Searching for a Fiat 500 manual/stick 'Plague' car (1 Viewer)

[Francois Caron]

After many delivery delays, I've finally picked up the car and drove it around the farm roads with the hope that I don't see a stream of transmission gears in my rear view mirror all rolling behind me!

Total first drive damage:

- Five stalls,
- Many lurches,
- A couple of over-revs from shifting down too low,
- Two missed gear shifts.

It'll take a while to learn how to shift the car properly, but I should learn it pretty quickly. I'm already starting to figure out the best gear to choose for any given speed and desired acceleration rate.

What's really annoying about the Fiat 500 is that Fiat Chrysler might have sold a lot more cars if they had made the turbo a standard feature early in the model line instead of waiting for so long to make it a standard component. With the Abarth in non-Sport mode, its power output is the same as a Fiat 500 Turbo, and that alone makes the car much more responsive especially on the highways. This thing was travelling on the highway pretty effortlessly.

I haven't tried the sport mode yet. I'll wait until I gain more experience before I explore its full capabilities. Another thing that would have helped enormously is if the car was made in Canada. We're very good at making cars. Canadian made Hondas can be very expensive on the used market!

As for the options and accessories, everything seems to work perfectly. It's a five year old car from a line with a very bad reputation, but everything I could try was working perfectly including the outdoor temperature sensor which the dealer who sold me the car had properly fixed before the delivery.

The ride on bad roads can be a bit rough with the performance Koni shocks and struts along with the 17 inch low profile tires, but it's no worse that a 2012-2017 Pop trim with its skinny 15 inch tires. And the Abarth does a much better job at staying on the road. It'll do an even better job once I install the rear torsion bar.

The exhaust upgrade (or downgrade) will wait. The car isn't too loud from the inside, so I can live with it. Also, adding a muffler on an Abarth could kill its resale value. The upgraded torsion bar I plan to install however shouldn't affect the resale price at all, but I'll wait until the warranty has expired before installing it.

But even in its current form, the Abarth is still a really nice car. I definitely understand why it's the most popular trim of the entire Fiat line and why there's a generous supply of aftermarket parts for it. It's a car that begs to be modded even just a bit, and it won't cost you a fortune to accomplish it.

That's pretty much it for this thread. I don't expect to post any further updates unless something major happens to the car, but the most you'd probably see on the outside are the addition of Abarth labels and bright red rear view mirror caps. As far as this thread's subject is concerned, I've finally found my Fiat 500 "plague" car, and it's an Abarth!

 

[Jeffrey D]

Best of luck with it, and your skills at driving the manual transmission.

 

[Francois Caron]

Best of luck with it, and your skills at driving the manual transmission.

Thanks! It'll take some time, but I'll make it.

BTW, almost forgot a first drive "damage" item: the triple reverse kangaroo jump!

I think the first thing that will break in this car is the poor transmission!

 

[Francois Caron]

An update.

I'm definitely having fun with my new mode of transportation, especially on how to drive a manual! Up to now, I have:

- Stalled many times at intersections,
- Stalled a few times leaving my office's parking garage because the card reader for the barrier is on a hill (still learning how to hill start),
- Tried to take off while in neutral (did that twice),
- Didn't downshift while going uphill when the person in front of me slowed down to turn into an entryway causing the engine to struggle,
- The infamous Triple Reverse Kangaroo Jump mentioned previously,
- Downshifting too low causing the engine to almost rev too high (only did that on the first day),
- Tried to reverse with the parking brake engaged, stalling the engine,
- Forgot to press the clutch when slowing down to a stop, stalling the engine,
- Forgot to press the clutch when trying to put the car into first gear (blocked, no grinding noises luckily).

I'm definitely getting better at this! My most recent incidents aren't doing anything that could damage the car!

As for the car itself, it's been doing great! It starts up flawlessly, it drives very well, the brakes are in excellent shape (gotta remember that people in back of me can't stop as fast), the AC works as well as it can (the Fiat 500's biggest weak point)...

One flaw that will need to be addressed are the headlights which are a bit too dim for my taste. I'll need to find some aftermarket headlights and bulbs that can do a better job.

I brought the car to a Do-It-Yourself garage yesterday to change the oil, change the battery blanket, and upgrade the rear torsion bar. Here it is installed.







This is a 28 mm thick NEU-F torsion bar from Neuspeed which replaces the stock 22 mm torsion bar. Apparently, it's 50% more stiff than the stock bar, and should inject a bit of oversteer during hard cornering, cancelling out the car's natural tendency to understeer. It's also believed the extra stiffness will add more stability to the rear end of the car especially at highway speeds. I already knew that the Fiat 500 can be just a bit shaky on highways. I'll find out tomorrow if this new bar resolves the problem as promised.

This will very likely be the only "performance" mod I'll apply to this car with the possible exception of the brakes, shocks, struts, springs and exhaust later on, but only because there are many choices in aftermarket parts that will do the same or better job than the OEM parts for less money.

What I DON'T want to do is stray so far off of stock that it kills the resale value of the car. I've noticed that, the more non-OEM mods an Abarth has, the worse the resale value.

Along with installing the torsion bar, I also changed the oil because I didn't trust the dealer who sold me the car to have done it properly, and I replaced the rapidly failing battery blanket that keeps the battery from overheating inside the engine bay.

It was very satisfying being able to do this work myself with a bit of help from the DIY garage owner, Norm, for the few times I got stuck. At only $30 per hour plus HST, the total cost of the five hours of work was money well spent and a great learning experience! I even had to undo the right rear brakes just to get to a couple of bolts!

I'll need to pay close attention to a possible problem area. The air intake side of the turbo has frayed edges on the blades. This doesn't seem to affect the performance of the turbo, but I'll need to have this checked out in case it's a sign that the blades might fail.

Here's what the blades look like.



There are replacement turbos available, both OEM and aftermarket, but that's a job that's beyond my current capabilities, at least for now.

If I do have to replace the turbo, I'll also replace the turbo compressor indicator in the car with a model that has a light in it! You can't see the darn thing in the dark! Which engineer thought this was a brilliant idea?

That's the car work for now. I still have the side skirts to reattach, Abarth decals to add, and black mirror covers to swap for red ones, but these are basically cosmetic upgrades that don't need to be rushed. I'll be concentrating more on finding winter tires and wheels at a minimum of 16 inches. They can be found, but it can be a bit tricky finding them online in Canada without paying through the nose.

Now to find some windy roads to test the torsion bar!

 

[Mike2001]

If your parking brake is handy to your right hand, you can definitely use it to assist your uphill starts. This was a life saver for my wife when she was learning to drive stick in her Mini Cooper.

 

[Francois Caron]

The car has hill start assist, so I'll work on mastering hill starts with that driving aid instead.

The better scenario would be to master hill starts with the assist switched off. Even when I took a one hour driving course with a manual back in the 1990s, the instructor forbade me to touch the handbrake, forcing me to work with the clutch's bite point instead.

I really hate pedal style parking brakes. You can't do a proper handbrake turn with them.

 

[Francois Caron]

One year update. The car still works!

Adding to the list of mods are upgraded Corsa Forza lower subframe brace and side braces. These replace the thin OEM pressed metal braces that have a reputation of bending out of shape. Also notice the shiny new aluminum skid plate which should protect the underside from rogue trailer hitches.







The most annoying defect was the strut mounts. On this car, the hats are simple rubber lined discs. It doesn't take long for the rubber to become compressed and allow the struts to jump up and down on their own.

last November, the dealership recommended replacing the mounts, jounces and hats for $540 CAD plus sales tax. Unfortunately, one of the mounts started to bounce up and down just a few months later. And as you can see, one of them's rusted out pretty badly because the top plastic cap was missing, probably pushed off when the strut was bouncing.





I'll continue this on the next post. I'm short a couple of pictures of the huge mod I recently did to the suspension that greatly improved the car's comfort level and resolved the issue with the strut mount hats.

 

[Francois Caron]

Continuing from where I left off.



Before going through the suspension work, here are the other things I did to this car:

- Changed driver's side door handle. These break frequently on this car.
- Changed battery. It still had the OEM battery!
- Changed headlight bulbs.
- Changed engine and cabin air filters.
- Changed radiator and gas cap as a precaution.
- Replaced spark plugs. Not really necessary, but I wanted to learn how to do it.
- Installed CravenSpeed short shifter.



The short shifter did wonders! It no longer feels like I'm trying to shift a bus!

Now to the suspension. It's no secret that the 500 Abarth can be a rough ride. Many people had to give up on the car because it was just too rough. I decided to go a different route by installing softer shocks and struts, more specifically the budget oriented KYB Excel-G series.







Pictures taken two weeks after the installation while I was having the tires rebalanced. That's why you see some dust on the shocks. You can tell by the dust mark that the shocks appear to be loaded properly.

Also purchased were new MOOG anti-sway bar linkages, KYB strut mounts, dust boots and jounces, and replacement hardware. The springs remained stock. There was a lot of cutting and brute force involved in removing the old struts. I've learned how to be destructive.

The silliest part of this cheap mod is that IT WORKED! I went from having my teeth fillings shaken out to having a a car that's much easier to ride over bumps! It's a downgrade that worked like an upgrade! And as far as control is concerned, I haven't noticed any loss, at least not on regular roads.

To solve the problem of the poorly engineered strut hats, I went with machined hats from Corsa Forza. They're reusable, much more sturdy, and have a bearing that allows the strut to pivot freely.





What's really stupid about the North American Fiat 500 is that it could have been a very decent car from the start if so many corners weren't cut by Chrysler's bean counters. All I did was swap out some of the badly engineered parts with better engineered ones, and it improved the car immensely!

Now I have to find a new rim to replace the one I damaged over a pothole last summer. I hope I can find a used one. Brand new, they cost $850 Canadian EACH! Youch!

Have a good weekend!

 

[Francois Caron]

Quick update. Car's still working great. The only current items needing attention are replacing the brake fluid, then clean and lubricate the shifter system at the transaxle (it's very stiff). In most cases, the jobs are pretty straightforward. Only bleeding the clutch might be a bit tricky because it doesn't use a traditional bleeder valve.

Scheduled for 2022: replacing the timing belt, tensioner and water pump (mainly precautionary). It'll give me a chance to replace the utility belt and change the coolant at the same time. I'll also get new 16 inch three-season tires and steel rims. Finding alloy rims of any size for this car is difficult and expensive. I've also discovered with my 16 inch winter tires that the car's much easier to get into gear compared with the 17 inch wheels and is much more comfortable on the road.

To cover up the steelies, I'll have them painted, then install baby moon hubcaps. That should give the car a cool retro look on the cheap. And knowing the poor condition of Canada's roads, replacing a cheap and readily available steelie will be much easier than replacing an expensive alloy wheel that might not even exist anymore.

Here's an example of a 500 with painted steelies and baby moon hubcaps.

 

[Francois Caron]

Summer 2022 update. Didn't do most of the stuff I said I was going to do six months ago. I did change the brake fluid. I had it done by a garage that had the proper equipment. Much easier and less messy that way.

The timing belt, tensioner and water pump will wait. The belt is a 15 year/150,000 mile/240,000 km belt, the (still clean) coolant doesn't need to be changed until 2024, and the car only recently displayed 75,000 km on the odometer!



I brought my problematic summer wheels to a local specialty rim shop last spring which found that three were dinged (not two) and "undinged" them at a reasonable rate. I figured I'd take a chance considering the tires alone are still in great shape and have plenty of life left in them. The shop did a great job! No more vibrations! Now I can wait a year or two before deciding what to do with the 17 inch wheels.

Remember this little experiment with the lower subframe brace and the aluminum skid plate?



That didn't go too well. It looks like there was an electro-chemical reaction between the skid plate and the outer bolts of the brace. I was able to remove the inner bolts pretty easily, but the outer bolts that held the skid plate in place were almost completely fused to the welded nuts on the chassis! I had to cut off the nuts at the top last Saturday to finally free the bolts. It took me a couple of months of various cutting, new tool purchases, lots of experimentation and a few visits to the DIY Garage to come to the conclusion that I should have gone with the more extreme measure right from the start.

The Corsa Forza brace was replaced with a DNA Racing brace which uses the original OEM bolts. I also replaced the skid plate with a replacement OEM belly pan, with a couple of small notches cut into it to fit properly over the new brace. Along with reacting with the bolts, the skid plate also had a habit of vibrating occasionally at highway speeds. That thing from Eurocompulsion turned out to be a major lemon of an aftermarket accessory.

Here's the newly installed replacement brace:



And here's the new nut I found in the DIY Garage's "junk" drawer that replaces the old nut that was cut off. You can see the new nut rests on the flange of the old nut. I still have to drill out the threads in the old flange because it interferes with properly torquing the bolt.



I still have to replace the Multiair actuator oil filter, but that can wait at about 100,000 km. There's no fixed replacement interval for this part. Cleaning and lubricating the shifting components will wait until I return from my trip to New Brunswick. The summer heat has loosened things up, so it's not a problem for now. I also replaced the transmission fluid with Redline MTL. It works, but I might switch to the new Redline MT-LV later since it's suppose to be better in cold weather.

No problems whatsoever to report with the engine, it runs so smoothly! I did have to add half a quart of coolant to top it up when I noticed the level had dropped suddenly below the minimum line, but there are no signs of a steady leak after the top-up. It's almost as if a big air bubble got dislodged in the cooling system and ended up in the coolant reservoir. The car was involved in two separate minor fender benders by the previous owner fourteen months apart (I suspect her insurance company forced her to sell the car). Maybe the cooling system wasn't filled up properly after being repaired.

That's the current state of the little Fiat. For something that was suppose to cause a lot of trouble, the only "big" problems I ever had with it were from the consequences of my "experiments!"

 

[Francois Caron]

One month later...



Good thing it wasn't my car!

This was posted on the Abarth Subreddit a few days ago. Sadly, this NYC 2019 Abarth was hit by a car whose driver suffered a seizure. Luckily, no one was seriously hurt, but it's still sad to see a fallen Abarth especially now that the car has been discontinued.

My Abarth however is still doing great! Last week, I came back from a week long road trip to New Brunswick with many stops along the way. The car survived beautifully my attempts to learn how to drive it properly on very hilly roads and highways!

At the same time, I've collected some interesting stats:

• Total distance traveled: 2,666 km.
• Highway travel: 2,384 km.
• Local travel: 282 km.
• Total 91 octane fuel consumed: 192.3 litres.
• Total fuel cost: $379.04 CAD.
• Total oil consumed: 1.2 litres.
• Most expensive fuel: Rivière-Du-Loup, Quebec @ $2.094/litre.
• Least expensive fuel: all of New Brunswick @ $1.874/litre.
• Car's combined fuel consumption for the entire trip: 7.21 litres per 100 km.

You'll notice the oil consumption. It turns out the car thirsts for oil when you run it in 160 HP Sport mode for long highway distances especially at 115 km/h and 3,000 RPM. Even worse is finding out that you need to check the oil on this car slightly differently otherwise you'll only know you're down at least a quart of oil when the dipstick comes out dry as a bone.

The problem is that oil can get stuck in the dipstick tube and falsify the readings, at least until the oil can no longer get into the tube. So after you pull out the dipstick and wipe it clean, you need to push the stick back into the tube until it resists briefly before going in fully, then pull it out and wipe a second time. That will get rid of any oil left in the tube. After that, insert fully, pull out and measure.

The car wasn't in any risk. Tyler Hoovie discovered with his Abarth that it had been running on a single quart of oil and its engine was running fine, not that I'd want to try that. But what this incident shows is that when you use the "more fun, please" Sport mode, the boost from 135 HP to 160 HP allows the oil to find new places to go, which unfortunately means out of the engine itself.

According to other Abarth owners, my oil consumption rate is perfectly normal. Good thing oil is still pretty cheap. I now keep two quarts in the car instead of one which I used up as soon as I had my dry dipstick incident.

Now for a couple of short vacation videos. The first is of the car being lowered from the second level ramp on the Rivière-Du-Loup/Saint-Siméon ferry after arriving on the other side. It was fun driving up the ramp from the back at departure and stopping the car right at a cliff!



The second video was taken at Magnetic Hill in Moncton, New Brunswick. Normally, people coast backwards from the white post, but I decided to do it forwards instead. It's an interesting optical effect, but it didn't fool me because I could still feel where the hill was truly located.



Not much to do on the car at this stage. I've replaced the Redline MTL transmission oil with the lighter MT-LV blend and it seems to work really well. The shifter still needs to be lubricated at the transmission housing, but the warm weather meant it didn't give me any trouble during the trip. The adhesive on the side skirts still needs to be redone, but no rush to do it until they actually start to become detached. I also found a crack in the paint of the rear right fender which could have easily been caused by the car being parked most of the time with the sun hitting the right side of the car all day long. And finally, the unbent rims remain unbent!

I've really lucked out with this car! And it's a Fiat!

 

[Clinton McClure]

Not trying to be a downer but if my car burnt 1.2 liters (roughly 1.2 quarts) of oil over 2,666 km (1,656 miles), I would be thinking there was something seriously wrong with the engine and either getting it rebuilt or trading the car before a catastrophic failure. My 2000 Toyota Celica GTS with almost 400,000 miles didn’t burn/leak that much oil.

 

[Francois Caron]

My 2000 Toyota Celica GTS with almost 400,000 miles didn’t burn/leak that much oil.

Your GTS wasn't turbocharged. My little putt-putt is. The oil consumption only happens when I engage the "please add an extra 25 HP for more fun" mode.

I could always add a catch can to the air-oil separator. That will at least prevent the oil from being recirculated through the engine and possibly foul up the spark plugs. Then again, the spark plugs from the previous owner were fine when I replaced them.

 

[Francois Caron]

Good news, everyone! The car's fully paid off!

Bad news, everyone! I had to fire my only client and I'm now looking for a new job!

If my first attempt at job hunting in decades takes too long, I might have to sell the car. That would be very bad because I live in the stroad-infested highly car-dependent city of Ottawa, Canada. Not having a car would severely restrict my job searches only to areas adequately served by public transportation. That pretty much excludes most of the city.

It's possible to live in a Fiat 500, but it wouldn't be very pleasant.

 

[Jeffrey D]

Good news, everyone! The car's fully paid off!

Bad news, everyone! I had to fire my only client and I'm now looking for a new job!

If my first attempt at job hunting in decades takes too long, I might have to sell the car. That would be very bad because I live in the stroad-infested highly car-dependent city of Ottawa, Canada. Not having a car would severely restrict my job searches only to areas adequately served by public transportation. That pretty much excludes most of the city.

It's possible to live in a Fiat 500, but it wouldn't be very pleasant.

Sorry to read this. Best wishes to you, and I hope you come out on the other end even better.

 

[Francois Caron]

Sorry to read this. Best wishes to you, and I hope you come out on the other end even better.

Thanks! I'm sure everything will work out. I just don't know how much pain I'll go through during the process.

Regrettably, I pigeonholed myself into old tech for too long. However, Ottawa being a government town, I might still qualify for a government job somewhere, and I do have a few contacts who might be able to help me. In the meantime, I just have to find an intermediate job somewhere, which isn't easy considering the content of my resume consists of outdated computer stuff I did for 25 years. There's not much demand for people with skills in serial ports and MODBUS based controllers, and I don't qualify to work in retail!

 

[Clinton McClure]

I don't qualify to work in retail!

Neither do most people who work in retail.

I wish you all the best and hope you find gainful employment soon.

 

[Francois Caron]

Neither do most people who work in retail.

I wish you all the best and hope you find gainful employment soon.

Thanks! I should survive this and find something soon, but I'll still perform some long overdue clean-up of my personal possessions in case I have to bug out. I'll try to hold on to the car because you can still live in it. You can't drive your home.

 

[Francois Caron]

I might soon have to part ways with my little demonic street legal go-kart just to survive until the summer while I try to find a new job or find financing for my new projects.

If anyone lives in Eastern Ontario (the one in Canada) and might be interested in buying my car, you have a month to think about it before I decide to put her up for sale. Do remember this car has been in a couple of fender benders with the last owner (one in front, one in back), but the repairs appear to have been done properly. Current mileage is 79,000 km (49,088 miles).

I still have the old CarFax report when I bought it. Most of the maintenance afterwards was done by me and noted in my log book which you'll get with the sale.

Features:

• Deluxe model with auto climate controls, Beats audio, sunroof, leather, digital dash.
• No GPS mount or extra decals.
• Stock engine. No aftermarket parts or mappings.
• Summer stock wheels with some curb rash, wheels repaired last February, tires are Firestone Firehawk Indy 500 205/40R17 XL.
• Includes winter wheels with Pirelli Winter Cinturato 195/45R16 XL.
• No trouble codes or CELs during my ownership.
• Lockable fuel cap.
• Regular oil changes, first with Castrol Edge, now with Pennzoil Platinum Euro.
• Surprisingly little rust for a car driven during the winter.

Mods:

• Cravenspeed short shifter.
• Neuspeed Neu-F rear torsion bar.
• DNA Racing lower subframe brace.
• Corsa Forza vertical chassis braces.
• Corsa Forza strut mount hats (with bearing upgrade).
• Power Stop Euro-Stop OEM-like pads and solid rotors brake kit.
• KYB Excel-G shocks and struts (much smoother ride).
• MOOG anti-sway bar linkages.
• Original braces will be included in the sale. I still have to find the OEM shifter (not recommended -- too sloppy).

Known issues:

• Intermittent coolant leak. It can take a few months before it manifests itself. UV dye has been added to the coolant to track it down. The engine has never overheated.
• Does burn a quart of oil every 3,000 km (1,864 miles), but surprisingly only in Sport mode. Non-sport mode doesn't seem to lose a drop.
• Shifter is a bit stiff and needs to be lubricated.
• Rear fender crack below the fuel filler.
• Side skirts need some TLC. Front right wheel well liner is cracked at the front.
• Tried an aluminum skid plate once, it interacted with the bolts from the Corsa Forza lower subframe brace, causing major seizing problems. Had to cut out the skid plate, outer nuts and bolts. I've reused the OEM bolts with the new subframe brace, and the replacement outer nuts aren't welded to the chassis. Installed a new belly pan.

Here's hoping I don't have to sell her, but I'm running out of options. If I move back to Montreal, I definitely won't want to own a car there! Public transportation is a much better option, especially the metro!

 

[Francois Caron]

Some good news for a change!

First, I still have the car. Even better, I'm in a position where even if I had to declare bankruptcy, it would be much better if I kept the car. It's considered an essential asset, and it's cheap enough not to be seized by anyone. This was confirmed by both my Ontario Works case worker and by my bankruptcy trustee.

Second, the coolant leak has been located! Or should I say TWO coolant leaks! It started when I saw these highly fluorescent puddles in the snow.



If it weren't for the dye I added into the coolant tank, the coolant would have looked like a couple of puddles of water. I waited until it got dark and used my UV light inside the engine bay. I struck paydirt!



I took the car to a Goodyear franchise which already did some very decent work on my car in the past and lets me watch so I could learn. I needed a lesson on finding and fixing leaks.

The puddle on the driver's side was runoff from the belly pan. Both leaks were on the passenger's side and were nothing more than two bad hose clamps, one on the coolant tank and one on the radiator. The coolant tank and radiator themselves were perfectly fine.

A couple of new non-OEM hose clamps and a thorough search for any other leaks later, everything was back to normal.



Now for the last piece of good news. If everything goes to plan next week, I might have a new job, one that takes advantage of my decades of accumulated skills. A company has a project involving upgrading a legacy system to modern standards, and it's the kind of system I once created back in the 1990s!

I'll keep you all updated. I might be out of my current predicament by the end of the month!