X1/9 FAQ's

Question 1

Buying An X1/9

There has been a lot written about X1/9's, how good they are and how bad they are.

The truth, as they say, is somewhere between the two.

My advice, like all cars is go for the best you can afford.  Don't buy the first one you see, have a good look around as many as possible before making up your mind.

A good guide, and a wise investments is Phil Ward's book FIAT X1/9, a Collector's Guide -(ISBN 0-947981-83-7)

If your buying an X1/9, it could be the best £15 you spend.

Question 2

Getting Help

Visit the website at:

http://www.x1-9ownersclub.org.uk/index.html

for details.

Question 3

Fast Tickover

1. You choke is sticking (possibly an air lock) and as a result it never comes off being rich. .

2. Your mixture is way, way out possibly a bad setting on the choke combined with poor main mixture adjustment. It is possible that it is both 1 and 2.

3. Your throttle cable/carb needs greasing/oiling. It could be sticking so that the butterfly in the main venturi is not closing correctly. Alternatively the butterfly itself is sticking. The Weber carb. is a strange beast that has far too many components for its own good (The Haynes manual on the Weber carb. is quite fascinating if your into this sort of thing). It is worth remembering that all of those little bits in the carb. DO wear out, in particular all of the brass bits (needles, jets, emulsion tubes, etc.) and the rubber bits (mixture screw seals.....) if the carb. is more than 10 years old then it may need a good service, if it is more than 15 years old than I would say you would do well to see a Weber specialist. (I don't mean go and see one now - just if you can't get the idle sorted out through less extreme measures).

Question 4

Sticking Brakes

1. The caliper slider has corroded and needs cleaning and regreasing, along with the retaining shims.

The slider is the whole assembly and the frame that holds it. The best bet is grease the whole lot lightly with copper-grease

or

2. The caliper piston has done the same. If this is the case then you'll probably need to dismantle the caliper. You'll need to polish the piston and the piston housing to make sure that there are no obstructions to movement. A new set of caliper rubbers would probably be a good idea as well

The rear calipers do not to be rotated, as per the Haynes manual. I won't kid you on this - those rear calipers are fiendish.

Your best bet is to try to unclip the handbrake and clamp up the brake hose. Put a bag over the disc and hub to stop contamination with brake fluid and work with the caliper still attached to the car. One of the hardest jobs is getting a good seal on the pipe-caliper join. One word of warning - do NOT fiddle with the internals of the rear caliper, it really isn't worth it!

Question 5

Those Pop-up Headlights

Question 6

The Auto-Choke (again)

Is it the auto choke and can it be fixed without replacing ? Or am I barking up the wrong tree ?

1. It may not be the choke itself. Being the highest point in the cooling system it is the most prone to airlocks, so it is possible that there isn't any water in there to operate the choke. To fix it: you will need to bleed the cooling system at the choke to get rid of the air.

2.It is possible for the bimetal strip in the choke to scale up (like your kettle does) and hence stop operating. This is normally associated with the previous problem as the scale is most likely to appear if the water is evaporating in contact with the metal. To fix it: remove the choke housing, disconnect the pipes and immerse the whole thing in a mixture of warm water and vinegar. You'll have to leave it for a while, and possibly change the solution, but this will remove the scale. Once back on the car you will need to bleed the system as mentioned above.

3.The choke has come lose and lost it's setting. To test this you'll need to remove the air box and check that the triangular plate that holds the choke housing down is not lose. If it is, tighten it and check that the two marks line up (one on the choke and one on the carb). This is a good place to start for retuning the choke anyway. (If I remember correctly, turning the choke clockwise will enrich the mixture on fast idle, turning it anticlockwise will do the opposite).

4. Even if you do replace the choke it may not correct the problem - which is why it is not uncommon for cars with older auto-chokes to have them replaced with a manual choke. Unfortuantely this is a real nightmare on the X1/9 so you'll need to work on it. To fix it: you're on your own here. Best bet is to make sure that you don't have a coolant leak, replace the thin water pipes that connect the choke to the cooling system and flush the entire cooling system through. You can get a flush kit from any good motor store, and don't forget that the exxy holds about twice the amount of water than the ordinary family saloon.

Question 7

Flat Battery

1. liquid acid cell batteries lose a portion of their ability to hold charge in cold conditions so it needs to be kept topped up at all times. Especially if the battery is over three years old or has been abused (quite likely in a exxy)

2. The X1/9 has several permanently live circuits - not least of all the headlamp motors. These are relay switched so the actual live circuit is quite low power, but it is still on. The clock is another example of this. 3. The standard alternator is (to put it bluntly) bloody useless. The regulator seems to fail at an amazingly high rate so the chances are that the charging voltage is not high enough to maintain a good charge in the battery (which is exaggerated by my first point) Your best bet for stopping this is to get the alternator replaced by a later model (the actual fitting is not unusual amongst fiat descended cars, eg Yugo). Failing that you will need to check that all of your relays are working correctly and that the wiring is not shorting anywhere. If you battery is old you need to check the fluid levels (the tops of the lead plates should be below the fluid - use de-ionised water to top them up if necessary). It is possible that the plates are distorted in which case you'll need to get a new battery anyway.

Question 8

Electric Windows

The stop adjustment on some models is just a screwed rubber stopper with lock nut, similar to the headlight pod close stops. Again it's on the lower window rail. The plastic end cap on the top of the window channel doesn't do anything apart from giving a clue to how far the window should go up.

Question 9

Leaking Targa Top