Hi

My wife has a 1996 P reg Fiat Punto 55S with 108,000 and the head gasket has gone again, garage quote of between £250/£300 to repair.

In talking to a local car dealership I'm advised that the car would only be worth £200 in average condition.

My dilema is whether to repair the car or scrap it, at the moment it seems the only option would be to scap her. Any thoughts please?

you can buy a gasket kit for £24 in head bolts the lot.l'


Do it yourself (just head if you want, and bolts of coursE) and flog car on, BUT TELL THEM WHAT YOU HAVE DONE (you don't have to skim the head, its just a precaution)., get a bit more than £200 for it then, or last another few 10k miles of motoring!!

What is rest of car like? I'd skim the head though a local engineer works will do this for £20-30.

i would always skim the head,
thats the dealer buying in price £200, a private sale will get you around £600 if the rest of the car is good for its age

faster4_tec said:

you can buy a gasket kit for £24 in head bolts the lot.l'


Do it yourself (just head if you want, and bolts of coursE) and flog car on, BUT TELL THEM WHAT YOU HAVE DONE (you don't have to skim the head, its just a precaution)., get a bit more than £200 for it then, or last another few 10k miles of motoring!!

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You always skim a FIRE head. Four out of five heads come back when not skimmed.

The official street value of your car might be quoted at £200. But try to find a working one for £200.

The Punto FIRE engines are good for a 1/4 of a million miles whern looked after. The nice thing on the Punto is that most of the parts are galvanised, which means that expensive repairs due to rust are rather unlikely. Also it is one of the less complicated cars and therefore easy to repair.

I personally would keep the car. But that is me. I don't know your circumstances and your personal agenda.

Interms of practicality, which Fiats are known for I wouldn't look at the street price tag.

i'm looking for a shell if your wanting to scrap it, prefarably in red so I can reuse my colour coded bumpers. I have a 1.1 EL and 6 speed box on M reg: but need a shell to replace mine

I'd only scrap when the cost of work to be done is higher than getting a similar condition replacement, with any work that you have had done on the first car, already done.

Have a go at repairing her yourself mate, it's fun.

Fire engines do seem to suffer from gasket problems my Y10 Fire has had one at about 80,000 miles. I ad a Lancia Volumex & they were gasket eaters I finally cured the problem with an Italian 'SPEZZO' gasket expensive used for racing etc. but Kevlar reinforced with massive fire rings round the bores. not sure who sells them these days Evolution Engineering were suppliers but since Barry Waterhouse the company founder died recently I'm not sure if they are still trading. Maybe one of the other Fiat/Lancia tuning companies sell them?

KeithT said:

Fire engines do seem to suffer from gasket problems my Y10 Fire has had one at about 80,000 miles. I ad a Lancia Volumex & they were gasket eaters I finally cured the problem with an Italian 'SPEZZO' gasket expensive used for racing etc. but Kevlar reinforced with massive fire rings round the bores. not sure who sells them these days Evolution Engineering were suppliers but since Barry Waterhouse the company founder died recently I'm not sure if they are still trading. Maybe one of the other Fiat/Lancia tuning companies sell them?

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Sorry that is SPESSO gaskets

Oldschool said:

........You always skim a FIRE head. Four out of five heads come back when not skimmed.

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Yep, I'll go with that!
I had a head gasket let go, replaced it with a known good head from another engine - 12 months later it blew again.

its going to cost far to much, i would scrap it- there is a nice little parking space right out side my house for it