2003 Mk 2 Fiat Punto 1.2 16V Active Sport, Head Gasket problems.
So we bought this car just over a year ago with less than 45K on the clock, unbeknown to us the head gasket had gone (dodgy seller covered it up) The coolant was heavily contaminated with oil but it was running fine on test drive.
Anyway I got a mechanic friend to strip the head and flush the cooling system clean, the head went back on with a new gasket and head bolts (we didn’t skim it as it looked straight against a rule) just over a year and 16k miles its run with no issues, we really get on well with it but it has just started playing up again now, it runs a little lumpy from cold start up and has used a bit of coolant. A sniff test confirms combustion gasses in the cooling system.
I’m going to get it stripped again and this time skimmed but are there any other things we should change whilst at it this time? Obviously cam belt, what about water pump, any tenstioners, anything else? Can we reuse the head bolts?
Or am I just wasting my time? I mean the head gaskets gone once already, although we didn’t skim it, just replaced the gasket.
Your advice and recommendations welcome
Thanks
So we bought this car just over a year ago with less than 45K on the clock, unbeknown to us the head gasket had gone (dodgy seller covered it up) The coolant was heavily contaminated with oil but it was running fine on test drive.
Anyway I got a mechanic friend to strip the head and flush the cooling system clean, the head went back on with a new gasket and head bolts (we didn’t skim it as it looked straight against a rule) just over a year and 16k miles its run with no issues, we really get on well with it but it has just started playing up again now, it runs a little lumpy from cold start up and has used a bit of coolant. A sniff test confirms combustion gasses in the cooling system.
I’m going to get it stripped again and this time skimmed but are there any other things we should change whilst at it this time? Obviously cam belt, what about water pump, any tenstioners, anything else? Can we reuse the head bolts?
Or am I just wasting my time? I mean the head gaskets gone once already, although we didn’t skim it, just replaced the gasket.
Your advice and recommendations welcome
Thanks