I’ve just had a couple of minor problems on the 4x4 TA. It’s a 13-reg with 66,000 miles on the clock and goes up and down a white road like a very rough and steep stream bed several times a day while we’re in Italy.

I noticed a small coolant leak where (what I assume) some sort of return pipe is attached to the header tank - centre of the first attached JPEG file. I assumed it was a pipe clip not doing its job properly and went to the local Fiat dealer (near Trevi in Umbria). When they had a look at it they - correctly - said that the header tank was beginning to fail and that trying to change the clip would achieve nothing with the risk of causing an actual failure in the header tank, which would obviously immobilise the car. They also noticed a broken clip on the 2-inch-diameter induction pipe - centre of the second attached JPEG. They had a replacement header tank on the shelf, 70 euros, which didn’t seem too bad and they changed it and the induction pipe clip for nothing - it only took a few minutes but I appreciated the gesture.

Their spares storekeeper told me that the 4x4 TA is very rare in Italy, the great majority being diesel - which made it fortunate that they had the spare - but he also said that they’d changed two or three 4x4 TA header tanks, which suggests that it may be something you need to keep an eye on.

You seem to have incorrectly pasted this on the FIAT owners' forum rather than on the UK FIAT dealership forum under "this is how to do it".

Nice work with the lingo. When I tried to get an ice-cream in rural Spain, no amount of slowly pronouncing 'helado', using Google translate or even, god forbid, miming could yield a frosty snack. My consolation prize was two frozen half-pint mugs and a tin of warm Fanta. Gracias.

After owning a house in a small village in the middle of the woods for thirty years, where no-one speaks anything but Italian or the local dialect, I've become pretty fluent.

Could you imagine getting that level of service from the majority of UK dealerships of many manufacturers, let alone Fiat?! A Fiat dealer here would never in a million years have a header tank in stock either.

I'm pretty sure I've seen one or two people in the 500 area mention header tank failure with the TwinAir engine, so I think you're onto something with it being a slight weakness.

I'm intrigued that Fiat saw fit to stamp the hoses with '4x4' - does the 4x4 have it's own coolant hose design?!

I'm pretty sure I've seen one or two people in the 500 area mention header tank failure with the TwinAir engine, so I think you're onto something with it being a slight weakness.
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Correct..

AB100 said:

Nice work with the lingo. When I tried to get an ice-cream in rural Spain, no amount of slowly pronouncing 'helado', using Google translate or even, god forbid, miming could yield a frosty snack.

Click to expand...

Miming the consumption of a Calippo could go seriously wrong in so many ways.

I think Ford and a few others have suffered similar problems.

Methinks the coolant return from the turbo is so hot it damages the header tank, pipes or connectors and causes a leak.

Looks like you got to in in time, some Ford Fiestas have been cooking their engines due to coolant loss because of this issue.

I should have noted that the "Articolo" reference - which I assume is the part number - is 52054456.

yes I think it was rectified in later TA's where they reinforced where the return pipe joins the tank