Jaws911

First off, if this an inappropriate post, moderators please delete, & I apologize.


I thought this group of car aficionados might have some advice or thoughts(other than the obvious "don't buy a Fiat"). My 2nd cousin, who is also my 'bud', is stopped on the side of the road w/ his recently puchased vintage Fiat 124 ( i , being older, tried to discourage him, - but you know car guys - hey , you all are one!)

Symptoms : During normal around town driving, the engine suddenly revved to redline w/o him pressing the accelator -or causing an increase in car speed -he pulled over and turned it off - - now, it will not restart - no oil on the ground. the car "checked out' inthe PPI when he bought it, except for the fact that there was no record of timing belt changes as per normal maintenence;

anybody have any ideas?

TIA

KC911

I have no idea since my name isn't Tony

Daniel Dudley

What year ? Fuel injected or carb ? Did he break the throttle return spring ? Pedal get stuck under the carpet ? Those engines are pretty immune to over revving, unless the timing belt went.

You need to find out what caused the problem, verify cam timing, and proceed from there. If it is EFI, check the throttle body and accelerator cable. If it is a carb model, check all the linkages, cables and wires going to the carb. If it has an automatic choke, check that as well.

And yeah, those are interference engines. I live in the Kingston area. Check for a PM

Jaws911

daniel - thx so much for the reply - a search on the internet before your reply showed that yes these are interference engines (hey ,you DO know a lot about Fiats! )- so w/ no noise ( I fogot to mention that) or oil, I think its not the timing belt - i suggested to him to chk linkages, but he was by himself, and frankly , I am of limited mechanical knowledge - I believe tha car is carbed.

(PM sent)

Daniel Dudley

I have a feeling he might get off easy, but keep me posted, especially if he is going to get raped. They are solid cars, and not that difficult to sort. I still keep a few around, but oddly enough, I just sold my Turbo last weekend. Fun sporting cars, in no way to be confused with the 911.

Jaws911

Daniel - thx , I'll post when I find out whats up - my sense is the guy who did the original PPI is fair, and thats who's looking at the car