Hi all.
I have seen the thread about the rad fan making contact with the rad and scraping it when it cuts in. On Saturday last the car failed its mot and one of the advisories was a coolant leak from the rad. The fan has been scraping the rad for the last month or so and has obviously finally cut through the matrix. Until I get the car apart I can’t tell what the issue with the fan is. Does anyone know?
Next thing, when I changed the clutch last year I saw a trail of pink coolant residue on the block that looked like it came from behind the oil cooler/filter housing. Is there a common water leak on the Abarth 500 from the oil cooler assembly or anywhere else that anyone is aware of? Of course it could be coming from higher up the engine but I never had the front end off completely to investigate properly.

Ok, this is for anyone who has the same issue -

I went to Thames Fiat at Slough and spoke to one of the Technicians who was more than helpful.

The answer to the fan problem, which is a common fault apparently, is the control resistor at the bottom of the rad that switches the fan on at temperature. It appears that this part breaks easily and ends up pushing the fan into the rad causing damage and the leak, so a new rad and new control resistor required.

The coolant leak that looks like its coming from the oil cooler housing is in fact coming from the water pump feed hose which again is a common fault so new hose required which won't be cheap.

Third thing and not on this thread is the driveshafts, mine have been rattling around for ages and yet again is another common fault - the spider bearings wear causing vibration which in turn destroys the cups they are sitting in and they fail generally due to a leak from the CV boots on both sides so again a nice new pair of driveshafts required.

A fairly productive visit the the dealership really even if its gonna cost a pile of cash to sort at least I know what the problems are now.

I had that resistor issue on our 2008 1.2 Lounge. All we noticed was the fan was making a horrible grating noise. Luckily it was only between the fan and the fan housing but I urge people to check theirs as yes, rad leaks could well be an issue.

It's situated on the nearside (RHD) near the top of the fan housing with a wiring plug going to it.