Classic Fiat 500 mechanic

[knm]

My 1972 Fiat 500L is having some problems. Can anyone recommend a good Fiat 500 mechanic in South West London or mobile mechanic who can come to me?

[CooperD]

Edd China. Did a cracking job on Wheeler Dealers and he doesn't seem to charge for labour costs.

[knm]

Thanks, the only problem is that he's based in Maidenhead and I don't think my car will make it that far at the moment.

[OctaneBooster]

Try here:http://www.fiat500.cc/

[3Dom]

Hi,

Where abouts in South West London are you based? I live in Hammersmith and have had my 500 for nearly 7 years. I've not used a mechanic for about 5 years but there was a good guy that was pretty cheap over in Esher. Since then though, I've been able to keep the car on the road myself with the help of the haynes manual and 500/126 club forums.

What seems to be the problem with the car?

Dom

[3Dom]

OctaneBooster said:

Try here:http://www.fiat500.cc/

They seem to be pretty good (well always busy), but they are very very pricey.
Most mechanical things on an old 500 can be fixed with a basic tool kit and short amount of time.

[knm]

Hi,
Thank you for your reply.
I've had my car for 7 years too and haven't had any problems for years so that's why I don't know where to get help now. It's also quite difficult to find some who you can trust and who knows about Fiats. I'm situated in Putney so Esher and Proietti are not too far but I broke down yesterday and although the car started again after about 15 mins I'm a bit reluctant to drive it anywhere too far away.
The engine seems to run fine, although when I first started it up it was being a bit weird. It felt and sounded like the engine was over working, like when you have the choke on. But this soon stopped and it was running fine but then suddenly the car just died when I was waiting at some traffic lights and wouldn't restart for ages. I think it may have something to do with the electrics but have no idea about cars. I have a Haynes manual but am a bit reluctant and scared to start playing around with the engine incase I make it worse.
Ideally I need someone to come to the house to see it I think but no one seem to know anyone they can recommend. I did find one guy from the Fiat 500 magazine but he's away for the next 10 days and I kind of need the car fixed sooner.
Thanks, Katie

[3Dom]

Sounds like it could be related to the points or the condesor in the distributor. These are the usual suspects of things going wrong and really are a quick fix. Are you with any breakdown service as these guys should be able to fix that in 5 mins at the road side.

The engines are very simple, so any oldschool, mechanic should be able to have a look - just don't take it to any of the chain garages as the majority of the young guys working there tend to spend more time laughing at the car and have no knowledge of the classic set up.

Have you posted your problem on the fiat500 club forum? As you can usually get a good response from there and many of the local members are retired and would probably relish the opportunity to chat to a fellow enthusiast!

[knm]

Good idea to get the AA out, am going to try them today. Just wasn't sure I could do this if the car wasn't properly broken down. Fingers crossed it's something simple and can be fixed by them.

Will also get onto the Fiat 500 club forum.

Thank you!