Ive only been a member for a month or so and i see that a lot of people seem to have problems with the head gaskets. Now i have a 1995 55sx 1.1 punto, quite frankly im beginin to worry as i seem to have quite a few probs recently, including a problem with my heater matrix. Now from what i read the head gasket seems to be failing after people have had problems with their heating/cooling systems. What i would like to know is how common is a head gasket failure on a car of my age ?

very common im afraid, the heater fault that pre-empts the headgasget is usually a simptom of air in the cooling system caused by the leaking headgasget.

alrite, i had a problem with my heating/cooling system in that the engine was overheating and the heaters were only blowing cold.i found the problem and the radiator was leaking,if there is coolant leaking from the radiator u will need a new one.hope this helps

my mate had this problem with his like a week after he got the car from the auction! he was gutted!

my engine hasnt over heated, infact up until my heater matrix went it the temp hardly ever moved above the quarter mark (unless in traffic then half way but fan kicked in and temp dropped). Since i sealed the heater matrix the temp sits around the halfway mark regardless of in traffic or not, the fan does kick in in traffic tho

halfway is where its meant to be

have had 5 puntos and only ever had to do one head gasket and that was on the one that had full fiat service history they dont refill the coolent properly causes air locks and blows the gasket

never had a heating problem. ever.

2 Puntos (one 1995 N 55S) 2 head gaskets...say no more.

x reg punto

1 new headgasket this year at 29k miles

My 1994 55SX has never had any head problems in the 2-and-a-half years I've owned it, but one of the previous owners had it done according to the service history. It seems all the FIRE-series engines have head gasket problems!

First thing I did when I got the car was put the right torque on all the head bolts as I never trust mechanics to have done the job right! It's been spot-on while I've had it; despite the motor being mildly tuned and enduring 20,000 miles of thrashing it's yet to have any problems beyond a noisy water pump

Unfortunatly 8v fire engine are resonably prone to head gasket failure, get urself a 16v they very very rarely have headgasket trouble.

my 'n' reg cinq is giving warning symptoms.cold air when she's hot,overheats on long m/way runs going off the road for a few months(no cash) so i'll deal with it later.
custard the procrastinator :bang:

Lemzip said:

x reg punto

1 new headgasket this year at 29k miles

Click to expand...

eek - after so few miles.

my 94 punto had a few faults but thankfully the headgasket was ok and wasnt a problem...

sammi, my punto must be the worst one around...so many problems

my old 8v 8k on clock new head gasket on a 51 plate