Hi all, Iv just bought a mk2 1.2 8v pretty cheap with a suspected head gasket failure... Just wondering if anyone can confirm for me.

The symptoms are:
Slight miss fire from cold (presumed water in the cylinders)
Temp guage going 3/4 up the gauge
Pressure building in the pipes so the rad cap has to release the pressure out
When I undo the rad cap a little the coolant comes out under high pressure
White smoke from the exhaust

I believe the head gasket to be gone from one of the coolant journals to the cylinders

The previous owner had it pressure tested and told me that it has a very slight pressure leak

Any help would be greatly appreciated, cheers

With the above id say so yes

Expect to pay around £250 for it to be replaced by a garage as thats what i paid 3month ago

Il do it myself so no worries about cost �� also has anyone ever had any luck with steel seal?

It's likely to ultimately foobar the cooling system, even if it works temporarily.

Do it the "proper" way -- you're looking at less than £150 even if you replace the water pump, cam belt, tensioner and thermostat (all worthwhile), get it skimmed and the valves re-cut.

Ok thanks for the replies litterally just bought it tonight so going to have a closer inspection at the weekend and il let you know what happens

If you do a pressure leak test,
if you suspect combistion leak, then you can remove the spark plug and see if the pressure drops quicker vs when plug is in

The other thing is you'd see a mist of fluid been sprayed out for a few cylinder turns

Ensure tho the fuel system is disabled tho

Ziggy

Might be easier to just do a compression test!

To be sure, a coolant pressurisation test is a better, more definitive, test, but the "real" equipment is more expensive and less common.

I don't have the equipment to test either, I know it might sound stupid but... Could I run the car up until it starts bubbling in the rad, turn the engine off take a plug out then run it again and repeat until I find the cylinder that stops the bubbling?

UnclaimedSock said:

I don't have the equipment to test either, I know it might sound stupid but... Could I run the car up until it starts bubbling in the rad, turn the engine off take a plug out then run it again and repeat until I find the cylinder that stops the bubbling?

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in thoery you could

But
Your letting a spark out somewhere where potential fuel vapour is been chucked out as well....

Be on your head with it

Ziggy

Well I mean dis connect the injector to which ever cylinder it is just to be safe but I think it could work, plus saves money on buying the expensive kit

By the sound of it you're just delaying the inevitable. Just crack on and do it, it's a 2 hour job if you have a tea break.

Just want to keep the costs down that's all, what would you suggest is the bare minimum I would have to change?

Bare minimum, really, is a skim and gasket set.

But, head gaskets usually go for a reason. That's why it's wise to replace the water pump and thermostat at the same time, and, if you're doing that, you'd be daft not to change the cam belt and tensioner.

Since the second most important seal is that between the valves and the head (and since it doesn't cost a lot, get those re-cut, which means you'll need to re-shim, but you'll never need a full set of shims and they're only about 3 quid a pop.

All fairly easy, especially in the vast engine bay of a Punto. Only special tools you need are a torque wrench and a set of metric feeler guages.

Bare minimum, really, is a skim and gasket set.

But, head gaskets usually go for a reason. That's why it's wise to replace the water pump and thermostat at the same time, and, if you're doing that, you'd be daft not to change the cam belt and tensioner.

Since the second most important seal is that between the valves and the head (and since it doesn't cost a lot, get those re-cut, which means you'll need to re-shim, but you'll never need a full set of shims and they're only about 3 quid a pop.

All fairly easy, especially in the vast engine bay of a Punto. Only special tools you need are a torque wrench and a set of metric feeler guages.

Right, i know you all said do it properly but I thought I'd give steel seal a go to save me a whole lot of work, Its actually worked! No more back pressure, no more over heating, no misfiring!
It drives mint now

UnclaimedSock said:

Just want to keep the costs down that's all, what would you suggest is the bare minimum I would have to change?

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can be done ( assuming you have access to all the tools), for £10 in parts

as others have said it's pretty straightforward ,and access is o.k.,

just check the head for warping/ erosion, clean extremely well, and add gasket,

do that + get a few miles ( @ 30) under it's belt, then do the other stuff.

no guarantee the engine isn't on it's last legs through other issues..,

charlie