Fiat Punto Head Gasket (again)

Yearning4Stormy

Guys,

I've done a search for "Fiat Punto Head Gasket" on this forum and fiatforum.com and tried to take in all the advice. Unfortunately, I've completely confused myself with conflicting scenarios!

Some background: It's a 1242cc 00 Punto; I bought the car at the start of October 2011 in a state of panic when my company car reached the end of its lease period; I've already replaced the radiator and the front brake hoses (after what could have been a very serious accident was narrowly averted! Nothing loosens your bowels more than your right foot sinking to the floor at speed!)

The primary symptom is evidence of oil (showing up as a mayonnaise-like substance) in the radiator. The secondary symptom is the need to topup the coolant by a litre fairly regularly, maybe weekly.

However, and here's where I'm confused, there is no mayo-like evidence of coolant getting into the oil either at the dipstick nor on the filling cap and neither am I experiencing problems with the blowers nor the engine overheating. Furthermore, there is no evidence of loss-of-power or anything else fubar. (Oh, and I should mention that the clutch is on its way out, so I drive it like an old man to minimise on clutch spin, ie, I’m not a little boy racer.)

I've had quotes of €250 for a clutch refit and from here on boards, it looks like €350 to repair a HGF properly. I know that I should probably just cut my loses at this point, but from a financial standpoint, that's just not possible.


I guess I'll take it to the local mechanic to have a look-see, but I figured your expert opinions wouldn't go astray.

Thanks for reading (and apologies for yet another “Fiat Punto Head Gasket” thread).

JAMM222

is the car overheating? coolant loss could be down to the water pump failing

Yearning4Stormy

JAMM222 wrote: »

is the car overheating? coolant loss could be down to the water pump failing

Hey, JAMM222,

Cheers. No, it has never overheated once... certainly the dashboard light has never come on. I'll have a gander at the water pump, see what I can see.

Plug

The heater matrix in these can leak. Is it wet around the driver or passenger floor area?

Nissan doctor

Why not save your self the hassle and guesswork and bring it to have the problem diagnosed? A 5 minute test in a garage with the proper test equipment will tell you if your head gasket is gone or not.

dgt

If its using coolant it will blow soon enough. Your looking at 5k to 10k miles depending on style of driving (happened here twice). It will continue to run like normal till the day it gives up with a ball of smoke from the exhaust

Beware of broken piston rings, when overheated the oil scraper rings can break and the engine won't be right unless these are replaced (again down to past experiences). When the hg goes listen for a knocking from the engine: no knocking the rings are probably alright.

Sometimes the hg can fail between cylinders, commonly between 4 & 3 (don't ask why!) No white smoke but a dead miss and backfiring through the inlet manifold if the timing is out.

16v or 8v? Make sure when its being rebuilt that the engine is timed right. You don't want it 180 degrees out (learned from my mistakes in the past)

These engines take a specific coolant too (paraflu blue 2 year stuff) more than often the wrong stuff is put in hence why alot of hgs on these engines fail. I'd also recomend you replace the coolant hoses as these fail when this old. About €45 per hose

Clutch is approx €90 (pressure plate, friction plate and release bearing), head set (don't bother with just a hg and bolts) is €60

Hope that helps

KGking

punto heads go all the time,because there is no mayo in ur oil or coolant dosent mean the head is not gone or going to blow,the fact u got a new rad i can asume the rads not leaking but u must check for a leak first,....quick way to spot a sign of a head problem....make sure coolant level is correct and run the car till its good and hot about 15mins,open the coolent bottle top(use a clot to cover ur hand incase)and see what sort of pressure comes out,if it starts bubbling out of the bottle at a rapid rate u have a problem(dont touch the cap untill it runs out of steam)