My 2001 1.2 8V punto used to heat up steadily and the heater would also get progressivly hotter.

In the past it ran at half on the temp guage, in the last few days it has been warming up erraticley, the heater has been cold when at idle even if the guage is at normal operating temperature. The heater ill start work again when the engine is reving. The temp needle will go up to the normal at half and down to quarter for about ten mins until the whole system is warmed up and then the heater seems to work as normal. I've had to top the coolent up from the min mark to the max.

There is a used thermostat on it's way to me, £22 (sound fair?), as i thought this may be the problem.

My main concern is the head gasket, when starting for the first time on a morning the idle is very rough but it soon returns to normal. There is a slight smell of petrol in the coolant but is this normal?? The oil looks ok and the level is not increasing but there is a slight white gungey deposit on filler cap.


Many thanks to anyone who can offer any advice

Ben

New thermostates are only £12.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Please do not Email or PM me asking for support. Post on the forums instead. Your reply may help someone else. Thank you

it sounds like the same problem i had with mine when in traffic engine gets hot, heater gets cold, when you start driving engine cools down and heater gets hot, it either your water pump is worn and not pumping properly at idle or more likely theres not enough water in it, mine looked like there was enough in it, it still took two kettles full and the bottle was showing the same level as it was before i put anything in, i put a rad weld in problem solved,for now anyway.

colin

colin 2 kettels full and no anti-freeze oh no, drain it all out and put in 50% anti-freeze not only does it prevent frost damage but it stops the inside of your cylinder head from coroding and rust as well, make sure you read the haynes manual to fill propely without air locks.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Please do not Email or PM me asking for support. Post on the forums instead. Your reply may help someone else. Thank you

not to worry i put coolant in, its been bloody freezing over here the last two weeks i was trying to be breif as possible the heating problem took a fair bit of investigating id writing all night trying to explain everything i had done. thanks though appreicate it

dont mind my spelling not always my strong point.

colin