Hi there forum newbie here and looking for peoples thoughts on following...

I am looking at buy from private seller a punto 1.2 Active 3dr model year 03/53 and when presented with the MOT cert to look at noticed the following as an advisory...

"Steering column top bearing slightly worn"

something to be worried about??

Car it self looks very tidy and does drive well (well as well as can be for one who normally drives a 1.6 focus) and am very interested as in the short time i looked at it it did grow on me although price is £895 im sure could knock them down a little.

Also the exhaust deem seem to sound a little blowy but could not see any sign of cause, when asked, the seller did reply they had thought so too and had brought it up at last MOT and was told it down to a cheaper system being fitted and they sounded like that - i don't know how true this rings although the noise did appear to be coming from the tail end and when covered the noise didn't seem to be coming from else where so inclined to believe what seller says.

never owned a fiat before so this all virgin territory to me.

many thanks

Mine also sounds a bit blowy but no problems with it. Id imagine that be true about cheaper systems.

The bearing however if slightly worn is a bit of play in the steering. Other members may be able to expand on this

Sam

thanks yes thats what i thought in end. the steering didnt feel as if there was play in it but i may not have noticed as first time in car.

Hi,
they are good solid cars,

a few headaches can be had , but generally very good.
ask in Punto 2B section about steering coulmn bearing - new one on me..!!

look for RUST on floorpan and the engines sump pan,
most floors are A1 - BUT it's a lot of money / hassle if you get a bad one,

also check for Head Gasket trouble ( Mayo , dirty oil, etc),
as a lot of Alloy head on Iron block motors they can and DO have trouble - usually down to lack of basic maintenance,
poor cooling = Dead Rad fan and OLD / Dirty coolant.

Charlie

Hi mate,

With regards to the steering top bearing, you may not feel any play as such whilst driving, but grab the steering wheel (whilst stationary) and push and pull and gyrate in a figure of 8 and you may feel some play. As its only an advisory, at this stage its not too much to worry about, but if it progresses it would fail.

Worst case is new column, which nowadays can be had and fitted for a couple of hundred all in.

Alan

Thanks for all your input guys, have decided to buy and had offer accepted so hopefully tomorrow will be getting my first fiat.

They fantastic cars, despite of their minor problems here and there but problems on cars only arise due to poor maintenance by their owners. Not the cars fault cars can't fix themselves unfortunately (Would be awesome if they could!)

If you suspect any problems, fix it straight away don't ignore them big mistake, I'm talking from experience from catastrophic engine failure had early signs but ignored them because car ran perfectly fine, ah well it has a new engine and I'm always maintaining it to my every effort to keep running sweet now

Good luck with it and enjoy it!

Hope see a thread on it!

Benny