car trouble

[uknightbreed]

anybody know a thing or 2 about cars ?

my mrs has had a big problem with her cinquencento.

she would drive it and after a while it would leak from the front left side (appears to be coming from the radiators left side) about an inch from the front of the car.

we took it to a garage , they said there was nothing wrong with it and explained about the bleed tap , to bleed air out of the radiator after you top up the coolant.

anyway after a week it leaked again , so we took it back and they changed the cam gasket.(neaded changing , nothing to do with the leak problem) they also topped up the coolant and bled the air again.

every few days the car would leak and would need topping up again.

so we took it to another garage , who charged us almost £200 for a new water pump. theys said the thermostat was also ok.

48 hours later and the car has leaked all the coolant again.
imo its a leak rather than an overheating/thermostat problem as the leak occurs even before the car hits its optimum temprature (the thermostat kicks in a 89 i beleive)

also when the mrs bought the car , there was a staining on the engine which looked like the coolant resevoir had popped fluid over the engine and left a rusty colour stain over parts under the bonnet.this implies to me that perhaps the radiator had corroded at some point perhaps ? maybe patched up with that radiator leak stuff ?

any ideas what i should do and what the problem is ?
is it the radiater ? why would mechanics miss it out if it apears so obvious that it could be the culprit ?

 

[Bluelass]

I'm sure your man bits won't drop off if you listen to a woman attempting to give advice on car trouble but here goes -

I had a similar problem a while ago with my car and it turned out to be the radiator cap that was faulty and when the water reached a certain pressure it blew out of the sides of the cap.
I'm assuming that as you've mentioned filling through a reservoir then you don't have a radiator cap.
So, by process of elimination it's either a hose that's leaking - check the jublilee clips or the cap of the reservoir which you've already mentioned - if the rad itself was leaking it would leak pretty much all the time unless the leak is right at the top of the rad.
I presume you've tried running the engine on the drive or whatever with some cardboard underneath to see exactly where it's dripping from?
If you can't detect where it's dripping from then the coolant must be going elsewhere.
While it's running, is the hose at the top of the rad getting hot and excuse me, very hard - in other words - pressurising?

Is the engine overheating at all?
How's the oil? Any gunky looking stuff around the filler cap?
Is the oil level RISING at all when you dipstick?
Does the engine misfire at all?

How many miles has the car done?

Coolant can only leak from the rad itself, the hoses or into the engine block via a gasket - usually a head gasket or points where hoses/metal/hoses meet.
If it's only happening when the engine is warm/hot it doesnt sound like a hole in a rad - it's happening under pressure.

Anyway, just a few options that you've probably already eliminated from your enquiries!
Good luck.

 

[Bluelass]

sorry just re read your post - it's happening BEFORE it gets hot. Hmmmmm.
Okay, I give up. dunno the answer.

 

[Cahill's Metatarsal]

anybody know a thing or 2 about cars ?

my mrs has had a big problem with her cinquencento.

she would drive it and after a while it would leak from the front left side (appears to be coming from the radiators left side) about an inch from the front of the car.

we took it to a garage , they said there was nothing wrong with it and explained about the bleed tap , to bleed air out of the radiator after you top up the coolant.

anyway after a week it leaked again , so we took it back and they changed the cam gasket.(neaded changing , nothing to do with the leak problem) they also topped up the coolant and bled the air again.

every few days the car would leak and would need topping up again.

so we took it to another garage , who charged us almost £200 for a new water pump. theys said the thermostat was also ok.

48 hours later and the car has leaked all the coolant again.
imo its a leak rather than an overheating/thermostat problem as the leak occurs even before the car hits its optimum temprature (the thermostat kicks in a 89 i beleive)

also when the mrs bought the car , there was a staining on the engine which looked like the coolant resevoir had popped fluid over the engine and left a rusty colour stain over parts under the bonnet.this implies to me that perhaps the radiator had corroded at some point perhaps ? maybe patched up with that radiator leak stuff ?

any ideas what i should do and what the problem is ?
is it the radiater ? why would mechanics miss it out if it apears so obvious that it could be the culprit ?

There's your problem, Fiats are unreliable pieces of [Poor language removed] crap, buy a better car

Hope that helps

 

[TX Bill]

...and I'm still looking for my "man bits" after reading Bluelass's post.

 

[coyney]

There's your problem, Fiats are unreliable pieces of [Poor language removed] crap, buy a better car

Hope that helps

Agreed I bought a brand new freedom just over a month ago and have had the RAC out twice already,no wonder it looks like a pope mobile its a miracle it goes:blink:

 

[uknightbreed]

I'm sure your man bits won't drop off if you listen to a woman attempting to give advice on car trouble but here goes -

I had a similar problem a while ago with my car and it turned out to be the radiator cap that was faulty and when the water reached a certain pressure it blew out of the sides of the cap.
I'm assuming that as you've mentioned filling through a reservoir then you don't have a radiator cap.
So, by process of elimination it's either a hose that's leaking - check the jublilee clips or the cap of the reservoir which you've already mentioned - if the rad itself was leaking it would leak pretty much all the time unless the leak is right at the top of the rad.
I presume you've tried running the engine on the drive or whatever with some cardboard underneath to see exactly where it's dripping from?
If you can't detect where it's dripping from then the coolant must be going elsewhere.
While it's running, is the hose at the top of the rad getting hot and excuse me, very hard - in other words - pressurising?

Is the engine overheating at all?
How's the oil? Any gunky looking stuff around the filler cap?
Is the oil level RISING at all when you dipstick?
Does the engine misfire at all?

How many miles has the car done?

Coolant can only leak from the rad itself, the hoses or into the engine block via a gasket - usually a head gasket or points where hoses/metal/hoses meet.
If it's only happening when the engine is warm/hot it doesnt sound like a hole in a rad - it's happening under pressure.

Anyway, just a few options that you've probably already eliminated from your enquiries!
Good luck.

cor ! cheers bluelass for the guidance, where do i start ?

i think its done 35k miles , due a full service in a few more k.
it is only used for short local journeys.

yes the water is defo coming from the rad left hand side 'area' , its hard to pin point the exact spot.

also , yes , the hose coming from the rad is pressurising and warming.

the car isnt overheating at all (with coolant in the tank), although after it bottomed out yesterday it hit 120+. normally its runs between 80-90 tops. she heats up a lot in static traffic but these type of fiat's are renowned for that apparently.

both mechanics say they have done a pressure test on the sytem and said it was fine

ive checked the oil for that tell tale miky residue , but its clear . oil is tip top.

the engine itself is a very chirpy, very nice sound runner on the whole.

the drip obviously started when the car was running , but even 12 hours later when the car is cooled the drip was still coming out.

when the same happened last week , i topped up the coolant again, ran the engine until the fan kicked in , then bled the radiator of air(with the bleed tap) , let the car cool , then topped it back up again.
this worked fine for a day or 2 then out the blue , it bottomed out again (hence why we tried a different mechanic).

like i say i think it starts even before the thermostat has hit its kick in temprature (89)

im really puzzled by it .

 

[Bluelass]

...and I'm still looking for my "man bits" after reading Bluelass's post.

It's the place where men keep their brains TX !!

I once had a colleague who said his privates would drop off if he ever had to take advice from a woman on anything other than childbirth!

 

[Bluelass]

Hmmm, bit of a mystery and you've been through all of the obvious potential problem areas.
Glad to hear it's not your head gasket though! Having said that I had mine pressure tested and everything seemed fine but it did turn out to be the gasket. With having a 4.7 lt V8 I had to have both heads removed which cost me an arm and three legs! It runs on lpg though so really cheap motoring for me and the miles I do.

Are there any inlets for the rad in that bottom left hand?

My mechanic once drained the system and filled it with a dye to see exactly where the leak was.
The antifreeze in my rad is flourescent green so I would be able to see it fairly quickly.

What puzzles me is why it's okay for a day or two then leaks. If it's a leak, it's a leak!

I'm going in to work a bit later today but one of the lads in my team used to be a mechanic so I'll ask him what he thinks.

Is it one of the new cinquecentos or an older one? Engine at the rear if it's an old one.

I'll have a chat with Chris in work and see if he's got any bright ideas.

 

[uknightbreed]

Hmmm, bit of a mystery and you've been through all of the obvious potential problem areas.
Glad to hear it's not your head gasket though! Having said that I had mine pressure tested and everything seemed fine but it did turn out to be the gasket. With having a 4.7 lt V8 I had to have both heads removed which cost me an arm and three legs! It runs on lpg though so really cheap motoring for me and the miles I do.

Are there any inlets for the rad in that bottom left hand?

My mechanic once drained the system and filled it with a dye to see exactly where the leak was.
The antifreeze in my rad is flourescent green so I would be able to see it fairly quickly.

What puzzles me is why it's okay for a day or two then leaks. If it's a leak, it's a leak!

I'm going in to work a bit later today but one of the lads in my team used to be a mechanic so I'll ask him what he thinks.

Is it one of the new cinquecentos or an older one? Engine at the rear if it's an old one.

I'll have a chat with Chris in work and see if he's got any bright ideas.

cheers bluelass , its a 96 plate btw - engine at the front.

i took it back to our old mechanic this morning and asked him to take a second look. not sure what the cause is yet but he agreed the rad is the problem (where the leaks coming from).

i will keep you informed if i get anywhere.

 

[Robert Jarvis]

From what has been said I would have said the Rad is faulty and I hope your mechanic really checks that out.

As for Fiats, some years back my wife had a Fiat Uno. The carb went faulty, the day after the warranty was the first available time to take it back to the garage and they just said to us, Tough!! Would need a new carb they also said!! So we said [Poor language removed]!! and px'd it for a Nissan Sunny. On the Fiat the seat belt in the front also broke. I told the Mrs never having a Fiat again. We had the Sunny for a few years, it never put a foot wrong!!

 

[Chris]

I had a fiat tipo. RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAPID. But I got sick of putting new head gaskets on it, even though each skim of the cylinder head gave that nice increase in bhp
It just got silly changing a head gasket every 9 months or so. Was a great car apart from there was ALWAYS something wrong with it. I particularly liked the speedo not working now and again, even after replacing the throttle link cable twice.

NEVER BUY FIAT AGAIN! Althought I do fancy a 2.4JTD Alfa Romeo 159 Lusso

 

[Dylan]

i think its done 35k miles , due a full service in a few more k.
it is only used for short local journeys.

That is harder on the engine than 100k of motorway driving.

the car isnt overheating at all (with coolant in the tank), although after it bottomed out yesterday it hit 120+. normally its runs between 80-90 tops. she heats up a lot in static traffic but these type of fiat's are renowned for that apparently.

While not directly helping your leaking problem, sounds like a manual controlled fan wouldn't go amiss here. Allow you to get the rad fan on while in traffic and stop it heating up too much.

 

[Dylan]

I had a fiat tipo. RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAPID. But I got sick of putting new head gaskets on it, even though each skim of the cylinder head gave that nice increase in bhp
It just got silly changing a head gasket every 9 months or so. Was a great car apart from there was ALWAYS something wrong with it. I particularly liked the speedo not working now and again, even after replacing the throttle link cable twice.

NEVER BUY FIAT AGAIN! Althought I do fancy a 2.4JTD Alfa Romeo 159 Lusso

You ain't a true petrolhead unless you've owned an Alfa. My stepdad had a 1997 Alfa 156 V6. Beautiful car. Not a problem with it. Just a few 'features' as the Alfa owners call them. As for those 'features'.....a couple of new engines!! The first one blew while he was driving in Europe, a long way from home!!!

 

[trebilcock66]

Is it one of the new cinquecentos or an older one? Engine at the rear if it's an old one.

I'll have a chat with Chris in work and see if he's got any bright ideas.[/quote]


There's your problem, UKnb, you're looking in the wrong end.