Latest updates

£1,190 for a new A/C condenser... mine has a very big stone damaged section inside one of the front lower grilles.... They can't claim it under warranty as it'd be too obviously damaged. That's a (very expensive) shame.

Most likely next week I'll be back at the dealership. Some extremely expensive 'free snacks' and time spent in that waiting lounge....

What can you do? I suppose this could happen to any car. Bank account -10, Lexus 1.

Motore T16 Sostituzione pompa acqua cinghie e distribuzione con Rettifica testata e sostituzione guarnizione testa

Restauro pinze freni

Sostituzione teste di sterzo e sospensori barra di torsione

Sostituzione ammortizzatori posteriori

Si inizia sempre dalle parti più semplici

Si inizia sempre da smontare la carrozzeria

The rear heatshield has been broken since before I got this car day after I got it I noticed a secondary rattle on the exhaust when you closed the boot or rear doors.

To be fair I filed it under "old car things" and resolved to get on with life.

However I'm incapable of ignoring things longer term it seems so it was investigated at the service.

It was the fixings were slightly knackered

So we now have..

That and having seen the underside video I am tempted to get the underside Lanoguarded before winter.

Two quotes, one to basically go back to metal, paint and apply, 1k (deeply unlikely). Otherwise 350 to tidy it up knock the loose paint off and then apply.

At some point I'll probably convince myself the second one is a good idea, the first is too much on what is still meant to be a cheap family hack.

This thread may be slowly turning into why I'm terrible at bangernomics.

1.Buy disposable car...
2.Slowly rolling resto it over a period of time except for cosmetics because I hate having ongoing issues.
3. Have none disposable car that now owes me as much as if I'd bought a tidy one that still looks a bit shabby.
4.PROFIT?

See also "Triggers Citroën C3" although we had that from new..it also gets far more love and attention than it really deserves.

Permanent Brake Fix
Getting the ABS wire loom section replaced under warranty on Monday. Part came in a few weeks early (yay for Toyota's supply chain). The temporary fix in place this month done by the dealership has kept the fault away - so looks like they correctly found the root issue. Still in awe of any mechanic establishment so efficient at actually finding an intermittent issue, then fixing it for a reasonable cost (just the diagnostic time, warranty covering the part and labour on the job itself). And very chuffed that the brand itself even offers a warranty for a near 100k , near 10 year old car. Putting their money where their mouth is on the reliability claims and that builds real loyalty.

Good Service
A couple of 'car people' I know and at work who I last spoke to a few weeks ago, when in the deep of this and pulling my hair yet, asking if I did sell the car... what a turn around decent service from that dealership has made.

A/C Investigation Continues
More interesting for Monday will be finding out more about the air conditioning system leak. Hopefully something that'll be covered under warranty... if not might be another big lump sum but then that'll be due to stone damage or some other damage which I suppose isn't a fault of the car / design. Just 'one of those things'. A notable memory of my 2017 Panda when I picked it up in 2019 and was blessed with the luxury of real air conditioning, was ice on the windscreen when the demist mode was selected. Never had that on any car since, that little system was working like new still. I wonder post-service, if I can expect the same from the CT. Not sure if it's standard practice but they do a pressure test first before re-gassing as it'd be a waste and from what I hear, bad for the 'o-zone' (remember that?). But for £300 for an AC service (Same as a minor service at the dealer) I'd rather not have the expense literally disappear into thin air.

The guys said they have never seen a Toyota or Lexus done with the proper gas / oil (important for the hybrid specific AC system compressor for some reason) and that a lot of the work they do on older cars tends to be from owners that had them re-gassed elsewhere and the hell that unleashed on the systems operation. Probably worth always being done right.

Small Parts
The other week I broke one of the trim covers under the passenger seat rail hoovering it (forcing the hoover into gaps it wouldn't fit..), pulling it back out cracked it so that's £36 on Monday too on a very weird niche part. eBay / online tended to be the same price so might as well get it new.

Fitted some genuine dust caps again... Royal Mail screwed up the delivery so another set was sent - that's a spare set now too.

What's next
At some stage I'll be booking it in for some panel repairs / front bumper renewed but until all the technical things are sorted and proving to be reliable I can't justify the money on that.

I've forgotten to keep this up to date and have admittedly spammed unrelated threads on blasphemous non-Fiat car drama (sorry!). Nevertheless, time to put all of that into a summary here in the box it belongs within.

March 2025
Brake Booster Fixed Got the car back from Toyota, new brake booster fitted and many more miles added. Another 5,000 mile Oil Change Always a nice little job, genuine oil and filter.

April 2025
Ruined Alloys / TPMS Sensors Had a puncture on a Saturday afternoon, only one tyre shop was still open locally... corroded cheap alloy metal dust caps would not come off. A hacksaw outside Asda later and I got them off, ruining a bit of my alloys in the process but getting it sorted. That week I cut the rest off... absolutely destroying the stems... which are unfortunately attached to the TPMS sensors on these cars. Managed to get away with it in March but later on that came back to bite me...

May 2025
New Front Brake Discs & Pads This was a nice job, the brakes on this car have so many anti-squeal pieces and genuine greases and whatnot to keep them silent. Major Detox / Re-Wax Used AutoGlym stuff this time! Must admit it has stood up well to time and many subsequent washes.

August 2025
Another 6 month Oil Change.

September 2025
Another Puncture. Attempted Tyre Stem Repair I ordered this kit where you drill down and destroy, to re-bond on a new stem. It's designed to save the TPMS sensors on these cars. For £25 per kit all four wheels could be done and sorted to avoid future issue. Or so I thought... first week after I had done them, air was escaping. I re-sealed them. But nope, either the product was crap or my workmanship was. A week later, Four New TPMS Sensors fitted - what a ball ache. Problem sorted for good now.

November 2025
New Wipers Genuine, front and rears. New Cabin Filter of the charcoal variant.

January 2026
A/C Trouble heard a rough sounding noise.. was able to isolate it to the AC option being on/off (not fan noises). Compared it to the Corolla Hybrid in the family... that sounded much happy-computer-working-noises. Brake Faults I also started getting a serious brake fault on and off, disappointingly, the dealership I bought it from decided that they don't provide 12 months warranty on repairs done within the warranty period.

February 2026
Lexus Dealer Service In order to get the Relax Warranty, I booked it in for a minor service. New Battery Put in a new Yuasa battery hoping it'd fix the brake fault issues (allegedly, low voltages can wreak havoc on these with strange issues) - no such luck, but hey, the old battery was weak and now the Nextbase IQ camera can come on and off all night long without hitting a low voltage limit.

March 2026
Booked in with Brake Issue for warranty coverage, intermittent, no issue that day so sort of wasted money. Hoping it would stay off, but of course, it didn't.... Lived with it on and off until booking it in again in April and leaving it with them.

April 2026
MOT Pass! No advisories. Brake Issue continues... On and off, after much digging, researching and probing with a voltmeter chasing a brake fluid reservoir fault code... I missed that at times, it was an ABS rear right wheel speed sensor wire issue code and this is precisely what the issue turned out to be. The part must be coming from Japan as it's taking weeks to come but thankfully covered under warranty. Camshaft Sensor Fixed Under Warranty another fault that appeared, sorted. A/C Issue Diagnosis The pressure test revealed a leak but they hadn't time to investigate where yet. That's to be done when it goes back in June for the ABS sensor wire to be put in. Hopefully that'll be a big warranty job or a simple out of pocket repair... good thing the weather hasn't gotten hot enough yet to make me miss the A/C function too much.

May 2026
It's the middle of May and with the temporary ABS wire fix for now... car is driving like the dream it is supposed to be. Most recently had a good clean out on the inside and the rubber mats added. Back to being a nice, smooth comfortable drive to work and to other places in life as I focus more on work / family / programming. It's had plenty of attention now. If only that's how it worked...

So it retreaded the foot steps of the C3 and toddled over to Whinfell Center Parcs.

Thankfully the traditional green and pink cases that filled the boot of the C3 were swallowed with lots of room to spare.

Just as well as between a baby in nappies and a 7 year old with a Toy habit.. and my wife there was a lot of Sh*t

Went out over Hartside pass...which it did 47mpg on mainly for the nice view from the top. On the way back I stuck to the major roads and it averaged 53mpg giving a nice trip average of 50mpg. Slightly short of the claimed 53 it should apparently do but hey it's on all seasons and apparently being fully laden is worth 10-15% economy drop so yeah I'll take it.

Was amusingly small compared to the other family cars there..

Not quite like seeing an MGB parked between 2 modern cars but getting there.

So about it I think, next week brings the new heatshield and some cosmetic tidying.

Wow, can't believe it has been over a year since my last update! Good news though:

REAR SUSPENSION COMPLETE

After installing the engine and differential in the car, I decided to take break from the project for a while. During this break, I started thinking more and more about my rear suspension design, and the things I didn't particularly like about it. Fortunately, I don't have a deadline for this car, so I decided to redesign my suspension... a few times.

I always intended on having the rear shocks load directly into the frame. When using these loads to size the frame members, I never really took the time to think about how that load was being transmitted into the original Fiat 500 structure. The more I thought about it, the more I became worried about hitting a pothole and the whole frame ripping itself away from the body. I also didn’t like how angled the shocks needed to be to fit in the car, resulting in a pretty low motion ratio. Basically, the shock didn't move very much for the amount of wheel travel, so I needed very stiff springs to get the wheel rates I was looking for, and the shocks I had planned on using just couldn't handle that high of a spring rate.

I thought about trying to use the original shock mounting location since there are a lot of off the shelf coilover solutions out there, but my motion ratio would still not be great, and since I could only fit a smaller diameter coilover, I'd be struggling to make this solution work as well. Then I thought about using the spring perch itself as a mounting point, which is definitely sized to take high loads. I came up with a design that required welding a studded plate to the spring perch surface, and allowed me to bolt on a mount located up inside the cavity used for the original shock absorber. I 3d printed some test parts and assembled everything using magnets to hold the new perch mount rather than welding. With a full mock suspension corner, I able to check the ride height, wheel position, alignment, motion ratio, and find any clearance issues. There were lots. After a few printed iterations, I got something I was fairly happy with, and it was time to design some real parts!

Initially I had spherical ball joints at all locations, but due to the awkward shock mount position, the architecture of the lower control arm was a lot cleaner when I switched to outboard bushings. This meant I had to design some eccentric lower mounts for adjusting toe while minimizing the bending in the rod ends that I was using as my inboard mounts. This setup was good for giving me maximum flexibility for getting the wheels aligned with a not very well aligned frame and body. I also needed to change the upper control arm and mounts since it now interfered with the new coilover shock location. After a few design iterations, it was time for another test print to make sure everything cleared before building parts.

I used a mix of companies to make lasercut, CNC machine, and additively manufactured (metal 3D printed) parts. I welded the tubular upper control arm but still wasn't happy with the design of the lower control arm. I really wanted it to have the same welded tubular look as the rest of the frame, but I couldn’t get the design to work structurally without the part breaking off whenever I hit a pothole. I decided to hit the drawing board again. I messed around with generative design, but that definitely didn’t look correct. Then I thought, what if I could use the generative design to figure out how strong (section modulus) the part needed to be, then create a tubular cross section that would work. That led me to this final design: a machined aluminum part with a tapered oval arms that LOOKED like it was a welded tubular design. Sneaky Sneaky.

After a few more weeks of waiting for the new machined lower control arm, I was finally able to assemble the rear suspension. I assembled my new perch mount and installed everything in the car, checking one last time before welding the perch mount onto the car. After that, there was no turning back! I re-installed everything, checked alignment and was super happy with the result! Finally!

Boy, that escalated quickly. Just a few more things left: axels, belt tensioner, brakes, exhaust, shifter/clutch/throttle, oil system, battery and electronics, interior, etc. Hopefully my next update will not not take a over a year!

Let me know what you think and if you have any questions!

-Bobby

Recent updates: my mechanic just received all the new parts, and the engine will be rebuilt pretty soon. I will be compiling everything on a video, but you can also check the updates on the Gram.

While the car was away, I got a 2.0 fuse box + a dashboard with check control, so I don't have the empty hole anymore (1.6 i.e., and 1.6 mpi didn't have those in our market). Since electronics will be the next step to be reviewed, I already have electric front seats from an Alfa Romeo 155 to be installed, and I just bought a period-correct third brake light from the Brazilian manufacturer Arteb, so I have an extra light when braking.

Tools-wise, I got the jack support (very hard to come by here in Brazil).

So this was a thing..

Shift cables had become sticky.

As was a massive rattle when you put your foot on the clutch and lots of vibration.

Which were caused by this..

Oh and the other lower arm bushes disintegrated so that's the whole of the front suspension now replaced since 2022.

Onwards! To the MOT in September hopefully it won't be it's usual fiasco.

New lower arm drivers side..

Passed and yes indeed the underside is corroded. They pointed out some things I knew..one of which is the front disc splash shields have been removed due to corrosion at one point. I noticed this first time I walked round it before I bought it but nice they have after seeing the car on the ramp 3 times.

Also that the underside has general surface corrosion on the suspension...really? I definitely haven't mentioned that before. It's probably come up this time as the rustproofing applied nearly two years ago is lifting and needs redoing after 2 winters.

Really the only additional thing is the rear exhaust heat shield, this has been terrible since I got it, literally a case of slam a rear door and hear it rattle but weirdly not that bad on the move.

It can't be pinned up again, as it's the fuel tank one it should probably be replaced so it's getting it that done when they can get one in stock. Only reason they've mentioned it is I actually asked them to fix it.

Front one had also fallen down this was in good enough nick to be repaired though so was.

Doesn't really change any plans I think, day 1 I knew this was probably going to be a car that lived 15 years rather than 20 and I think that's still the case.

If it does live to 15 though I've still had 6 years out of it. Occasionally I toy with the idea of getting the underside properly sorted which does defeat the objective a bit but if it's largely irreplaceable with a similar car without spending far too much then this sort of thing becomes more attractive.

Hey all,

After months of research, a lot of which had to be done based on Abarth/Fiat 500s because they have more online content, I decided to start working on making my Panda quieter. I want to limit a bit the road noise, to have a bit of a more comfortable drive.
About the materials, I decided on a layer of CLD (1.5 mm alubutyl) on the metal, and a layer of Reckhorn DV 10I sound isolation fleece (to absorb instead of deflect sound). I avoided MLV due to weight.

I have so far done the two front doors, the rear right door, and I applied CLD to the trunk door and under the hood. I'll try to finish the last door this next week, and add fleece to the trunk door as well.
I can already notice some differences in city driving tho, including "small stuff" like the noise the window motor makes, how the speaker sounds, and how the door "thumps better" when closing. After finishing the last door and trunk I'll try to go on a longer drive to see if I can hear any improvement.

Disclaimer: I am not a professional, and I do not actually recommend doing this to your car. You would probably void warranties, or potentially introduce water ingress, or potentially break parts. I will not be liable in case you damage your car or anything else bad that happens . This is just for educational purposes, and/or for other people who are trying to sound deaden their car and might find my experience useful in some way.

These are roughly the steps I followed when working on the door:

1 -> Remove plastic covers on the door unlock and pull handles, and remove the screws (M5 hex on mine). The front doors have two additional screws on the side of the door lock (phillips, threaded onto plastic). The window crank needs to come off on the rear doors. You can use a microfiber cloth for that, there are plenty of videos online of that. Careful not to lose the clip that holds the crank in place! Additionally the front doors have a plastic trim where the mirror adjustments are, these can be easily pried off with a plastic trim tool.
2 -> Carefully pry the door card away with plastic trim tools, carefully unclipping it. You should consider grabbing some spare clips if your car is older, as the plastic becomes brittle over time. The clips are on the two sides and on the bottom of the door card.
3 -> The door card hangs on top. You need to "slide it up" to unclip it. The part it clips onto might come off with it, it's just the window rubber seal, just put it back on the door if that happens.
4 -> Next step is disconnecting the door lock actuator. It's hard to describe this, so try watching a youtube video. After that the door card is finally free, but make sure none of the clips remained on the door.
5 -> This step is not reversible! I am not suggesting you do this and I won't be liable if you damage your car! The vapor barrier (white foam) needs to either be cut to allow working, or needs to come off completely. I imagine resealing it with tape would not last for long or would not be water tight enough. I decided to remove it completely and make a new one. The removal is pretty easy to do either by hand or with a scissor/blade, just be careful with the paint.
6 -> Now that the vapor barrier has come off, you also need to remove the glue (or maybe it's also butyl? idk) that held it in place/sealed it. My car is relatively new and this was pretty easy to do. I simply started pulling the material, and it seems to lose its stickiness when stretched. It would occasionally break as I was pulling it off, but I would just "restart" pulling it when that happened.
7 -> Clean all the surfaces where you intend on applying CLD. I used brake cleaner for that. Be careful not to strip the window rail or other moving mechanisms from grease.
8 -> Apply the CLD. Larger sheets are usually more effective than smaller sheets put together. I went for almost full coverage since the door panels have pretty good access. The doors are much heavier due to this.
9 -> I applied CLD around the speaker too because I wanted to make sure water didn't leak from the mount.
10 -> Time to make a new vapor barrier. Make sure the surface is clean with some brake cleaner. I replicated the factory seal with butyl rope. (6mm, 8 meters was enough for all doors). You can stretch the butyl rope as you apply, so that it is not too thick.
11 -> I use the door card to cut thick plastic sheets to roughly the same size. I then start sticking the plastic sheet to the butyl rope on the door, starting from the bottom.
It's very important not to let the plastic sheet fold when sticking it to the butyl, as that might allow for water ingress. It was inevitable that the sheet folds, I just tried to ensure it folds on the top part, instead of on the bottom where the water drains to.
You also need to make sure that you have enough slack since parts of the door card protrude "into" the door.
You need to make two cuts to the sheet, to route the speaker cables and door lock cable out.
12 -> I cleaned the door card on the inside, and applied some sheets of CLD. I went light since I don't think plastic resonates too much.
13 -> I installed the insulation fleece to the door card, being careful so that it isn't applied too thick. I tried to keep it lower or at the same level that the clips are, to prevent fitting issues. I also kept the areas around the door handles clear, where the screws are.
14 -> I added some 2x5mm soft foam tape to the door to prevent it from rattling, around where left/right and bottom edge of the door card. I also added some 1x5mm foam tape to where the clips are retained, to prevent them from rattling.
15 -> Time to reinstall the door card. You just need to do the reverse of what you did when removing it. I had issues with one of the clips, where it simply refused to clip in all the way. It had deformed and was not "springy" enough to remain clipped in. I also had an issue where one of the doors came with a clip missing.
16 -> Screw the screws, and install the crank again.

Some pictures:

Engine swapped, 1.4 16v.
Different 6 speed, out of a Lancia Y 840
Coupe 20VT alloys
Eibach Prokit lowering springs
Alfa 145 TS 120 front brakes
Suspension, brakes, steering is done
Alfa 156 wood steering wheel installed
Punto MK2 stock sub in boot
Custom Alpine head unit with Bluetooth mod
Sunstrip
GT sideskirts fitted
Knockoff FN2 Type-R aluminium gear knob fitted, with a cheap shift boot, and a custom 3D printed bracket


On a hunt for Fiat Coupe cloth front seats, and a GT2 split rear seat, with headrests.
And also, thinking of turbocharging it. Maybe swap the whole thing out for a stock T-Jet.

I thought I'd do my little Panda good and do the timing belt as I'd no idea if it'd actually been done AND I'd just hit 100,000 miles.

Got the correct locking tools for the 169A400 1.2 8v VVT engine. UNFORTUNATELY I somehow followed the incorrect procedure and had the crankshaft lock tool at the 10am position instead of 2pm (somehow I was still able to lock it). BUT somehow, it worked? But EML and P0016 code Crank/Cam out of sync (I believe all I needed was a phonic wheel relearn).

But I didn't know that, and my dumba$$ thought I'd done timing incorrect, so re-did everything. And then it worked, then it didn't.. the new timing belt tensioner had slackened!!!

To put salt in the wound, I dropped a sparkplug under the intake manifold and as I grabbed it with my magnetic grabber, the ACTUAL MAGNET on my grabber came off and went into the sparkplug hole. Checking with a borescope it was right on side of the piston/wall. I tried to retrieve but... I knew what was coming.

So, heads off, heads cleaned, all new seals, gaskets, etc ordered. BUT, glad I did, as I had infact bent 2 valves. So new valves and grind paste coming!

As much as this has been an absolute pain, it's been some learning curve and I'm so much more confident working on Fiat engines now.

I'm away to work in Saudi for 2 months, so I'll be able to come back home and have a relaxing time rebuilding the head

Thanks
Adam

So car wise not really anything to update on that hasn't been said in this thread already.

It's getting serviced and MOT at the end of next month. Minor service and MOT and Courtesy car will be in the region of 350 quid at a main agent with the final year of Toyota warranty.

Debating getting the coolant changed at the same time as it is due, don't think it's going to hurt much not getting it done but it remains slightly low as I never actually did get round to topping it up. It's not going anywhere at pace that's for sure.

Otherwise the question of what I would replace this with crosses the mind occasionally as once warranty is up do I want to keep it or not or maybe move it on for an equivalent Corolla and do the same thing again?

But this morning I had the pleasure of paying for a ride in a 24 plate Corolla estate (worlds best taxis). That idea is now largely dead it's a worse car for what I want it for. Rear seats are set higher, roofline is set lower so for me sitting in the back all you can see is roof liner as my eyeline is above the windows unless I stoop (I'm slightly under 6 foot, I know every short arse says that but I am). Also roof liner is black making the interior much more dingy.

Hump in the floor between the seats so not as good for carrying 3 in the back, the Auris has door pockets in the rear with a holder for a 500ml bottle upright or indeed a child's drink bottle. In the Corolla it has a weird angled shelves which given how often kids juice bottles get dropped and leak are a sticky disaster waiting to occur. The Corolla is longer so there was a little more knee room though.

Main surprise was the ride quality and road noise, Corolla was surprisingly crunchy, I'm sure it would be more fun to steer but as a passenger my main impressions were of high road noise and a slightly jiggling ride quality. Perhaps it would be cured by my favourite all seasons as mine was but dunno you expect progress to feel immediately better. Hybrid system remains a source of unpredictable noises though the 24 plate car was certainly better than earlier iterations I've 'enjoyed'.

I'm sure Toyotas answer to this criticism would be 'sir we offer a RAV4 for your needs' but it seems the enshittification of former family cars continues.

So with nothing to report on and damning it with faint praise...why am I so happy with it and why is it so hard to think of getting something else?

It is as suspected at point of purchase a brilliant vehicle for life to happen on and around...