General How many miles have you done?

[pearce_jj]

Fair enough! Makes the 1.2 mpg's all the more impressive, considering it's been around for years.

 

[306maxi]

Fair enough! Makes the 1.2 mpg's all the more impressive, considering it's been around for years.

Yup, tis stone age in comparison to most other engines out there

 

[loveshandbags]

Out of interest, how do you know that!? (I'm not disputing it or that you do, I just wondered how ). The only cam belt I've ever experienced breaking was in a '79 Cortina 1.6 - unfortunately it didn't cause catastrophic engine damage

Here is another source where the Panda got a mention (they were referring to the 1.2)
http://retrorides.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=print&thread=51900
Still with the engine being non-interference it still not no excuse to skip the recommended service schedule - note some of the comments.
It has been remarked that by having a belt as opposed to a chain is a way for the manufacturers to earn some additional revenue.

Yup, tis stone age in comparison to most other engines out there

It appears that the 1.2 engine came out in 1993 which makes the TA going value for money in terms of manufacturers covering their R&D costs.
Also the 1.2 16V is an interference engine. So it appears that its the 'head' that makes it interference.

 

[306maxi]

Here is another source where the Panda got a mention (they were referring to the 1.2)
http://retrorides.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=print&thread=51900
Still with the engine being non-interference it still not no excuse to skip the recommended service schedule - note some of the comments.
It has been remarked that by having a belt as opposed to a chain is a way for the manufacturers to earn some additional revenue.



It appears that the 1.2 engine came out in 1993 which makes the TA going value for money in terms of manufacturers covering their R&D costs.
Also the 1.2 16V is an interference engine. So it appears that its the 'head' that makes it interference.

Yes it is the head so to speak. I will get my cambelt changed at the recommended intervals. With an interferance engine though there's so much more to worry about. If just one little tensioner goes or the water pump bites it then the engine is rooted. The water pump went in my dads 504 a few years ago after 200k miles and the engine simply stopped, it went home on a low loader and him and his mechanic friend fitted a new pump and off it went.

If you really wanted to be economical with the 1.2 you could just never change the cam belt, tensioners and water pump till one of them fails and then just replace all of them at the same time. Just hope it doesn't fail on your on the motorway

 

[loveshandbags]

Yes it is the head so to speak. I will get my cambelt changed at the recommended intervals. With an interferance engine though there's so much more to worry about. If just one little tensioner goes or the water pump bites it then the engine is rooted. The water pump went in my dads 504 a few years ago after 200k miles and the engine simply stopped, it went home on a low loader and him and his mechanic friend fitted a new pump and off it went.

If you really wanted to be economical with the 1.2 you could just never change the cam belt, tensioners and water pump till one of them fails and then just replace all of them at the same time. Just hope it doesn't fail on your on the motorway

I assume you mean the timing belt.
The point about the motorway is a good one. It cost €150 for a tow off the motorway from my OHs 147 not to mention how 'rattled' she was afterwards. It's a wonder she ever bought another Alfa.
I suppose if I was driving a 1.2 500 I wait until the 72K but if the OH was driving I'd probably change it a little earlier.
https://www.fiatforum.com/punto/19604-timing-belt-tensioner-fiat-punto.html

 

[306maxi]

I assume you mean the timing belt.
The point about the motorway is a good one. It cost €150 for a tow off the motorway from my OHs 147 not to mention how 'rattled' she was afterwards. It's a wonder she ever bought another Alfa.
I suppose if I was driving a 1.2 500 I wait until the 72K but if the OH was driving I'd probably change it a little earlier.
https://www.fiatforum.com/punto/19604-timing-belt-tensioner-fiat-punto.html

A cam belt is a timing belt. To be fair failures are fairly rare even on cars which go over the recommended mileage or time, but it's still a risk and sods law says it happens at the worst time......

 

[alfatastic]

Out of interest, how do you know that!? (I'm not disputing it or that you do, I just wondered how ). The only cam belt I've ever experienced breaking was in a '79 Cortina 1.6 - unfortunately it didn't cause catastrophic engine damage

I've been told certain sizes Ford Pinto Engines where interferance and others were non-interference engines.

 

[loveshandbags]

Out of interest, how do you know that!? (I'm not disputing it or that you do, I just wondered how ). The only cam belt I've ever experienced breaking was in a '79 Cortina 1.6 - unfortunately it didn't cause catastrophic engine damage

On post #63 with the URL link - one interesting snippet from it was the following...
2.0 pinto is safe, 1.6 and 1.8 interfere (although not as badly as some, they often still run after a belt "incident")
which probably explains why pearce's cam belt break wasn't catastrophic.

 

[pearce_jj]

There was no contact at all - although, I'd note it was the 'high efficiency' 56bhp job IIRC (a superb 25mpg or so) - so maybe that might explain it. To be fair to it, the engine outlived the rest of it, helped along with a fair few pints of oil!

 

[pearce_jj]

Relatively speaking back-on-top (almost), I borrowed a 1.2 today. It was certainly efficient, 58 miles with under 4 litres of petrol. Zippy off the mark, but otherwise it did seem slow compared to the MJ, not that that would bother me particularly.

 

[306maxi]

Relatively speaking back-on-top (almost), I borrowed a 1.2 today. It was certainly efficient, 58 miles with under 4 litres of petrol. Zippy off the mark, but otherwise it did seem slow compared to the MJ, not that that would bother me particularly.

I've been doing a spot of eco driving of late. I'm trying to limit myself to a maximum of 55mph (hey it's the A55! ) on the dual carriageway and of course aiming not to be a roadblock so sometimes I do speed up to overtake or to just not get in the way. At the moment I'm doing just under 60mpg indicated which I think is pretty good considering

I must say that whilst I'm jealous of your MPG's I still wouldn't buy a diseasel