Team-BHP - Palio stile 1.6 overheating issues

Mod Note : Please continue the discussion in our Engine Overheating Article. Thanks

Well the car has done 17k plus kilometers , just got the third free service done at the recommended interval. Last week i observed the needle kept a tad above half, since the 1.6 heats up a bit more than 1.2 ltr i thought this might be normal and because of the summer weather . Normally my sister drives the car everyday so this morning i told her to keep and eye on the temperature guage. At noon i get a call from her saying the temp has shot up to overheat i tell her to stop the car immediately and told her to call the 24 hour break down service .Itseems the water in the radiator had completely dried up so even after filling it up the temp kept on creeping up .

What could be the issue here ? , the car has done only 2k after the third free service where all the liquids would have been topped up , has anyone faced this issue before . My cousin owned a palio which was a 1.2 told me that every 15k kms the palio experiences radiatior probelms is this true?

I have a 1.2 thats done 40k and a 1.6 thats done 22k and neither have any radiator issues. Looks like your car has a leak somewhere so please get it checked asap

The temperature of the 1.6 stays about 10% below the halfway mark. So looks like your car has had an issue all along when you said it was above the half way mark

1. Clean A/c. radiator and radiator from the outside using compressed air and water pressure, they have a tendency to accumlate dust preventing free flow of air.

2. Check for leaks.

3. Check for blockages and flush if necessary.

4. Check circulation i.e. coolant pump functioning.

5. Check fan functioning - it is a multi speed fan, ensure that it works at low and high speeds.

Cheers

First things first. I think you don't put water in the radiator anymore. So check if the coolant was topped up or drained and forgot to top up during service.

You are spot on when you say that a 1.6 temp gauge stays slightly above midpoint, at this level you should be able to feel and hear the radiator fan running on high mode (you don't need to honk on small roads when it's running). If it ain't running you got yourself a problem, possibly in the thermostat. Get the temp sensor checked and cleaned.

Check the fuse box. I think the radiator fan is protected by the fuse box system.

Its not true that a palio experiences a raditor problem every 15k kms. Mine has done about 18k (1.6) and BIL's done >30K (1.3). No issue with the radiator.

Check and keep us posted.

Ok this is what happened to my colleague last week, though its a 1.2. Finally traced to a blanking plug on the engine water cooling circuit, cost of plug 35 Rs, cost of repair since they had to do a whole lot of dismantling 2000 bucks!

We tried real hard but couldnt trace the leak at first, but coolant was going low and engine heating up.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jaggu (Post 1319617)

Same problem on 1.2, same repair charges, they have to apparently disassemble the gearbox to reach the plug. So if the leak is hard to pinpoint that may be the cause.

Left the car yesterday and gave them a piece of my mind , what really angers me is that i don't know if they had topped up all the fluids during service, when i told them this the tech there says " no sire we had filled every thing but somewhere there is a leakage , later after initial checkup he says that " sir there is no leakage , but i don't know what the problem is " , i was like w** . Next he says " sir please leave the car we'll check it thoroughly and you can take it in the evening " evening came no call so called them my self no the bugger says "sir everything is fine , when i ask him the what the problem is he says " sire there was lots of dust inside the radiator.

what i want to know is even if they had topped all the fluids is there a chance of it getting dried up ?

and regarding the dust i dont know how it went inside , only time i can think of is around a couple of weeks back i had parked the car outside and there were strong winds ,very strong winds blowing for alteast three to five min , our area is a bit dusty so it might be because of this , i dont know . But i am sure that these guys have not done anything during service .
Should i again blast them again ? because i really take car of my cars as if they were my kids.

Thank you guys for the information really appreciate it, i will update everything this noon or evening .

@ chetan- One thing I have realised is shouting won't really do much at an A.S.S. They are the least bit bothered. I'm sure they are by now immune to it. It's sad but that's the reality. Look for the over heating even after the radiator is cleaned. If it does happen would recommend visitng another A.s.S or the local fiat experienced mechanic.

If you are in Bangalore, you should visit Green Cars at Silk Board Junction. I like their service and their personal attention to cars and customers. There is one Mr. Babu there who might be able to help.

I got this contact from PatchyBoy, you can PM me if you need the contact details.

Thanks!
Chakri

Got a call from concorde , i have had it guys now the ******* is saying that " sir some compression problem , maybe the head gasket is gone we have sent a report to FIAT and are waiting for their response, since this is the first time we are seeing a problem like this we didn't want to remove and check until we get a response from FIAT we didn't want to risk further damage" . At this point I'm thinking that these jokes don't know s*** about the car.

and at the end of our conversation he says , "sir you shouldn't have driven the car after it reached the highpoint". Since my sister was driving the car and it was a Sunday on Hosur road , she did exactly what the 24hour breakdown service said , stop for at least 15min please do this till you reach your destination.

I am aware of green tracks and i plan to leave my car there for the next service , it really bugs me out coz i have to all the way to mysore road from jp nagar and while coming back spend 300 bucks for the auto .

I HAVE HAD IT WITH CONCORDE AND FIAT , if this keeps happening it saddens me to say this but i have no choice but to sell the car . Tata is spoiling to brand FIAT and on top of this they are using its technology to promote their own cars.

hey Chetan, i guess your only hope is FIAT HARIPRASAD service center near shankar matt, chamrajpet, i have tried every tom, dick, harry ,bosch service center, manipal motors, concorde & green tracks.. none better than HARIPRASAD... do not go by their old style setup of the service center & be apprehensive ...they do their job much better than others...

Quote:

Originally Posted by sanjaymugur (Post 1320387)

I second this as per my personal experience. Guys working there are really good at fiat cars. They also charge reasonably.

Phone Number - 26675590
Discuss the problem with Hari or Vijay.

Thanks
Bhishma

Chetan, man, I can relate to your frustration. This seems to be an isolated incident though. My 1.6 has done 25K kms and no problems with overheating whatsoever. But for every minor niggle, one has to cajole, coax and threaten the service center guys to check everything you want checked. They are too quick to say everything is fine saar.

Radiator being dry is really odd. Points to either a leakage, or a mistake by the service center. Did you ask for a coolant change? In that case, they might have made the mistake. Check whether you have been billed for the coolant in your third service. AFAIK, coolant change is recommended at 20k kms interval.

Make a list of all you want checked, from this thread. Go there, and spend the day. Get them to check everything in front of you. That is the only way to be satisfied that they have actually done something. The temp. gauge should stay just below the half way mark, always.

As suggested, get the fan operation checked. Also, get the temp sensor checked and cleaned. Did they put it on the examiner? Any error codes? You will know for sure whether the temp. sensor is malfunctioning.