Fiat India — Coolant & Engine oil mixed

Address:

Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh

i would like to share my horrible experience on road with my Fiat Linea Emotion pk (Purchased in Feb 2011, Reg No. AP13S8824).... on 26.10.2012.. i had planned a visit to mantralayam from hyderabad with my family 5 adults and two kids (5yr boy and 3yr girl)... We started on 26.10.2012 morning 5:30am... on the way filled my tank and check air and proceeded towards kurnool on NH7. we were cruising at 120kmphr ti kurnool.. in between took a break for breakfast... reached kurnool around 9:00am.. took diversion to mantralayam. distance to be covered ~100km. after crossing yeminnganur and close to mantralayam.... an auto tried to over take us in a traffic jam and hit my back bumper on the right hand side damaging it... had an argument with him... tried to make him pay for repair charges... he refused..wasted 1 hr.. atlast could not do anything but to take the vehicle and leave after handing over the auto and auto driver to police..(guess i am not a good negotiator!!!???),, proceeded to mantrayalam. reached there around 1:30PM. had dharshan immediately as we came to know that the would close the temple around 2:00pm.. after dharshan we started to panchamuki hanuman temple which is around 25 km from mantralyam... the roads were bad... reached the hanuman temple around 4:00.. had dharsan and finished our lunch there.. started back to hyderabad via raichur road. this is a state highway.. as we were about to reach raichur.. got a warning that engine radiator coolant temperature high warning on my MID. I stopped the vehicle immediately..Opened the bonnet.. checked the coolant... it was hot and the contents of the container were black. Allowed it to cool. opened the lid of the radiator coolant (paraful).. looked in to it.. i found a black slurry....I was surprised. I remember the coolant being pink in color.. I called the fiat road side assistance.. one mr. shantaram spoke.. i explained him the situation,, he suggested to check whether..the warning is still on.. i cranked the engine and the warning message is not there and the temperature needle was in the middle, as it used to be... i conveyed it to him...i checked moving the vehicle it was moving and the temperature of engine was stable.. He suggested tough the vehicle seems to be moving but black color of the coolant is a worry... there is possibility of cooling system not working and mix up of engine oil and coolant oil. i was advised not to move my vehicle any further.. and informed me that the vehicle has to be towed. as there were no service centre near raichur, mehabubbagar, jedcharla.. my vehicle had to be towed to hyderabad. The towing vehicle also has to come from hyderabad. In the mean time i got a local mechanic at raichur and showed the vehicle to him. he suspected that engine gasket/O-ring could have gone and hence the engine oil has mixed with the coolant.. he suggested to pour some more engine oil and drive slowly in night so that the engine temperature would not rise... I did not want to take any risk with my vehicle and family.. so booked a hotel at raichur stayed for the night.. asked FIAT RSA to send a tow truck.. made sure that i will reach raichur @ 5:00am on 27.10.2012... the tow/ recovery vehicle reached to us @ 5:48 am..I took my vehicle placed it on the tow truck. fastened my vehicle to the truck, we sat in our linea which is placed over the truck,, and proceeded to hyderabad.. reached hyderabad by 12:10PM.. dropped my family members and took my linea to the service station and dropped it there..
This was an experience was a nightmare...
I understand already one Mr. Sukhvinder Singh, New Delhi. had a similar kind of problem....
Hope Fiat India looks in to this matter more seriously and does the needful to by replacing the faulty parts and brings the car back to its original condition. (luckily My car is still under warranty)..
Awaiting what fiat India has to say...