) that ends up inside them. What you are seeing is where that water mixes with oil vapours and forms an emulsion of slime. A 'decent' run at least once a week will prevent that. Very low use also means the exhaust will rot from the inside as it too will collect condensation. Brakes also need to be 'exercised' to keep not only the pads and discs, but all the moving parts too, in good health.

As to battery charging, as mentioned above, it's not the speed of the car but how long a run it gets in terms of running time that gets the battery recharged. A 20-30 minute drive on a variety roads (slow, fast, hilly etc) at least once a week is good for minimising all these issues.

 

[Herts Hillhopper]

Bosch or Varta are both good, avoid the Lion battery as from personal experience with other cars they're not very good, if you go to a site called battery megastore you should be able to get the same battery for a fraction of the cost of Euro car parts with fast free delivery

Also worth looking at Tayna Batteries online - very competitive prices and next day delivery to the door. For info, the original fit battery was probably made by Exide - but any 'good' brand will do.

Check that this is the correct one before ordering, but here's examples of Tanya's prices for the battery for a 1.2 Panda https://www.tayna.co.uk/car-batteries/types/002l/

 

[FiatMatt94]

Also worth looking at Tayna Batteries online - very competitive prices and next day delivery to the door. For info, the original fit battery was probably made by Exide - but any 'good' brand will do.

Check that this is the correct one before ordering, but here's examples of Tanya's prices for the battery for a 1.2 Panda https://www.tayna.co.uk/car-batteries/types/002l/

I forgot all about Tayna batteries , I think my Varta was £59 delivered if I remember rightly

 

[hapveg]

I'd like to thank you all.

Websites like this are the gems of the internet, a mostly clueless newbie can ask a question, and get good advice from 4 internet strangers.

I hope you all have a week as wonderful as you are.