Technical possible hg failure on the way?

[Trist]

hi, i've recently done a fair of work on my car as it was a bit of a mess, luckily the car was free .
the car's a punto mk1 1.1 8v and i have a feeling the HG may be on it's way out,

It seems to be loosing coolant, although there was a leak where the rubber hose goes onto the thermostat which i try to fix and that keeps popping up, but I think I've finally sorted that,

What sort of symptoms should I be looking for an early HG failure, i'm getting hot air through vents, don't think heater matrix is leaking, don't think I appear to be getting the obvious signs, e.g. mayo under oil cap, was wondering if someone could shed some light on this,

cheers

 

[Lozzy08]

There are a variety of things to keep an eye out for. White smoke out the exhaust indicate's water in the cylinders. Loss of power would indicate failure between cylinders. Oil in your water indicates failure between the oil and water channel, and vice-versa for water in your oil - Mayo on the oil cap.

You could do a Sniff test on the water to see if there's a break between cylinder and water, or a compression test to see a break between cylinders. Now that you have fixed the leak keep a very close eye on the coolant level.
Double check it isn't leaking anywhere else. The water pump on these cars is a common place for a leak to pop up, along with the pipe that leads to it. If any of the above signs present themselves I would investigate further.

 

[Trist]

yeah there is white smoke is making me think hg, altho it's not thick and there's only a little, have a feeling it's coolant going from the water jackets into the cylinders =[, i'm tempted just to keep driving till it goes pop, this car's been a learning curve but i've spent so much on it and given it so much time, don't think i could face doing it myself or labour costs for hg,

 

[Lozzy08]

Well doing the HG on a 1.1 is pretty easy. If you have some tool's I'd recommend giving it a go yourself. The gasket set's are around £30 if I remember correctly.

Has it over-heated at all? If not, although it is strongly recommend, I wouldn't bother skimming to keep cost's down. Skimming the head costs around £30 if you did want to skim it.

If this is all what's wrong with the car, why not give it a try? I would say to have a garage do it your probably looking at around £200 - 250.

 

[Trist]

mate after the stuff i've fitted to it if it overheated i'd slap myself to death, it's had new water pump, thermo, radiator, timing belt, aux belt, clutch kit, rocker cover gasket, sump, probably more that i dont wana remember, this is why i cant face a hg change atm, i've got the knowledge and tools, i just want the work to stop on this car so i've got something reliable to drive instead of a money pit,

so in answer to your q, no it doesn't overheat, hah

 

[fingers99]

A compression test will reveal all. Testers on eBay for less than 15 quid posted. Where are you going to find a reliable car for less than the cost of a DIY HG job?