General Antifreeze is for life not just Xmas!

[jaygrint]

So picked up my 1999 Seicento Abarth on Saturday. Really decent guy selling it had said about the various faults/issues.

The main one being a coolant leak, dripping out of the bottom of the gearbox bell housing. Dohhhh.

So car was very good otherwise so the deal was done and with a boot full of coke/milk/lemonade bottles full of water I headed the 50miles home stopping along the way to top up the coolant.

Once home and in the garage I stripped the gearbox, clutch and flywheel out to be met by this beautiful sight.....

 

[jaygrint]

2 morals of the story

1. Always make sure you have the correct antifreeze/coolant mix in your car. All year round!

2. The previous owner had the clutch replaced a year ago so had he/the garage know about this problem they could have done it there and then. So if you're doing a clutch on your Sei/Cinq or a FIRE engine spend an extra 5 mins popping the flywheel off to check this core plug. Time well spent.

Core plug is £5 from Fiat. I will replace the rear main oil seal at the same time for good measure which is £8.
Then flush and refill the coolant with 50% antifreeze and 50% deionised water.

 

[The Black Box]

bit controversial as some love it some disagree with it. but in the case where coolant changes have been neglected I've had good results of a dishwasher tablet in header tank.

Flush out current mixture, refill with plain water and crush a cheap dishwasher tablet (pay attention to selection of tablet some have high salt and are no good) into header tank. Then go for a thrash. On return flush system out thourghly and refill with a fresh mix.

I've always been amazed the amount of rubbish this dislodges i believe this method gets used regularly on k series engines when k seal has been used in the past and needs to be removed

 

[Eklipze3k]

k seal

:yuck::yuck::yuck:

 

[The Black Box]

:yuck::yuck::yuck:

Probably the worst stuff you can use in any engine particularly in fire where coolant ways are already small

 

[purf]

Wow that is a nasty mess! Is the sump nasty and rusty at all?

 

[jaygrint]

No Purf. Surprisingly the sump is in really good condition.
I think because where the core plug has been leaking it was running inside the bellhouseing and then dipping out of the box so never got near the sump, luckily.
Managed to replace the plug and put it all back together yesterday, always fun trying to put a gearbox back in, by yourself, on your back, in a cramped garage. ??????.
That's the worst job done so onto the other bits n bobs.

 

[purf]

Quick work! Lucky you have a garage. Iv noticed my 2001 Sie has a skanky rusty sump. Same as my 02 punto previously.

Last time I did a clutch on my Sei I made this to use rope to lift and support the gearbox. Made it a lot easier on my own.

 

[jaygrint]

Yeah I was going to do something similar but once I started it became personal.
And there was no way I was going to let it win. Lol. ????

 

[varesecrazy]

bit controversial as some love it some disagree with it. but in the case where coolant changes have been neglected I've had good results of a dishwasher tablet in header tank.

Flush out current mixture, refill with plain water and crush a cheap dishwasher tablet (pay attention to selection of tablet some have high salt and are no good) into header tank. Then go for a thrash. On return flush system out thourghly and refill with a fresh mix.

I've always been amazed the amount of rubbish this dislodges i believe this method gets used regularly on k series engines when k seal has been used in the past and needs to be removed

MIGHT attempt that Rob,

going to do an overdue proper service on our 2001 Sporting..

was OAT ( red/pink) coolant around then..??
looks like 15 year old BLUE ( brown ditchwater..) in the expansion tank..
I'm quite happy to refill with BLUE..

just wondered what was in from the Factory - 2004 pandas always been OAT

Charlie

 

[jaygrint]

MIGHT attempt that Rob,

going to do an overdue proper service on our 2001 Sporting..

was OAT ( red/pink) coolant around then..??
looks like 15 year old BLUE ( brown ditchwater..) in the expansion tank..
I'm quite happy to refill with BLUE..

just wondered what was in from the Factory - 2004 pandas always been OAT

Charlie

I'm sure it's OAT Red from standard fitment from at least '99 onwards. I did some research before doing mine and everything I read said Red.
When I did mine it was a rusty water mix, so as long as you do a full and proper flush you will be good to go with a decent quality red mix.
Make sure you fully bleed the system before running up to temp though.

 

[varesecrazy]

thx,
I've done LOTS of 1.1 HG's over the years.. so bleeding should be fine..,
unless the Sei has something odd..

anybody seen a GUIDE for bleeding a Sporting..??

Located = https://www.fiatforum.com/cinquecento-seicento-guides/295204-seicento-coolant-change-gars3.html

Charlie

 

[The Black Box]

MIGHT attempt that Rob,

going to do an overdue proper service on our 2001 Sporting..

was OAT ( red/pink) coolant around then..??
looks like 15 year old BLUE ( brown ditchwater..) in the expansion tank..
I'm quite happy to refill with BLUE..

just wondered what was in from the Factory - 2004 pandas always been OAT

Charlie

Let me know how you get on. I use the pink stuff in all my cars incl the cinqs.