As the owner of a vehicle with this type of engine but turbocharged since 2011 and working on these vehicles, I can also provide some feedback:
- Here in Europe, it was first announced by the manufacturer that the service had to be carried out every 30,000km or 2 years. This was later lowered to 15,000km or 1 year.
- Spark plugs are not the same as turbo engines. Here they have to be replaced every 30,000km. We've hardly ever had a problem with spark plugs, except on engines that have been modified to increase their performance.
- The timing kit + water pump really isn't that expensive compared to other cars with engines in the same range, and is extremely easy to replace. A qualified mechanic can do it without any problem. I did it on my car in 2 hours.
- The recommended replacement under normal use is 120,000 km or 5 years, but we've already seen 10-year-old vehicles with the original belt without any problems.
- As already mentioned, there's a small filter for the multiair that needs to be cleaned not necessarily at every service but periodically.
- For turbocharged engines, the oil inlet screw of turbo is fitted with a small filter, which must also be cleaned or replaced periodically.
- Only use recognized quality 5W40 sport type or 0W30 motor oil, nothing else and no cheap oil.

To conclude, in 200,000km I've only had relatively minor problems. As I mainly make short trips in a cold climate, one cylinder became ovalized and the engine started to consume oil. When I dismantled this cylinder for repair, I found that all the internal parts of the engine were fine and very little worn.

Carry out the services at the intervals recommended by the manufacturer, and a little earlier if you're only doing short trips, and you shouldn't have any engine problems :-)

Greetings from Europe, and I hope this will be of help to former and future owners alike.

I couldn't count how many multiair cars we have had towed in to our shop that quit running.... put some oil in em, crank em a bit... boom running and driving again.
Best thing I can say for that design, it protects the engine from lack of oil, becuase it won't run without it😅

These are shockingly very reliable engines if you just change the oil every 5-6k miles, do plugs at recommended intervals,
and do the timing belt services.

For a cheap engine, I was impressed by how, minus the hose, well it looked, and no Funny parts! Not  Fiat fan, but still impressed.

75 year old, English codger here, Eric…….. I love watching your strip down videos……. Your humour and editing is superb…….. Thanks for the fun and education……..

I had one of these engines for years in a Fiat 500 Pop. Amazingly easy to work on and care for with basic knowledge and tools. Oil changes every 5k, spark plugs every 30k, timing belt every 150k. A full set of plugs cost about $15. Bought the car for cash, drove up to 170k miles, then sold it for more then I bought it for to someone who's kid killed it within a week.

The problem is poor service in USA/Canada. Nobody reads their service manual.

The 500 was never really sold as a traditional economy car here. I remember getting few year old ones in at my shop and people were literally CRYING over replacement parts cost for things like oil changes or brakes because there were no real aftermarket parts available. While the 500 does have its issues (door handles for example or shifter cables) many of the problems were caused by lack of Service and cheap car syndrome.

1:06 As a point of trivia and comparison, the 170-cubic-inch (2.8-liter) inline six-cylinder engine in the 1963 Ford Falcon also made 101 horsepower.   :)

You aren't old enough to remember, but back in the leaded gas days I used to change plugs, points, and plug wires every 20K on my American cars, mostly GMs.

One thing I notice is that this motor is in pretty good shape, in most ways, with over 100K! Those Fiat engines must be OK!

That engine is called "Fire" it's an engine introduced by Fiat in mid 80s, the name means "fully integrated robotized engine" and was the first engine by fiat that was fully built by robots.

Here in Brazil it's an INSANELY popular engine that was sold in many configurations, 1.0 and 1.4L 8 valve NA being the most common, the multiair ones are rare though.
A very fun version of this engine was sold here under the name T-jet, and was 1.4L 16 valve, turbo charged , producing around 150HP, no multiair system whatsoever.

The engine block is cast iron and is basically unchanged in it's 40 years of existence.

The timing belt is supposed to be replaced every 60.000km or 5 years, but you can cut that by half if driven under severe use.

Mine is a Fiat Uno which I engine swapped from 1.0 to 1.4L 8v, tuned to around 95HP.
It's weak but the car is like 800kg(1600 pounds), so it drives like a 2.0 NA hatch from mid 2000s.

T-jet and Multiair are more problematic because they take an engine that was originally meant to output 55HP, and double and even triple that.
But the NA non-multiair versions of this engine are literally bullet proof, they can run for 500.000+Km  with basic maintenance!
Sadly, due to environmental regulations Fiat was forced to stop production of the Fire engine early 2024.
It's a shame, really robust and economic engine!

As a retired mechanic, I always enjoy watching your engine autopsies.

I have owned the Abarth. Loved the car.

Every time I watch you crack those cylinder head bolts with your long breaker bar, It gives me real satisfaction !
I love your engine tear down videos - Always a great pleasure to watch you stripping down various engines... using good old blue to help you out in sticky situations !

Had ~40 of these in a fleet. Honestly rock solid little cars - very little ever went wrong with them.

You could've hurt yourself trying to turn this engine over. I really appreciate you putting yourself at risk like that for our entertainment.

So basically - if they had just changed the plugs - this engine would have kept on going at 125K.

I have a 500L with the abarth engine.  It’s just a weekend car. 2015 with 28k miles.  It gets the oil changed full synthetic every 3k or less.  Last oil change was 2k miles after 10 months.  I just did the cool and flush and new belts.  I do over maintain it just because of the reputation.   It’s also a manual gearbox version.

My daily driver is a Tacoma with 205k on it ;)

I run that engine but the turbo version. 8 years and 40,000 miles runs sweet as a nut. Iridium tipped plugs should be changed every two years. TBH so far it’s the best all round engine I’ve ever had. Especially in sports mode. UK based.

If it wasn't for that broken spark plug it would have been fine.

Oh hell yeah! Thank you for listening! Keep looking for the 1.4T version!