Hi newbie here, so not sure if I'm posting in the right place!

For my sins, bought a Palio weekend 75 three months ago, from a friend....

have had an overheating problem for a month - have had the sensor changed to operate the fan

started overheating again a couple of days ago - radiator is cold, top hose from engine is hot - assumed thermostat was problem, took it to Fiat garage to be told it's the cylinder head gasket. Have looked on french fiat forum (or similar) where there are other people who have been told (incorrectly) that the problem was the cylinder head gasket.

I am completely lost and panicking because I must have a car to get to work etc etc...

Any assistance greatly appreciated.

Thanks

- Hilary

Waterpump?

is the water pumping back to the reserve tank? if its not check the return pipe is not blocked up.

I had a similar problem a few days ago, turns out the radiator and tubing hadn't been purged well last time I added cooling fluid. There are 3 purging valves which must be unscrewed to let air out when changing fluid. The symptoms were akin to yours, a very hot top part of the radiator and cold bottom part.

Be carefully when opening those valves, they can break VERY easily, especially when warm.....!

Sometimes overheating is due to cylinder gasket failure, check again!

Yes . in recent past I had the problem of over heating ,with my PALIO 1.2 sPORTS
iT WAS CHECKED FOR Thermostat, Oxygen sesor, RADIATOR BLOCKGE, WATER CIRCULATORY PATH OF CYLINDER BLOCKAGE, wATER PUMP, , eVEN WAS RECHECKED BY FITTING NEW GAUGE (tEHPERATURE GAUGE) , ALL HAD NO RESULT, FINALLY hEAD GASKET WAS OPENED & FOUND MINOR LEKAGE IN GASKET
THE CYLENDER HEAD WAS CHECKED FOR ANY FINE CARCK & WAS TESTED FOR COMPRESSION & FOUND ok
tHEN THE FINE LAPPING CUT WAS TAKEN ON CYL HEAD GASKET SURFACE & WAS REFITTED WITH GASKET
nOW IT SEEMS TO BE oK .
tHE TEM IS BELOW 50% MARK.
i AM IN iNDIA & NOW AMBIENT TEM IS ABOVE 38celcius

Even i have been facing similar problems in my Fiat Palio 1.3 multijet... i bought this car in Apr 2008.... didn't notice the problem in summers till Nov 08, when i had the air-con on... now it gets overheated by temp gauge reaching 3/4 without air-con or and in bumper to bumper traffic.

The car has been checked for air/water circulatory blockage.. thermostat switch been replaced under warranty, electric sensors, circuits being checked that is not triggering the low-speed fan to switch on even when the water temp reached more than 100 degrees celcius...

I am in India and despite making three to four visits to the service centre... the problem persists.... annoying as the car was not even an yr old when the problem occured... could it be a manufacturing defect??