1995 Fiat Cinquecento 1.1 Sporting - HELP!

Got the Cinqy today, admittedly I've gone a bit spastic in it - only done like 50 miles (I have no Tax!!) and well somethings up...

Got home from picking it up in Leek Wootton, and it spat loads of coolant out - looked like it came out the top of the cap but NOT SURE! Rang the lad (I know him well, he's not gonna be a cunt and lie to me - or at least I hope not!) and he said he topped it up, and reckoned he may well of overfilled it.

It was dropped right down, well below minimum and looked a sorta browny colour.
I filled it back up with 3 pints of water and started it up again with the heater on Max inside the car and it didnt leak or drop anymore, but the colour of it is literally horrific. Full on looks like someone took a dump in there its a dirty brown colour with a bubbly froth on the top.

Been told several different things what it could be but just wanna get opinions off you guys!
Theres no "mayonaise" in the oil filler cap, oils good, and theres no steam or nothing coming out the pipe. It runs really well, doesnt misfire at all. Just has trouble starting sometimes due to the battery being a little weak.

I drove the car around after getting it back - just round the village, bit of chilling, bit of ragging to see whats what and it didnt leak at all until I got back to my Dads house - Temp is normal (90 degrees C - slap bang in the middle of the gauge) and it just seeped out a little bit. You can hear it bubbling away inside the expansion tank thingy. <!-- s:evil: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_evil.gif" alt="" title="Evil or Very Mad" /><!-- s:evil: -->

Hope I've given enough details, so yeah any help and advice would be much appreciated!


But otherwise...Im well chuffed! Its fucking rapid and will make a mint little town car - nips around and turns in proper quick with fuck all understeer!!

its just dirt in the coolant system, mine was pretty dirty on my seicento

doesnt really matter tbh, it just tends to build up in the header tank. could flush it out and clean it tbh

and yer, they will leak from the expansion tank, mine did it all the time. they get hot and the pressure builds up. the caps have valves in them that lets it out, so it leaks out the top. they do tend to use a lot of water generally, nothin to worry bout i shudnt think mate

agreed on the speed and turn in. fukin love mine! such a laff.
yours was the same model as mine werent it rob? i aint havin any probs as of yet. anyting to watch out for?

nah rich, mine was an SX, yours is an S

i had a smaller engine, but better trim lol. leccy windows, and more complete door cards, and colour coded bumpers lol

Sound cheers for the advice pal, you pretty sure on this?

I really hope so, cant be doing with any bills on it for a while if I can!
All the suspect items (headgasket and cambelt) have been done and the consumables are all brand new so got a while yet till it needs anything really

So yea I reckon I'll just flush it all out and put fresh in, and cope with the bubbling and steaming lol

yer mine steamed after i ragged it. tbh they have pretty tiny radiaors for how quick hey can go, and just dont cool quick enough

i dont think itll be anything serious

could be one of the rubber pipes onto the rad has gone old and rotted a bit, and the dirt could be from that, nothin major though. probs doo it good to clean the cooling system

my car had dirty water for best part of 2 years lol

ran fine, and when it did pack up it was from gearbox abuse and valves (just took too much abuse lol!)

if its leaking check the hoses and tank my guess is if its got a slight leak somthings wrong. my guess is its heating up causing pipes and tank to heat up simple science says when somthing gets hot it expands. so could be a hairline crack in the tank or a tiny hole in a hose. and the bubbling would indicate some trapped air in the system it should bubble but really minimal like the odd few bubbles.

thermosat jack check that

SCRAP IT