General First Car Panda

[nkendo]

Hi. Great site. Iv recently bought a panda 1000S 52000 miles before xmas for £260. Well happy so far, a few small problems that are outstanding though.

1.Everytime i drive the car i have to warm the engine up for five minutes before setting off, otherwise when i take my foot off the gas it cuts out,what can i do?
2.The temp gauge goes all the way to 100-105 before the fan kicks in, is this normal?
3.Everytime i set the clock in the car, a few hours later it is wrong again?

Can anyone help me on these three queries?

Thanks

Neil

 

[John H]

AFAIK The "S" was the better equiped of the early Pandas:
thicker seat padding
5 speed gearbox
clock
tinted glass
more sound-proofing
etc

I'm puzzled by the clock error - assuming it's the standard fitting - the 2 of these I've met just sit there and keep reasonable time.
Are we talking seconds, or minutes a day?

If your gauge is accurate, the switch on temp for the fan should cut in at 90 - 94 degrees according to "Porter".
That tallies with the 4 Pandas I've had experience of.

If your "S" has a manual choke, you need to keep the choke pulled out a bit for the first few minutes running - the first few mm just increases tickover speed.
Much more than that richens the mixture for cold starts.
If it has a choke, and starts without it, that would suggest either a clogged up air filter, or mal-set carb.
Work on the basis of lack of maintenance first (filter).

If non of this helps - post back here with more details of the car (I'm working on the basis of it being a 903cc with carb - exhaust down the back of the engine - the other engine, 999cc "FIRE", has the exhaust down the front, just behind the radiator) and either I'll come back with more ideas, or someone else will..

Regards


John H

 

[steveyensen]

The only advice about the clock is to check the connections behind the dashboard. Looks like possible intermittent power problems perhaps ...?

Steve - who's had the life force sucked out of him by NTL

 

[nkendo]

Thanks for the reply. The clock goes out of time by hours, it seems to slow down when the secound hand get past 6.

Ok, so there must be a problem with the timing of the cooler fan, what could it be?Its a 999cc.

Thanks

 

[Enzo]

The timing of the cooler fan[xx(][?][?]Can you explain it better[?]

Passion has neither brands nor models!

La passione non ha nè marche nè modelli!

 

[nkendo]

sorry am a total novice, the fan that cools the engine down does not come on till the temprature is aroun 100-105, it should be 90-95 what could this be?
Thanks

 

[John H]

It's either the wrong thermostatic switch, a faulty switch (unlikely - the generally work, or don't switch at all), or your gauge is wrong.

You may be able to measure the temperature on the outside of the top of the radiator housing (with a suitable thermometer) to get some idea of whether or not it is above 100 degrees.
Don't undo the filler cap when it's this hot - you'll most likely get scalded with boiling water:
it's under pressure - you release the pressure and it will boil throwing the water all over you.


Regarding the clock - if it's struggling to go around at certain points on the face it sound like a mechanical problem with the clock.