advice/opinions wanted

michaelm

Hi,
My wife has just changed her car as we had a problem with the old one - a 2000 Fiat Punto with 135,000 on the clock. It was mis-firing due a spark plug covered in oil as a result of (I presume) damaged piston rings. The car is still driving but misfiring. My question is what to do with it now? - I reckon to replace the engine would cost in the region of €800. Should I try to sell it to a breaker or have it repaired and sell it on? Any opinions welcome.

colm_mcm

fix it, it's only worth a few hundred as is. you might get 1500+ for it if it's working.

Andrewf20

You'd need to research the cost of labour to fit new engine as well. I honestly think it would cost more to do this than the value of the car. It may be cheaper to get the rings of the worn piston replaced or drive it into the ground and cut your losses. A chat with a garage would be the best thing.

Id check if the spark plug is again covered in oil. Check that the spark plugs are otherwise in good condition. My misfiring was caused by a small crack in the cermamic of one sparkplug and the brown burn mark around the bottom of the cermic of another sparkplug. Are you loosing vast amounts of oil. Compression test results should give clues. Id bet its the piston rings gone tbh as you say.

E92

A new engine would cost a few big ones, plus VAT and labour on top of that.

Masada

what makes you think that the piston rings are gone? if the spark plug is black that can be a symtom of the missfire rather than the cause of it, have a cmpression test done on all the cylinders and if the rings are gone that will tell you. It only takes a few mins aswell, try the coil pack also.,
If you were to fit a new engine you would pay around 700-800 quid for the engine alone before fitting it and that could be another 400ish.,
It could be somethinf really simple, Ive had coil packs fail on 2 fiats in the past.,:)

Andrewf20

vtec wrote: »

what makes you think that the piston rings are gone?

He says there was oil on the spark plug.

colm_mcm

Andrewf20 wrote: »

He says there was oil on the spark plug.

could be a symptom of a head gasket failure.

Healyc

Fiat Punto + Oil in Cylinders = Head Gasket

I have done loads of these and it shouldnt be that dear! Dont pay more than €500.

michaelm

Thanks for for all the advice, much appreciated - to clear things up, the oil was on one particular plug - changed this and it temporarily solved the problem - after about two weeks same thing happened - oil on same plug - the rest are clean - could this be head gasket?

colm_mcm

I'd put money on it. gasket broken down in a few places I'd say. Had it happen to me on a Fiat.

E92

Have you opened the engine oil filler cap?

Open it, and if you get/see a mayonaise like sludge, that's further proof of head gasket failure.