Technical Now WHAT!!! OVERHEATING?

[uk_yellow]

Hi Neoseal


Have you bled the cooling system ?
Have a look at www.fiatboo.co.uk about bleeding cooling system it should help. It will tell you how to bleed system and what to look for regarding head gasket and air in the system

 

[uk_yellow]

save you the bother !!!


Cooling System Bleeding the Cooling System on a 1.6

2 bleed screws, 1 on the rad (top drivers side I think) and 1 on the heater
hose down behind the engine. The hose has a kink in it and the screw is in
that.

Turn heater on first! You can't bleed it with the heater off.

open rad bleed screw, fill rad with water until water comes out of screw.
Replace screw.

Open heater hose bleed screw, fill rad until water comes out there too.
Replace screw.

Start engine, wait 2 mins.

open heater bleed screw, rev engine. Water should pour out, if not rev
engine a bit more until water does gush out. replace screw quickly

If you just get air or steam then return to the first step.

leave running for a bit longer, confirm heater is hot.

If you get lots of bubbles and smoke then the head gasket has had it.

If the heater is cold then start again from the beginning.

 

[neoseal]

Thanks UK_yellow, I am going to do the same once this rain stops.

 

[neoseal]

Flushed the coolant system, Checked the thermostat, coolant temp sensor too. Still the temp guage touches the red quickly. I banged the dashboard then it dropped down to middle. Hope so it remains there. My exercise in vain!!!!

 

[neoseal]

As per the instructions after refilling the coolant (filled right upto the top), I let the engine cool down overnight. Now today morning I saw that the coolant level has dropped below minimum level, I know the level drops and we have to refill, but to below minimum level? I checked for leaks but found none.

Is this common?

 

[uk_yellow]

no, what level was it at when you left it overnight ? Have you ran the engine this morning or just checked the level ? In other words are you saying the level has dropped without you running the engine at all ?

 

[neoseal]

The coolant was full (quite above max mark) in the coolant tank yesterday night when I left the car.
It's dropped below min level this morning without my running the engine at all.
I havent still started the car and havent topped it up.

 

[neoseal]

Sorry forgot to mention, there was light foam floating in the coolant tank, which I saw before draining the coolant out yesterday. Is this sign of head gasket fiailure?

 

[uk_yellow]

you may have still had an air block in the system which has maybe unblock and let the coolant through, try topping up to between min and max level and see how that goes, dont start the engine just leave for a few hours and then recheck, if it has gone down again you must have a leak somewhere.

 

[neoseal]

I have topped it up. It needed 400 ml to reach max mark.

 

[jug]

Flushed the coolant system, Checked the thermostat, coolant temp sensor too. Still the temp guage touches the red quickly. I banged the dashboard then it dropped down to middle. Hope so it remains there. My exercise in vain!!!!

it must be electrical if a bang on the dash sorted it out temporarily, clean the connectors on the back of the instument panel.

 

[TheCROW]

Ok, returning to my case...
when I was driving down to the Ferrari guy, I had an accident with my Brava and managed to smash both headlights and grille plus a dint in the bonnet and a crack in the Black Plastic air input... That's another story though.

Anyways I continued to the garage and the mechanic guy down there checked it and told me that I had a faulty fan relay which caused the fan to run on low speed only or to switch on when it should be on max speed (something like that ).. (It seems that it has several speeds which increase as the temperature gets higher) So anyway he changed it and so far it seems it solved the issue... I need some more time to test it and get back to you.
PS: I also need some time untill my car gets back from the bodyshop now ;(

 

[jug]

bad luck mate

one problem solved and another comes along, its a hard life.

 

[TheCROW]

All fixed now, just like new again Brand New Valeo Headlights and Brand new front grille, it's even better than before... Pics coming soon as soon as the Israelis cut us some slack!

 

[david_A_B]

Does anyone know how the fan cut-in works on the Bravo 1.2SX? I can't see any switch coming from the radiator. Stuck in traffic the temperature gauge goes into the red without the fan coming on. I then chicken out and pull over. No problems normally.

 

[TheCROW]

Does anyone know how the fan cut-in works on the Bravo 1.2SX? I can't see any switch coming from the radiator. Stuck in traffic the temperature gauge goes into the red without the fan coming on. I then chicken out and pull over. No problems normally.

You have to make sure that your fan itself is working... Have you tried wiring it directly to a 12V power source to see if it works?
This is the first thing to try.

 

[david_A_B]

Thanks for the reply.
I had tried wiring to 12VDC but couldn't work out a easy way without taking the fan out. I can trace the blue wire from the fan back to the battery +. The other wire goes into a red relay type thing in an electrical box near the radiator. Should I try to the connect that wire to earth (removing the "relay" first!)?? How would you do it?

Cheers.

 

[TheCROW]

Thanks for the reply.
I had tried wiring to 12VDC but couldn't work out a easy way without taking the fan out. I can trace the blue wire from the fan back to the battery +. The other wire goes into a red relay type thing in an electrical box near the radiator. Should I try to the connect that wire to earth (removing the "relay" first!)?? How would you do it?

Cheers.

Hanes Manual says: "The fan motor can be tested by disconnecting it from the wiring loom, and connecting a 12V supply and an earth wire directly to it."

So I think this should answer your question
Just make sure the wire connected to the battery is actually conducting the current ie. Check the fuse and the wire itself for any abnormalities...
Also check the earth connection the other one.
Hope this helps.

 

[OwenS]

i had this problem with my punto... it led to coolant leaking, the new fan was £110...

 

[TheCROW]

After changing the relay on the fan the car was ok for a week or so but yesterday the same thing happened again, the temp gauge went up untill just under the red. I was furious so today I went to the garage and had the thermostat changed (it appeared that it had never been changed before) and had the radiator flushed and cleaned from inside.
Let's see now what will happen...