About 13 years ago my mother gave my brother and me a Palio from 1999. The car was not in the best condition but it had a sporty style, with wheels and low suspension, but mechanically it was a disaster.
So much so that the scarce 8 months that we had it, it was in the workshop for more than 2 months, trying to make it as original as possible.
With the idea that it is the best possible mechanically speaking, we only took it to a specialized Fiat workshop since we wanted the car to be well repaired.
One of those repairs was to change the timing belt, water pump, tensioners and multi-channel belt, and for that I take it to the most recognized Fiat specialized workshop in my city, the best Fiat specialist workshop.
My car had a 1.6-liter 16-valve double overhead cam engine, a fairly modern and sophisticated engine, and therefore quite complex to repair, so not many people could repair it. I leave you with the confidence that they will do an excellent job. The next day I am going to remove it and they deliver it to me with a terrible failure, the engine had almost no power and the injector light on on the dashboard.
The mechanics told me that this failure was due to the fact that I had to take him to clean the injectors, which I did the next day.
After cleaning the injectors and putting the scanner on, the car still had the terrible failure. I take it back to the workshop for them to answer me and this time they tell me that the fault was due to one of the two coils that works poorly. I'm going to buy him a new coil and the motor still has the same fault. Tired, I take him to another mechanic and this one just by listening to the engine tells me: this car doubled valves.
I told him it couldn't be because the job had been done in the best Fiat workshop in the city. He told me: leave me the car and tomorrow I will show you that I am right. And so it was, the next day I go and he shows me the 8 of the 16 bent valves.
What was the reason? they put the timing belt wrong. I had to rectify the valve cover and buy 16 new valves. Of course I went to the workshop and they gave me the labor back.
Taking the car to the best workshop does not guarantee a good job either.
