As the title says. On the 1.2 16v engine, I understand that these be prone to Headgasket failure.

So, is there anything that can be done to prevent the failure, or at least stem inevitability of the failure? (More frequent than neccessary oil changes, Different oil types, driving styles, any of these may help?)

you could go back in time and work your way up though the ranks of fiat until you were in a position to identify the design flaw and force a redesign before the FIRE range was put into production.

or you can play the lottery of life and keep your fingers crossed.

and remember, it could be worse, it could be a k-series.

Hmmm.

I would use my time machine, but it was made by Fiat and is suffering from a faulty headgasket.

I was always told to use a decent antifreeze and change it regularly, evey 2 years. As it prevents corrosion etc of all the water system.



A main fault with the K series I seem to remember was the cooling system being insufficient.

bridges said:

A main fault with the K series I seem to remember was the cooling system being insufficient.

Click to expand...

the capacity of the cooling system is so small that it stuggles to maintain the correct temperatue, and if it has a leak or boils the level becomes critically low very quickly, and with no warning. to deal with that i advise a switch is fitted in the expansion tank to illuminate a light on the dash when the coolant hits MIN. the stretch bolts used to hold the head in place allow some play, that is natural with stretch bolts, and should be dealt with using retaining lugs. these were originally plastic and could easily shear, later they became steel, but they were so small that they still allowed enough movement to cause problems. there are several other issues too, but imo the k-series was still a great engine, so happy to rev and great power&torque delivery.

Wrong thread -ignore this post