Technical Plastic coolant hose fitting broke off

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Technical Plastic coolant hose fitting broke off

Well I haven't used a genuine filter for years & had no problems. I tend to choose recognised aftermarket brands though........
And although I uses garages for most jobs, I always like to change the oil myself, just to make sure. Call me paranoid...!

I would hazard a guess, that using the dirt cheap aftermarket filters won't be such an issue on much older cars, but I believe folks should be careful what they use these days with modern cars whereby the engine manufacture tolerances are far more finite these days than perhaps they were 20, 30 years ago etc. Lots of cars these days seem also to need the requirement to have the oil change reset done and clearly this is the case with our own TA for instance.

Having spent almost 10k on a new car, I'm not about to start substituting the OEM filter for any other branded filter, certainly not under my ownership anyway.
 
Apparently the thermostat is integrated into that housing and can't be bought separately, so I guess knackered thermostats would account for a fair few sales.

Yes, quite common these days. In fact, the Fiat designed engine in my Saab, also has a similar thermostat housing with the integrated thermostat that suposedly cannot be removed. I haven't had to replace that, but they're about 40 quid a piece.
 
My wife has a Ford StreetKA that has a thermostat housing made entirely from plastic and they are known to fail. Despite her car always having corrosion inhibiting antifreeze some gunk built up under the 'stat and this was enough to crack the plastic housing and cause a leak. I fitted a pattern part which failed in less than a year and replaced it with a genuine Ford one which seems to be okay.
 
.........Despite her car always having corrosion inhibiting antifreeze some gunk built up under the 'stat and this was enough to crack the plastic housing and cause a leak......

Another good point worth noting, the failure by some owners to even have the coolant flushed/replaced in their vehicles. Coolant in modern motors usually has a working life of around 5 years. Some people however don't understand that coolant over time degrades and can become diluted, often with 'top ups' usually with water straight from the tap. Best time to have a full coolant flush and refill is during a cambelt/waterpump change, though many owners seemingly can't manage even that (one of my neighbours recently had to scrap his car because he refused to change the cambelt at the recommended mileage, it failed and wrecked the engine! :bang: )
 
Just wondering ...
did this fail and shear because the attached hose was unsupported or under strain?

Had a similar experience on a different make of (supposedly upmarket) car, and the failure was put down to vibration of the hose due to its unsupported length.
 
Just wondering ...
did this fail and shear because the attached hose was unsupported or under strain?

The hose does not seem to be particularly well supported. As the hose goes from engine to bulkhead, I assume there must be quite a lot of relative movement.
 
Just out of curiosity how big a job is it to replace the housing? I will hopefully be doing my cambelt and water pump soon and if it's not that much of a job I might do this too.
 
Just out of curiosity how big a job is it to replace the housing? I will hopefully be doing my cambelt and water pump soon and if it's not that much of a job I might do this too.
Sorry. I bottled out & used the Fiat dealer, so I don't know! :eek:
Was in a bit of a hurry to get it done (Wife using my car!)
They were selling the replacement housing for around £30.
 
I'd be sorely tempted to seek out a lathe & a piece of hex brass bar & repair the old housing.

I reckon a small engineering shop could knock out a batch of 50 or so for around a tenner apiece - now that would be a useful group buy.

Thread resurrection, but I'd very much advise against that. The plastic fitting on mine had cracked and someone at work noticed that it was piddling a little bit. Anyway, I've replaced mine with a new stat from S4P and as an aside I tested the new stat by warming it up under the hot tap and then pouring a kettle of water through it and it functioned as you'd expect it to, the old one is stuck permanently open just a crack and was letting water through even before it got warm.

Original stat was a Behr and the new one is a Facet.
 
I realise this is an old thread, but It proved useful for me, so heres my 2p:

This has just happened in my girlfriend's 2010 1.2 lounge. I first noticed the leak after it's cambelt + pump change, so i'm guessing the process of changing the coolant somehow exacerbated the problem. Either that or the mechanic had something to do with it.

Not knowing whether I can trust said mechanic, i decided to replace the thermostat myself. I deliberately went for the Facet one as it has the metal collar instead of plastic.

If you are comfortable working on the cooling system on a car, this is a fairly easy job. You need to remove the battery and tray to give youself access. You will also need a jubilee clip to replace the one on the hose to the radiator, as the factory fit one cannot be re-used.

I'm not a professional mechanic, but I do think this represents a design flaw. It's not that the plastic cannot tolerate the heat, it's just a bit too fraglie. Lucky for Fiat that it seems to hold on long enough to avoid being a warranty replacement.
 
This is the broken one:

IMG_20150824_160106_zpsa81751d7.jpg
 

Interesting that compared to the OP's replacement unit in September last year, yours appears to have a metal fitting in place of the plastic one.

Edit: Though it is not clear whether the OP's was "genuine" (I'd imply so from his dealership visit) and S4P appears to be out of stock of genuine, so guessing yours is aftermarket from S4P?
 
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Mine is a facet, so it's aftermarket.

It's hard to understand why anyone would want to buy an OEM replacement if the original one had failed prematurely.

Although this is an easy and cheap repair, it's serious in so far as if it fails completely, it could destroy your engine if you don't stop the car as soon as the overheat warning appears. The 1.2 FIRE is known for HG failure if run low on coolant.

Several of these have been reported as having failed; folks might consider replacing even apparently sound housings with plastic spigots with the all-metal type as a precaution.
 
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Where can i see this part under the hood to check if its ok?
2010 1.4 model.
 
It's hard to understand why anyone would want to buy an OEM replacement if the original one had failed prematurely.

Although this is an easy and cheap repair, it's serious in so far as if it fails completely, it could destroy your engine if you don't stop the car as soon as the overheat warning appears. The 1.2 FIRE is known for HG failure if run low on coolant.

Several of these have been reported as having failed; folks might consider replacing even apparently sound housings with plastic spigots with the all-metal type as a precaution.
I was going to do mine anyway when I did the timing belt and water pump. For 25 quid you'd be stupid not to, plus the stat wasn't actually functioning as it should have done anyway.
 
Where can i see this part under the hood to check if its ok?
2010 1.4 model.


Not sure about the 1.4. However, it's probably in a similar place to the 1.2.

Follow the top radiator hose (one of the big ones) back to where it meets the engine block. The hose attaches on to the thermostat housing.

It's difficult to get a good look at it without removing the battery and battery tray, however, you can certainly check for any leaking coolant in the area.

That said, i've checked the part for the 1.4, and it is different to the 1.2. You may find it is not suceptable to this problem.
 
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