I have always liked a Fiat Spider because I felt I was not forced to restore it exactly back to factory spec.'s. Most Fiat owners seem to enjoy improving the car and trying to put their personality into it. I certainly like to come up with some changes that make my Spider different from all others. For better or worse! Below are some of the things I have come up with.
There is nothing worst then getting stuck in traffic in the Fiat and watching the temperature gauge slowly move past the 190 mark. Will the traffic break up before the head warps? Will the fan ever come on and if it does, how will you ever hear it with all the traffic noise?
I have two solutions.
I put a small jewel light in the dash wired to the cooling fan. When the fan comes on the light glows red. This will make me feel that all is right with the world and I can relax in the knowledge that the Fiat is functioning as designed. If I had not noticed that my Spider was getting a little hot, the light brings me to my senses and start checking my gauges. A secondary benefit from this is a speed warning. As I drive at speeds above 65-70 the same light starts to glow dimly. The faster I go the brighter it gets. Air that is forced through the radiator starts to turn the fan due to higher air pressure. The fan, as it turns faster and faster , acts as a generator to cause the light to glow. If I slow down the light goes out.
Of course, the radiator fan switch has been known to fail and not turn on the fan, usually during the worst traffic jams. You are stuck in more ways then one. I put a small rocker switch in the radio console. It is wired to the grounding wire of the radiator fan switch (the switch at the base of the radiator). It acts as a override for the radiator fan. I can turn on the fan whenever I want to supply extra cooling even if the radiator switch decides not to work. This does not interfere with normal automatic operation.
As you are aware, I am sure, the Fiat engine cooling system is prone to become air bound if the block is drained as it might be during an anti-freeze change. At the least, if air is in the system, the heater does not work. At the worst, no water gets into the engine block until the thermostat opens. As the thermostat is mounted externally, your engine might hit 260 before it opens. In fact the engine might self-destruct before water gets past the thermostat as one side of it might be dry. Trying to follow the factory instructions to add water through that small bolt hole in the radiator hose tee can be time consuming , frustrating and a pain. My solution is to add a fast flush adapter made by Prestone at the high point in the heater hose by the distributor. Through this, when you change the antifreeze, it fills the block first up to the back of the thermostat and then flows into the radiator. No air is trapped in the block and when you first start the car every thing works normally and your blood pressure will not go through the roof as your Fiat melts before your eyes.
Electrical problems are a well known downfall with Fiats. Because Fiat used aluminum wiring in many circuits and used relays because of the aluminum wiring, connections will deteriorate over time. The aluminum connections corrode and get that white powdery look that does not conduct electricity very well. I pulled every connection apart and painted all contacts with a copper conductive paste that eliminated my electrical problems. I also used the paste on the ends of the aluminum tipped fuses to insure good contacts. I now sell this product due to popular demand. Its called KOPR-SHIELD. It comes in 1.5 oz containers with brush in cap. $12.95
My headlights were always , what I considered dim since I bought my car. Switching to halogens did not really improve the situation. I could leave my highbeams on and I did not seem to bother anyone. Plus, my car would not start when the lights were left on. I was loosing juice somewhere in the ignition circuit. My solution was to install a headlight relay to give my headlights direct power from the battery. The original headlight circuit activates the relay so everything seems to work like normal , my lights are much brighter and the car will start regardless if the headlights are left on.
Besides installing an alarm, I was still worried someone will want my Spider more then myself. I like the alarm because I can activate it with the top down when I am just running into a store for a quick stop, etc. But we all know the problem with alarms in that usually no one reacts to them now except the owner and maybe the thief. What I came up with in addition to the alarm is this. I pulled the ground wire from the electric fuel pump. My car is Fuel Injected and will not start without pressure from the pump. I ran another wire from the pump to a switch on the interior and then to a ground. When I throw this switch the car will not start even with the key!
Fuel Injection Problems
There are many FI problems that can be hard to track down. This is one. My car was running very rough and rich. Plugs were black. Smelled "rich". I thought at first it was a faulty air meter. Switched one, no difference. A faulty TPS can cause drivability problems but can be checked easily by just unplugging it. I was think I would change plugs and look for signs of a blown head gasket... maybe two cylinders were connected due to missing piece of head gasket. I then tried to wiggle the coolant temp sensor plug. I know that a faulty coolant sensor will cause drivebility problems but mine were severe. Well, turns out the plug connections were dirty. AS soon as I pushed on connection, cars engine smoothed right out.