fiat punto

pbody1985

Hey guys ,

Hoping you may be able to shed some light on this , its worth a try ...

have an 02 punto , over the last month causing a bit of bother , started off the engine was heating up but the heat meter went back down when i reved it , then got to a stage were is didnt go down so brought it to a local garage , he told me that the head gasket is gone ? but thought if that was the case it would constantly over heat ??? he bled the car anyway for me and all was fine and was not over heating anymore up until yesterday it started again , the engine meter keeps going up high and back to normal , now i did notice everytime i leave the car parked for while there is a little puddle on the ground under the engine , its not oil or anything .. just water .. then this morning my fan starts making this really loud noise when its on ?? like its hitting something but couldnt see any marks on it when it eventually stopped ....... anyone and ideas what it may possibly be or is the car just fcked at this stage ?????????

alias no.9

Head gasket failure can be coolant to external, it doesn't have to mix with oil but another obvious possibility is a leak at the water pump. Remember too that overheating can cause head gasket failure, it's not always just a symptom.

cian1500ww

What colour is the coolant ?

pbody1985

cian1500ww wrote: »

What colour is the coolant ?

the coolant is clear .. just like water ...

LookBehindYou

Check your water pump and belt

Anan1

Is there enough coolant in the system - ie have you been replenishing it as it leaks out?

pbody1985

Anan1 wrote: »

Is there enough coolant in the system - ie have you been replenishing it as it leaks out?

Yeah i checked the coolant last night and it was full .. i opened the cap when the engine was cooler and air did come out of it when i was opening the cap ... just thought there may be a leak somewhere and this is causing the problem ??

cian1500ww

pbody1985 wrote: »

the coolant is clear .. just like water ...

Are you sure ?? Shouldn't be clear anyway unless its just water :eek: Normally its a colour like green, red, pink etc. Sometimes a sign that a head gasket is gone is the coolant will turn a tan colour as some oil from the engine gets into it.

pbody1985

cian1500ww wrote: »

Are you sure ?? Shouldn't be clear anyway unless its just water :eek: Normally its a colour like green, red, pink etc. Sometimes a sign that a head gasket is gone is the coolant will turn a tan colour as some oil from the engine gets into it.

Yeah i read that somewhere else thats it meant to be a colour but when i opened it last night it was just clear ?????? very odd indeed ...

Max Power1

maybe its not coolant at all Is there actually coolant in the system or were you topping up with just water?

Those puntos are well known for HGF issues

pbody1985

Max Power1 wrote: »

maybe its not coolant at all Is there actually coolant in the system or were you topping up with just water?

Those puntos are well known for HGF issues

well i have not topped it up since i went to the gargage , i had put coolant in it before i went maybe a week or two before , unless the guy in the garage topped it up ..

cian1500ww

pbody1985 wrote: »

Yeah i read that somewhere else thats it meant to be a colour but when i opened it last night it was just clear ?????? very odd indeed ...

Well, if I were you, I'd drain all of the so called coolant, which sounds more like water :rolleyes:, and put in some proper coolant. Cars nowadays are designed to be cooled by proper coolant so ordinary water wouldn't be very good at all imo. It would also put you a step closer to solving your problem

pbody1985

cian1500ww wrote: »

Well, if I were you, I'd drain all of the so called coolant, which sounds more like water :rolleyes:, and put in some proper coolant. Cars nowadays are designed to be cooled by proper coolant so ordinary water wouldn't be very good at all imo. It would also put you a step closer to solving your problem

Okie dokie , now im gonna ask a stupid question , lol, how do u drain all the coolant from it ?? through the raditor ? or is there a cap somwhere ???

cian1500ww

pbody1985 wrote: »

Okie dokie , now im gonna ask a stupid question , lol, how do u drain all the coolant from it ?? through the raditor ? or is there a cap somwhere ???

Depends, never ever seen the engine bay of a Punto but normally there's two ways: 1. Open a tap on the bottom of the radiator 2. Remove a plug from the block of the engine. Number 1 would probably be the easiest but I'm sure someone who's done work on a Punto here would be able to tell you.

BattlingCheese

try this

http://www.fiatforum.com/punto-guides/43906-how-bleed-punto-cooling-system.html

pbody1985

BattlingCheese wrote: »

try this

http://www.fiatforum.com/punto-guides/43906-how-bleed-punto-cooling-system.html

cool thanks for that

cian1500ww

BattlingCheese wrote: »

try this

http://www.fiatforum.com/punto-guides/43906-how-bleed-punto-cooling-system.html

Thats only for bleeding the system though, the OP needs to drain it, refill it and then bleed it.

BattlingCheese

I have done something similar just left the back bleed screw open and kept throwing in coolant until the liquid coming out of the bleed screw was blue and not clear anymore.

Probably a better way as you say but coolant is cheap enough.

pbody1985

well ended up bringing my car to the garage , ended up being alot of problems wrong with it , head gasket was gone , also water pump and fan needs to be replaced , and then they tell me the timing belt needs to be changed now too .... costing 1000 euro to be done ... alot of cash

muboop1

How much of that is parts, and how much labour?

VinnyTGM

They would have to replace the timing belt as their taking the head off.

I take it the water pump was the cause of the problems?? When was the belt and water pump last done?

Ask them to check the coolant temperature sensors aswell as it seems to be gone, the way it shoots up and down the dial.

shamwari

The head gasket on the Punto's have a weakness in them. They tend to blow on no1 cylinder outwards to the water jacket. This pressurises the system and causes the car to consume coolant and pushes the temp right up. If you unscrew the spark plug from no1 cylinder on a car with a blown head gasket, the plug will look like brand new because it is being steam cleaned as it is being driven!

On word of warning with the later mk2 Punto's. I did a head gasket on one recently where the owner absolutely roasted the thing on the motorway and then decided he'd get it looked at. The damage was much more severe than usual, as the excessive temperature had melted the plastic inlet manifold. They are very very expensive brand new too.....