General Engine coolant

[jetweed]

Hello Everyone

I have a 2016 Fiat 500x Cross 1.6 Multijet 120bhp with around 41000miles on the clock.

On Sunday I was on the M1 travelling south when the engine coolant temperature increased completely, engine power issues (unable to accelerate) and engine coolant warning messages.
I checked the engine coolant and it was completely empty. I was thinking to fill it up but given I had managed to get to a service station I thought it was safer to call the RAC. I called them at 6pm on Sunday and the engineer didn't arrive until 11am the following morning. What a nightmare!!

The car spent all this last week in a Fiat dealership to result in them not finding any problem and me deciding to do a major service and change the water pump / cambelt in the hope it would identify/resolve the coolant issue. I picked up the car on Friday and drove 1 hour 30 mins back home to see that the coolant had dropped. By the evening it had dropped completely.

Any ideas what this could be?? Any advice?

 

[s130]

I know after my cam belt and water pump were change there was an initial fluid level drop and I had to top up with 300ml of 50/50 mix. I was worried that there was a leak somewhere so did:

1) Check engine bay and undertray for obvious signs of water especially by the crank pulley
2) Notified the garage that this had occurred and I would keep an eye on it

Hopefully you are just seeing the engine blead itself. What I would suggest is top up when cold, open the windows, put the heater on HI (both sides) and go for a drive locally for several miles round and round your locality.

The double drop in fluid level is because of expansion when hot followed by no expansion when cold.

 

[Ralf S.]

I had a split radiatore once (Cinq') that did this trick. That had a tell-tale permanent wet patch on the bottom corner of the radiator.. but whenever I looked at it (cold, no pressure in the system) I could dry it and it didn't reappear.

Eventually I was poking it more firmly with a screwdriver and a whole piece of radiator fell out, followed by most of the coolant.

New radiatore fixed it.... but first, as above, just top it up (cold) and see whether it repeats the trick. It's self purging, so the level should now stay where you leave it. If it keeps dropping then it must be dripping out, or ending up inside the engine (head gasket failure).


Ralf S.