Technical No air con?

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Technical No air con?

I've straightened the lock catch just in case and I've just realised the air vent is a bit loose on the left side. It'll have to wait until Saturday now though, got things to do. Maybe it is the seal but it all looks dry. We'll find it in the end guys!
 
Something occurred to me last night, so I've pushed the lock catch forward about 3mm, the boot seems to shut a lot more solidly now. If it makes a difference to the moisture I'll let you know. All dry as a bone right now, I took out the spare wheel and dried out the boot with salt trays for two nights.

CD player is the next thing, need to find out if it's that or my old CDs that are skipping.

Did a fair bit of driving last week so I'm getting used to the pedals now, as I said before they're a lot better when I wear my wellies. Still occasionally catching when I swap between throttle and brake though.
 
Hoping I've found the leak. The seal about halfway down the left side is loose and buckled, it's so obvious now I've seen it. However there's a sort of stiff bent bit about half an inch long so I'm not sure if that can be repaired. I'll get some sealant in a day or two and see what I can do.

Annoyingly the door handle keeps seizing again two or three days after loosening it, I'm wondering if a proper jetwash might help, there's a local car wash that does them. Or maybe getting up there with a cotton bud, I'd try but of course I don't have one. Another thing for the shopping list.

One more thing I've noticed, not that it really matters. There doesn't seem to be a way of locking the doors from the inside, is that right?
 
There doesn't seem to be a way of locking the doors from the inside, is that right?
On the dynamic eco, just press in the interior driver's door handle and the central locking should then lock all the doors. Reversing the process on the driver's door from the inside will unlock them all again. Note that this doesn't work on the front passenger door, which locks/unlocks this door only.

You can also use the buttons on the remote key when you're inside the car.

Unlike the 500, the 169 Panda doesn't have autoclose.
 
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I always thought the Panda was a basic runaround. Had no idea they were so full of what I'd call fancy technology. I'd expect this stuff on a high end Merc or something, but not a little hatchback.
 
Noticed something else now. Just used the heater properly for the first time and there seems to be very little air coming out the windscreen vent. It did clear the screen in seconds though, is that normal? Also couldn't feel much coming from the driver's foot vent, but the passenger side seemed fine.
 
Fan on max

And this control here

Screenshot_20241011-100829.png


There should be plenty of air


However it's not the quickest way to demist the windscreen as the engine takes far longer to warm up

I use to keep the blower on two 90% of the time
Occasionally 3

On the feet and windscreen setting, it's pretty pathetic out of the vents, fine for keeping the windscreen demisted or de-iced most of the time
 
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I've tested the blower on all settings and it seems to be working fine, it's just nowhere near as powerful as my old car. Plenty of air coming through the mid vents though so that should keep me warm, and it's nice to have the full screen demisted instead of just the middle.

Some good news anyway, since I bodge-mended the boot it's stayed dry and there's been a fair bit of rain so hopefully that's fixed.

Another thing, how much can I use city mode? It's all bendy country lanes around here and it's a lot more comfortable with lighter steering, but I don't want it to overheat all the time.
 
There's lots of myths and misinformation about the city mode

First of it does not switch off at a certain speed.

My 05 panda the city program was still active at approximately 55 mph as tested by me

Second it burns out the EPS motor

The EPS motor has never been a problem, as far as I know no EPS motor has even failed

There's no Fiat service bulletin warning about over use,

Now the slight bad news

If the battery is weak, or there is another slight power related issue the City mode will highlight it
 
@Shuggie prefers city mode

 
Thanks for that. The book mentions the steering can shut down but it wasn't clear if that's just in city mode or all the time. The book is quite unclear on a lot of things really but I'm getting through it slowly.

I must admit I prefer city mode, I'm used to tractors and forklifts which have full power steering and give no feedback whatsoever so it's not a problem for me, I like all the controls as light as possible. I'll try leaving it on all the time and see what happens.
 
If the battery is weak, or there is another slight power related issue the City mode will highlight it
City mode will obviously draw more current, especially at parking speeds.

I once had a situation where the red light came on and power assistance was lost, but (unusually) doing a restart didn't reset things. I knew the battery was good and charged, so I tried briefly putting it into city mode and miraculously all was well again.

My theory is that there must have been a bit of dirt or corrosion on a contact or connection somewhere, and the higher current draw burned it off.
 
Found another minor issue. When I turn on the lights the temperature and fan speed dials light up but the fresh/recirc and vent dials don't. I assume they're two separate bulbs so I'll check the fuses when I get a chance.

I've been using city mode all the time for the last week or so along with lights, heating, wipers and sound system without a problem so it looks like the electrics are up to scratch. Also not found any moisture in the boot for a couple of weeks so it's all looking good. Still can't get the door handle working properly though.
 
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