My beloved has suggested that I buy her a turbodiesel Marea estate (she's half-Italian, and has a soft spot for Fiats). My research suggests the Marea isn't actually a bad car, apart from catastrophic depreciation and a tendency for all the plastic trim to fall to bits, but that Fiat dealers aren't always the world's best. So, is there anything about the TD Marea that makes it a poor DIY prospect?
(I quite fancy the five cylinder 130JTD version if we can find one at a sensible price.)
Richard Hall
bangernomics.tripod.com
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This shares the same engine as my beloved Alfa 156, albeit a slightly lower output version on the Marea.
It's a bit a shoe-horn job getting to some of the parts. A classic example on the 156 is that to change the air filter you either have to disconnect one of the radiator hoses and partially drain the system, or get the car up on stands and remove the front cross member (propping up the rad to stop this falling out) and remove the whole filter housing from below.
Nothing on the car is impossible, it's just that some of the stuff takes longer than it ought to because of accessibility. Once you are familiar with the job, it's a doddle.
IIRC, you could get service manuals on CD for this car on eBay (nudge nudge, wink wink)
No Dosh
mailto:Alan_moderator@honestjohn.co.uk
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Doesn't sound any worse than my Audi Coupe 20V then. (Plug change easy, everything else near impossible.)
Richard Hall
bangernomics.tripod.com
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Dear No Dosh,
We have a Fiat Marea Diesel (R registration) (TD100ELX) and have problems finding any manuals to fix things. Haynes don't do one it seems! Do you know where we can find a manual anywhere, please? (The problem at the moment is that the fuel pump is leaking.)
Thanks,
Uda
(UdaGoode@gmail.com)
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I once heard a story that the engine had to come out on the diesel variants of these cars in order to change the timing belt.
It could well be apocryphal (I would darned well hope so) but nevertheless worth a check. If true, it would do wonders for the resale values.
659.
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the time for doing the belt does not suggest engine out
clutch does mind :-00000OOOOooooooooooo
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It's the Brava/Bravo that needs the engine out for the belt.Once visited my friends garage to find them removing an engine for the second time,having done the belt and fitted a new water pump while doing the job,only to find it leaked.They were not happy.
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Hi Uda,
As mentioned in my earlier comment in this thread, ebay is the place to source these. As Mareas never sold in huge numbers in the UK you may be better off searching for an Alfa 156 Workshop Manual on CD Rom and then send an email to the seller, as I would be pretty confident they can also source one for your Marea.
Good luck,
ND
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