I had a big drive to a wedding, left nice and early with time to spare. I even chucked my multitool in-I know the Coupe can get upset on cold days. I got around 30 miles when the temp gauge started to edge past the middle and the fan cut in-this was in torrential rain on a cold morning. I pulled over to check the cause, I had changed the thermostat and hose of death last week.
The exp. tank was low but no obvious leak. I decided to carry on to the next petrol station to buy some coolant.

So at the petrol station I bought some coolant, topped it up and found a slight weep from the hose of death at the block connection. Out with the multitool-Gerber Evo-recommended for your Christmas list, and tightened up the clip. I then bled the cooling system. Problem sorted, off to my wedding, or so I thought. I went to start the car, nothing, dead as a dead thing, like a parrot or dodo. I checked the basics, battery connections tight, all fuses ok. I was puzzled, I had stopped before I had cooked the engine, there was no telltale seized click from the engine. I was 95% sure my non start was due to another issue.

With the clock ticking to get to the wedding I decided to call the breakdown people. I had just signed up with Autoaid, you pay for the breakdown then reclaim the cost. It is very reasonable compared to the big names. The truck arrived within 40 mins. I had visions of no wedding and my car being taken home as a poor advert for Fiat reliablity. Well I explained my tale of woe to the mechanic, feeling only mildly silly as a few years back I used to do the job he was doing. After a few minutes he said "I'll just check the electrics, I"ll get my jump pack" Low and behold, flat battery. My daily commute is 3 miles each way and my battery never gets much charge on this run. Come the winter time and all the added load and cold days, result-a flat battery. I had the ignition on and a few other things whilst bleeding the cooling system. I'm asking Santa for a battery charger now.

I arrived at the wedding bang on the start time, unfortunately the bride was early. I missed the service but enjoyed the rest of the wedding.


Lessons from the breakdown:

1. Always do a long drive to check your repairs

2. Gerber multitools are great

3. Autoaid are great

Observations on a 700 mile drive:

1. My Coupe is standard engine wise, bar a Miltek. Even on empty roads in countryside it feels very fast and it is easy to exceed speed limits-accidently. Do I need it to go any faster-as in with a Flea map?

2. The standard front pads are rubbish, you have about one high speed application then fade.

3. The standard headlights are pants, but I don't fancy hids as I like height adj. and I kept getting dazzled by others cars hids.

Happy driving and Christmas.

A great post (Great tip re: Multi-tool and charging battery btw).

Pleased you made the wedding.

Merry Christmas and Happy driving right back at you!

and a happy christmas to you too! glad you had a good day and no damage to the coupe....

my penny's worth -

1/ my car at the moment is standard but i went for the flea map to ensure the engine was strong, and that the fuelling was correct. he found that mine was putting out a lot of power for the standard set-up, which was causing the engine to run lean under pressure! you say yours feels fast too, could possibly have the same issue as i was trying to avoid. all in all, i recommend it for safer driving, a few more horses, and smoother power delivery.

2/ pagid yellows are very good, my stopping is now great - which is just as well given the power i was found to be running

3/ hids are great, and certainly better than not being able to see much in a fast car

like i say though, each to their own and that's my experience so far.....

Thanks for the tips, will give some thought to the pads.