Technical Fiat 500 1.4 Overheating

[ahmett]

Looks like my trouble free period with the Fiat 500 1.4 is coming to an end!

Had issues with misfires x 2 due to faulty injectors so replaced 2 injectors and all 4 spark plugs, so so far so good.

Now today I had an issue with the thernometer going above half towards 4/6 and even 5/6 (weather is super hot at 40c but still), pulled over to investigate.
Coolant was very low, put some water in, but when I did that smoke started coming out the other side of the engine bay and the coolant would fall down again to the minimum level. Also turned off the AC when driving to stop it overheating more and turned it to full heat no AC, but no hot air was coming out.

No leaks that I could see except some fluids in the engine bay, but nothing catastrophic. Saw that the radiator is working, so it can't be that. Was worried about head gasket failure but didn't see any bubbling in the coolant or any mixture of coolant and oil when I checked the oil.

Put some water in and drove it home without the engine going too hot as I was only a 15 min drive away and I guess driving at speed helped keep it in check.
The garage is like 500 meters from my house so it should be fine driving there from cold tomorrow AM, let's see!

The temperature gauge was fluctuating between normal 4/8, 6/8 and 7/8, but I mostly kept it at between 4/8 and 6/8 before stopping and letting it cool down with some water.

Car is at 192,000 kms

 

[ahmett]

Left it at the dealer, they said one of the plastic seals has melted so they will replace and then fill it up and hopefully that's the solution.

 

[Ralf S.]

Do you know which plastic seal? It'd be interesting to know, so we can keep an eye on ours.

Seals shouldn't usually melt, so it's strange that yours did. Was something routed too near to the exhaust etc.? Engine/coolant temperature alone doesn't melt plastic..


Ralf S.

 

[ahmett]

Do you know which plastic seal? It'd be interesting to know, so we can keep an eye on ours.

Seals shouldn't usually melt, so it's strange that yours did. Was something routed too near to the exhaust etc.? Engine/coolant temperature alone doesn't melt plastic..


Ralf S.

Maybe it’s just worn out. It happened suddenly. Weather is crazy hot though at 40c so it may have made it worse

 

[ahmett]

I think all the system is worn out tbh from putting too much tap water in! Whoops. Anyway I think the seal fixed it but will probably need to clean the whole system

 

[eeeno]

I don't think there is any plastic seals there. You could be talking about water pump seal which needs real coolant to create a seal, tap water will damage it. Now there's also a silicone sealant which could start leaking if the pump hadn't been changed in a decade. Also thermostat has a seal, but thats more like synthetic rubber. Also after the water pump, there is a coolant hose which has a seal too which are known to start leaking when old. Nothing like plastic though.

 

[ahmett]

Just got the call all fixed 65 euros

 

[ahmett]

Sorry for the typo btw so I guess that is the coolant pipe ?

 

[Ralf S.]

I thought it would be a hose... but I was just curious in case there was a random seal somewhere that needed keeping an eye on.

At least it was a simple fix.

It'll be a good idea to replace the tap water with proper coolant (50:50 mix) if the garage didn't do it after they'd put the system back together. As well as being "anti-freeze", its main job is to prevent corrosion in the system. There's a lot of different metals in the engine.. steel, aluminium alloy and even brass... which are just itching to corrode against each other. The coolant keep the corrosion at bay.

The water pump and thermostat are the usual victims, but you will also get sludge build-up in the radiator and the head gasket has a steel brace inside it that you don't want to get rusty.


Ralf S.

 

[ahmett]

I thought it would be a hose... but I was just curious in case there was a random seal somewhere that needed keeping an eye on.

At least it was a simple fix.

It'll be a good idea to replace the tap water with proper coolant (50:50 mix) if the garage didn't do it after they'd put the system back together. As well as being "anti-freeze", its main job is to prevent corrosion in the system. There's a lot of different metals in the engine.. steel, aluminium alloy and even brass... which are just itching to corrode against each other. The coolant keep the corrosion at bay.

The water pump and thermostat are the usual victims, but you will also get sludge build-up in the radiator and the head gasket has a steel brace inside it that you don't want to get rusty.


Ralf S

Yeah they refilled it with coolant. My coolant evaporates a bit now and then anyway due to the heat so I will always top it up with coolant from now on. Thanks for the tips guys, it's my 2nd car so I don't drive it a crazy amount, about 10,000 km a year.