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Technical major overheating problem help!

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Technical major overheating problem help!

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stuntman323

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i have 1.8 16v bravo i need any help i took it to a local garage to check the head gaskit but its fine so is the water pump so am a little confussed to what the problem could be the is fine for so long then it seems like the fan is not coming on when the car 3/4 on temp gauge second there is no heat coming through the heaters any help on this will be great (y)
 
I had this problem. Sounds like an air blockage in coolant. Drain the coolant off and refill making sure to bleed it properly. This worked for me and heater worked fine afterwards!! This is the first step i would do before looking into other problems, thermostat etc.
 
stuntman323 said:
i have 1.8 16v bravo i need any help i took it to a local garage to check the head gaskit but its fine so is the water pump so am a little confussed to what the problem could be the is fine for so long then it seems like the fan is not coming on when the car 3/4 on temp gauge second there is no heat coming through the heaters any help on this will be great (y)
Click to expand...

As xander says, there is an air lock somewhere.

If there is a low water level the Heater matrix which is a little radiator attached to the cooling system and is located behind the dashboard.
The heater matrix is at the highest point of the cooling system and this is where an air lock will be trapped. If this rad is full of air then there will be no heat to blow through into the car ;)

Your first task is to bleed the cooling system, making sure there is no air trapped. There will be a bleed screw on the heater matrix pipe. If you do a search of the forum, you will find how to do it. :)

If this is the issue then its likely that you have a leak somewhere. Possibly radiator or a cooling pipe. otherwise it could be a severe blockage that will need the cooling system flushing and refilling.
 
I had trouble getting the air out of mine. believe it or not a blew down the expansion tank and coolandt shot out the bleed screws. Worked a treat!!!
 
the 1800 is self bleeding no bleed screws only on the radiator there shouldnt be air trapped in the system

you need to check just a few things firstly check that the little hose coming back to the header tank is indeed flowing water you should see it shooting throu the little plastic part in the top of the tank

if not then it is likely blocked in the throttle body

the route it takes is from the top of the thermostat to the throttle body it heats that up to stop posible icing and mainly to keep the breather located in the bottom of it clear from gunk as it's the first part it reaches damp air

then it goes to the tank they have been known to block in the throttle body it's self

this causes any air in the system to build up in the thermostat housing that houses the temp sensor causing the fan run randomly

how ether this problem does not cause airlocks they eventually find there way out so you could still indeed have a head gaslet problem introducing combustion gasses into the cooling system a problem worsened to the point the heater does not work buy the lack of bleeding from that hose

if your not losing any coolant then you can rule out any leaks that could be getting drawn on wile the engine is running vus introducing air locks this would normally happen around the water pump were there would be a depression in the water pressure

if the pipe on top of the coolant tank is clear and flowing coolant watch it closely as it also tells you if there's air in the system you can see bubbles running past it into the tank it should run without any bubbles you can hold revs on the engine wile your looking at this
 
Last edited:
The Sultan said:
the 1800 is self bleeding no bleed screws only on the radiator there shouldnt be air trapped in the system

you need to check just a few things firstly check that the little hose coming back to the header tank is indeed flowing water you should see it shooting throu the little plastic part in the top of the tank

if not then it is likely blocked in the throttle body

the route it takes is from the top of the thermostat to the throttle body it heats that up to stop posible icing and mainly to keep the breather located in the bottom of it clear from gunk as it's the first part it reaches damp air

then it goes to the tank they have been known to block in the throttle body it's self

this causes any air in the system to build up in the thermostat housing that houses the temp sensor causing the fan run randomly

how ether this problem does not cause airlocks they eventually find there way out so you could still indeed have a head gaslet problem introducing combustion gasses into the cooling system a problem worsened to the point the heater does not work buy the lack of bleeding from that hose

if your not losing any coolant then you can rule out any leaks that could be getting drawn on wile the engine is running vus introducing air locks this would normally happen around the water pump were there would be a depression in the water pressure

if the pipe on top of the coolant tank is clear and flowing coolant watch it closely as it also tells you if there's air in the system you can see bubbles running past it into the tank it should run without any bubbles you can hold revs on the engine wile your looking at this
Click to expand...
i noticed that i am losing coolant, but only sometimes this happens my tempature gauge goes up and down when moving i also know that the small pipe has no water coming throught it even when reving it
 
stuntman323 said:
i noticed that i am losing coolant, but only sometimes this happens my tempature gauge goes up and down when moving i also know that the small pipe has no water coming throught it even when reving it
Click to expand...

ok that explains the erratic temprature readings the pipe is likely blocked in the way i described and needs sorting asap to make the cooling system bleed properly and remove any air pockets from around the temprature sensor

what kind of condition colour is your coolant

i wouldn't expect the heater to stop working completely especially as you have only found one problem so far a blocked bleeder and the engine isnt losing to much water i'm not ruling out a head gasket problem but the symtoms are rong

i would sugest you take all the coolant pipes you can find off at one end ant try to flush the system there may be a large build up of silt overall aspecially the radiator and heater matrix and small pipes tend to get completly blocked first hindering cooling allot

now the thermostats on these engines normally fail open cooling too much bringing the guage to the bottom of the guage as you drive but theres always the chance it has stuck shut

but this again would not stop the heater working that's plumbed independently to that to allow quick warm up of the pasengers compartment
 
Last edited:
Hi Stuntman

As i said in my own thread iam no expert on Fiats but it sounds very like a blockage come air lock giving you the erratic readings,with regards to your water loose it might be that your loosing no water and its the air lock causing you water lever to fluctuate up and down,what i would being doing is as other members have already suggested is to remove most of the coolant pipes and even the thermostat and test it while you have it out,then give the cars radiator and engine a good flush with fresh clean water then refilling it with fresh anti freeze summer coolant and see how you get on from there,go easy on the bleeding nipples as they have a bad habit of sheering off in either the open or closed position,

Hope this helps all the best Scuderia
 
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