andy mccord Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 Hi Nick, I wonder if you can help me, my 61 plate Adria has, I think had something strange gone on with the bonnet in the past, I bought the van when it was 3 months old, and then noticed that the bonnet decal was missing, and the bonnet was badly aligned, it’s very tight up to the driver side headlamp, I contacted the previous owner who confirmed that he had not had an accident in the van, but he also noticed the decal was missing. I have had the bonnet off to try and move the base of the arms over as far as I can, but to no avail, The paintwork on the arms is silver, but I noticed that the paint is cracked on the arm, also there’s a sticker under the bonnet with a logo of PPG refinishers & a paint code which IIRC is 611, Have you seen anything like this on previous X250’s?. I’m taking the van for its first service soon so I will ask them to have a look at the arms and compare them to other X250’s in the dealership, failing that I am tempted to pack out the arms with washers, any advice appreciated Regards Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wooie Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 Hi Andy, My van is from Campbells as well. So i know what you are dealing with. You should have took it straight back, you`ve paid good money for an almost new van and it`s not acceptable. Don`t say anything about the fact that you`ve tried to sort it or they will blame you for not aligning it properly. The PPG sticker should not be there and suggests it has had some sort of repair. One last thing did the previous owners say why they had changed the vehicle so quickly ( 3 months ) ? Less really because the dealer will have had it a bit. Regards. Graham. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
euroserv Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 Hello Andy, We have had a number of bonnets that were poorly aligned from the factory. This was a result of an accumulation of mis-alignments with everything from the front panel to the headlamps. I know it sounds a bit heath robinson but with the bonnet open we have just given it a shove in the direction it needs to go and a small adjustment like this has often improved things. A more technical approach may be to pack the arms out with washers! The paint code panel is correct and is from the factory. It is normally placed on the slam panel but sometimes is on the bonnet. Not sure why you have silver arms though; they are normally sprayed in the body colour at the same time as the bonnet etc. Nick PS. Just seen Graham's post. Not right about the PPG label. This is definitely correct from the factory. If you don't have one, someone has removed it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wooie Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 Hi Nick, I stand corrected and will go and stand in the " naughty corner " immediately .....lol. Regards. Graham. PS.... please let me know when it`s safe to come out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy mccord Posted July 24, 2012 Author Share Posted July 24, 2012 Nick, Many thanks for the reply, packing of the arms with washers is my next port of call, the colour of the arms does match the vans main colour, my concern was the cracking of the paint on the arms which may indicate a flash over of paint again, The PPG sticker is indeed on the slam panel as you describe... if the washers fail you other idea may come in to use (lol) Graham, I checked out the previous owners reason for only owning it for 3 months and all was well with his reason, Campbells wont touch the bonnet as thats fiats area, which is why im having a go myself Regards Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy mccord Posted July 24, 2012 Author Share Posted July 24, 2012 Nick, Many thanks for the reply, packing of the arms with washers is my next port of call, the colour of the arms does match the vans main colour, my concern was the cracking of the paint on the arms which may indicate a flash over of paint again, The PPG sticker is indeed on the slam panel as you describe... if the washers fail you other idea may come in to use (lol) Graham, I checked out the previous owners reason for only owning it for 3 months and all was well with his reason, Campbells wont touch the bonnet as thats fiats area, which is why im having a go myself Regards Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
euroserv Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 Graham, Sorry if my reply seemed a bit curt. I am always in a rush and can be a bit too quick sometimes. Vacate the naughty corner, have some lunch and make sure you eat all of your greens. Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 Well, the dealer sold the whole vehicle, so it is their responsibility, and if you wanted to make a fuss I guess you could try insisting they take it to a Fiat dealer. On the whole, however, as you are taking it to a Fiat (presumably) commercial dealer for it's service, why not put the bonnet back as it was, and get them to look at it before starting to pack it over? They may conclude it is a factory defect, and that it can be fixed under warranty. Of course, if they are sharp eyed, they may look at the paint damage on the bolts etc, and say "someone has been fiddling and we won't take responsibility"! :-) Only then, if they won't play ball, consider packing it over. There may be a range of Fiat adjusting shims to be used for this purpose. Failing that, though I guess it hardly needs saying, do use only galvanised, or ideally stainless steel, washers and, if galvanised, make sure you paint them over or apply Finegans or similar because they will, eventually, rust, if you don't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rolandrat Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 My Auto-trail looked as though the bonnet was out of line but a word of caution before you get to heavy handed with it, I took it to my local bodyshop who spotted the reason straight away, the Headlights had been removed to access some electronics that are situated behind them and hadn't been put back in line. A couple of minutes later all was well and my bonnet and headlights were all lined up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 My experiance of two Fiat dealers and bodywork is they don't have a clue, did the SLD as best I could myself in end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 When doing some work on my van I had the headlamps and the plastic panels above & below the headlamps out., when I put it all back the gap down the sides of the bonnet was uneven it took be ages to get it even adjusting the position of the headlights & panels. It may be worth looking at these rather than the bonnet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nowtelse2do Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 Just to add to the above posts. PPG Coatings is one of the largest paint manufacturers in the World and supply nearly all of the Automobile Industry including Trucks and Aircraft. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 Did someone say Fiat? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy mccord Posted July 25, 2012 Author Share Posted July 25, 2012 The headlight is bolted to its correct lugs so I cant see how it could be misaligned that way gents? Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rolandrat Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 I can assure you that the headlamps can be misaligned I was watching my body man realign them. Up till then the bonnet looked well out of line and like others I thought the bonnet was the problem but it turned out not to be the case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
euroserv Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 Calm down folks; It is a fact that everything that is screwed together using threaded holes and clearance holes can quite easily be mis-aligned. It is sometimes not completely obvious that things are going awry until you have had several parts assembled and then expect them to line up with a separate group of parts in another assembly. The only way to avoid this is to have dowel pins located at strategic points that parts must mate up to before any screws can be inserted. This is why I said that an accumulation of small errors may be responsible for the mis-alignment. Mark my words; at some point in the not too distant future, whether it be by the owner, the dealer or the selling agent.... someone is going to give the bonnet the required shove and that will fix it. Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy mccord Posted July 26, 2012 Author Share Posted July 26, 2012 lol...nick you are prob right, not only is it close to the headlamp its actually rubbed the paint off the trim under the headlamp. Regards Andyy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy mccord Posted August 3, 2012 Author Share Posted August 3, 2012 wel the mystery has been solved...I think, had the service done and I asked them to look at the bonnet, eventually they realised that I have a left hand drive bonnet intake stuck to the underside of my bonnet....I couldnt believe it when I looked at it, and to make matters worse they want £84 for a new one, even though it was them that missed it at the PDI stage....its not over yet Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
euroserv Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 Hi Andy, If you don't get a quick resolution to this a call to Fiat customer relations should clear this up. If you ask the service manager at the fiat dealership that you are using for the number it sometimes galvanises them into action without you having to make the call. I would also get them to check the headlight beam pattern while you are at it because if they made this mistake at the factory it is not inconceivable that the wrong headlamps are fitted too. Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy mccord Posted August 3, 2012 Author Share Posted August 3, 2012 Hi nick, thanks for the reply, The place I used was walton summit trucks near preston, they took photos and sent them to fiat yesterday, but were fobbed off, due to the fact that this was not picked up at the PDI stage, so they have pointed me back to campbells, which is useless as they are not at fault for this. The van is at home now so I cant get the headlamps checked yet, is there no other way of checking them with the alignment tool? I dug out the PDI certificate last night, which cklearly shows they did it & so I will be having a go back at them this aft. Regards Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 Checking the headlamps is simple as per the photo I posted some time back, go out in dark shine headlights on dipped at wall or similier, if they 'kick up' on LH side you've got RHD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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