'86 Lancia Delta 1300 questions

[David Gevert]

Hi,

I'm an American stationed on an Italian military base. I just bought an '86 Delta, and I have some questions:

1) Are there any webpages or resources about car maintanence written in English out there?
2) The dashboard light is out, apparently due to a blown fuse. Can anyone tell me what I'll need to look for in the fuse box to figure out which fuse to replace, preferably without pulling each and every fuse until I find the blown one?
3) The previous owners have told me that I need to put in an additive for the fuel every time I gas up. Does this sound legitimate to everyone? I'm in northern Italy (an hour from Venice) if that matters at all.
4) Are there any typical common failures that I should know about? I'd like to do a little preventative maintenance. I'll probably have the timing belt and belt tensioner changed out - I learned with my last car how disastrous failing to replace a timing belt can be. The car is in good shape and has very low miles...err...kilometers (sorry) on it for its age, at 160,000 km.

Thanks.

[Martin]

There should be little signs in the fues box to show which each fuse is.....
If i recall correctly there is a dimmer switch on the right of the centre controls under the radio, you better check that also...
The only problem you really need to be carefull of is rust in the rear inner wheelarches..
Regards,
Martin

[Brian Hilton]

Hi David,

Reference the fuel additive, I would recommend you do so as originally it would have run on leaded fuel, since leaded fuel is no longer avaiable, you have to use unleaded ,and without an additive you will eventually burn out the exhaust valves and the valve seats. Usually after stopping using leaded fuel you can run the engine ok for sometime as these parts will retain lead memory, the residue of lead leftover from years of use, but in your case this will probably be long gone.

The 1300 was a very nice engine and with regular oil & filter changes should double your mileage easily.
Keep an eye open for rust around the top of tailgate aperture as this is a well known rust spot, as is the base of the windscreen along with the sunroof aperture if fitted, however, I don't think any of this will be a problem if your car has spent it's life in Northern Italy, unlike the ravages to our cars with the UK's wet weather!

Brian

[Stefan Arthur Carabus]

distribution belt