hi all bought a fait bravo (1.4 12v p reg) last month around 7th of nov with 118000 on the clock.
took somone with me to see the car it ran great sounded great seemed to have no problems.
So i bought the car an drove it about 40 miles home.
When i drove home i noticed one of the lights stayed on looked like this
An that the temprature gaugue didnt seem to be working (temp of car was always at bottom never moved).

It sat in my drive for around 3 days till i got tax. Bought the tax was all happy rdy to go out an drive the car to work (H8 getting busses) then the damn thing wouldnt start well it started first time but then went dead staight away an wouldnt start again! left it for a day an started again first time tried to drive an wouldnt go anywhere just went dead again..



So anyway i took it to a garage an asked them to put it on there diagnostic computer an find out what was wrong he then told me there was nothing wrong with it he then said it could be bent valves or such witch would stop it from sarting.

He then took the cylinder head of an told me the was a crack in it an some bent valves!
I had to fork out 370 for a remanufactured one from the internet an pay him 470 for taking old one of putting new one on an new timing belt an gasket roker covers not cheap eh.

So got the car back an all seem fine or at least i thought.
The light on the picture used to show up every so often so i had to stop my car switch it off start it up again wait for light to disapear an go again an also ive noticed that the temp gauge still wasnt working or at least i thought.
Just last night while i was parked with the car on for a while i noticed the temp gaugue climbing it went pretty high pretty fast an steam was coming out from my radiator.
I now know that my radiator is burst steam comes running out from the top an the radiator is still cool.
Also theres no heat getting into my car it only comes through when i put the foot down an the temp gauge starts going down a little.
An now ive noticed that funny light doesnt show up anymore.

Kinda wierd, now ive got to drive fast for the car to stay cool lol

Can anyone help me here? Are any of those related ?
Thx for taking your time to read this

Zack

how much did you pay for the car?

well it sounds too me like you have a goosed water pump or something similar in the cooling system is ary.
keep driving and you will cook the 'new' head!!
did the mechanic show you the head with crack/bent valves?
have you tried bleeding the cooling system?
if its just out of the garage i would be going back

payed 600 for the car dont think it was worth it getting repair but to late now

as for the cylinder head yes ive got the old one back i seen small crack between the 3 valves.

Im going to change the radiator tomorrow.
I'll let you know how i get on soon as im done.

EDIT: No i havnt blead the the cooling system.

too right id be going back or if there are other peeps from your area on the forum id be asking for credibility of the garage but maybe im over cautious of ppl thatrun garages in my area gutted for ya though matey i know how frustrating it is when things go wrong and cost the earth

i mean no offence, but someone needs to tell you the truth before this gets worse.

buying a 1.4 at 118k was always going be an expensive mistake, by that milage they should be scrapped. you've paid £840 in repairs already, plus the £600 you paid for it, meaning the car has cost you £1440. plus after all this the car still isnt road worthy so it'll be at least £1500 by the time its fixed. a mint fully working 1.4 with much less milage is only worth £400-500 so no matter what you've lost at least a grand already.

i think this is easily the worst case i've ever heard of. no seriously this is the worse. i've seen people bend over many times but this is beyond a joke. you've been fully raped.

i would replace the rad and sell it to some mug for a few hundred quid (if you have no conscience like the person who sold it to you). you might think its too late to get rid because you've spent so much already. but consider this, at 118k what else will need doing? the answer is pretty much everything that hasnt been done already. thats why cars like this belong in a scrapyard, they arent worth the money it takes to keep them on the road. in fact i see better examples in the scrapyard. get rid asap or you will regret it for a very long time.

ok changed the radiotor done the bleed screws noticed that some air was escaping.
drove the car temp was all fine again.
but now ive noticed the injector light come back on

can anyone help :S

Taking a look at my Fiat manual that warning light means that the injectors are packing up, which last time I checked is a bad (and expensive) thing.

on a 1.4 you only have 1 injector, and it never fails. when the light is on (think of it as engine management light) it means you need to go to fiat and pay them £65 to do a diagnsotic check. then they'll tell you whats wrong and give you a quote for a lot of money. swear at them, then tell us what needs doing and we'll help you get it sorted for less money.

dakota said:

Taking a look at my Fiat manual that warning light means that the injectors are packing up, which last time I checked is a bad (and expensive) thing.

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my car only has a single injector/carborator.

ive noticed that this light usally comes on after 10 mins of driving.
I have to keep switching off the car for it to go away.

also ive noticed when left ticking over for 30 mins the light didnt come on.
so its only when im driving it may come on servral times.

any help would be aprecatied

thx

that sounds like the air/fuel mix in not correct when driving, which the lambda is picking up and switching the light on. the list of possible causes is longer than my arm, a diagnostic check is the quickest (and often cheapest) way to find out what the problem is. getting a diagnsotic at a non-fiat garage is risky, their equipment probably wont be as accurate.

What kind of diagnostic equipment does the AA or RAC carry? Just strikes me that if he's a member it could be worth a callout, just say you were scared to drive it with that light on. They may e able to tell you without having to donate £65 to the "Old Fiat mechanic's home"(probably a villa in Tuscany going by their prices lol)

In fact i might give that a go myself!:idea:

if you have "homestart" you might as well call them every time you have a problem. thats what you pay for.

i've never experienced the AA or RAC using diagnostic equipment, in fact i dont think they even use anything like a code reader, but i may be wrong.

Its strange the car does run an sound fine an yet the injector light will come on usally after 10 mins of driving the car, I do recall one time the revs started to go up an down as soon as this light came on.. but thats only been once out of 30 times this light has come on.

I dont really want to drive the car anymore incase more **** goes wrong with it but i have no choice.
Since the overheating happend i never seen the injector light come on.
Now that ive change the radiator an fixed the overheating the darn injector light is back.

EDIT: Not with AA yet but i think now is a good time lol

jug said:

if you have "homestart" you might as well call them every time you have a problem. thats what you pay for.

i've never experienced the AA or RAC using diagnostic equipment, in fact i dont think they even use anything like a code reader, but i may be wrong.

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Just watch as your RAC/AA policy only covers you for like 4 or 6 callouts a yr, as i have a joint policy and been a member for 24yrs, i'm only 23 i Get 12 callouts a yr. Worth checking before you call them out for any little thing.

zack said:

I dont really want to drive the car anymore incase more **** goes wrong with it but i have no choice.
Since the overheating happend i never seen the injector light come on.
Now that ive change the radiator an fixed the overheating the darn injector light is back.

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Question does the fan come on to stop the overheating?

mountainmachine said:

Question does the fan come on to stop the overheating?

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yes it came on when temp guage came up at half way for a breif 10 secs

Cool, just checking as have had the fan not come on, on my HGT, traced problem and fixed and my old Brava 1.2sx