Hey. I need somehelp with my Punto. A few days ago I got my warning light on my dash on my temperature. As I was driving on a motorway I had to pull over and put some more water in. After about 5 minutes of the engine being off and the water being put in the car was fine for the rest of the 30 minute journey. The next day picking my b/f's son up from school (around a 15 minute drive) I had the same problem. Just to be on the safe side I have contacted various garages in my area BUT whenever i mention that the engine keeps overheating they back off and tell me that the head gasket needs replacing and are not willing to do it.
Not one mechanic has looked under the bonnet and checked for the problem and I am now looking at a whopping £270 repair bill (for replacement of head gasket). Due to being a student I cannot afford this and as a result cannot get to work.
Can someone please give me some tips as to how I can check for the problem myself as no1 seems to want to know. And please remember I am a girl so please describe in detail what I am looking for as I'm not too good under the bonnet of a car Haha.
Any help would be greatly appreciated

Problem is with Puntos, from what I can tell, is that if the head gasket goes they're likely to need the head skimming, this means your car hanging around and garages don't want this .

What to look for... Well first off open the bonnet, the big black thing staring at you is the air filter, directly under that is the cylinder head & under that is the engine block, between them there's a black 'seal', if there seems to be oil leaking out of that you've generally got head gasket problems.
Next check the oil. Again starting at the air filter it's to the left & back a bit (assuming you're standing at the front bumper of the car) there is a hook which has a red handle, the dip stick. Remove it and check for any milkiness in the oil. In front of that and a little closer to the air filter there's a black piece of plastic, it's the oil filler cap, remove it and check that as well. The owners handbook has an illustration as to where everything is, it'll do a much better job of showing you what's where.

I personally can't think of anything else that'll indicate a blown head gasket besides what you've described already.

Hi, I had this problem with my punto mk1. Its nothing to worry about, it is just your head gasket has blown. This should not cost you £270!!!! I paid £110 to gat mine fixed, and after that it was back to normal, never had a problem since. Get it repaired in Newcastle!!! Its cheap and good!!!!!:slayer:

yehh newcastle is cheap!!

Just had this problem fixed on my punto ....

Gasket seal gone and fan not working properly ... Total bill of work was around €800.00, about €400 of that was labour costs!!

Its like I have a brand new car now ... :slayer:

i dont see how a garage can do it for £110 unless they are cutting corners, it costs me nearly that for the parts and a skim at trade prices.

are there any bubles in the coolent when engine is running? and/or is there any mato like stuff under your oil cap? and/or is there any white smoke/steam coming out of the exhaust?
and/or is there a smell of fuel in the coolent?
if your fan coming on at all?

dave said:

i dont see how a garage can do it for £110 unless they are cutting corners, it costs me nearly that for the parts and a skim at trade prices.

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I live in newcastle and garage work is V.Cheap

not that cheap though, i reckon they just unbolted the head with all the manifolds still atached lifted it a bit, pulled old gasket out n stuck a new one in for that, when it goes again very soon they will say its a comon problem with fiats

To start with the garage that gave me that price told me I also need to get new timing belt, and oil and water changed. I have checked both oil and water and apart from needing oil in everything seems fine in that department. When overheating I cannot see any smoke under the bonnet BUT the smell inside the car and when opening the bonnet is awful. It smells like burning oil. When taking the water cap off when it has over heated obviously it is fizzing and I'm too much of a chicken to actually stick my head over it and see if its bubbling. It doesn't overheat until about 30-40 minutes into m journey but by this time im already on the motorway so I haven't taken it on there since it happened and haven't taken it for much of a run incase I make things an worse than they are.

MissKinky said:

To start with the garage that gave me that price told me I also need to get new timing belt, and oil and water changed.

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thats a standard thing to do

ah this smell! is it a bit like rotten eggs? could be a leaking heater matrix.

you can check for bubles in coolent when enging is cold but running, if the gasket has gone between a cylinder (piston hole) and a water chamber, the piston will push bubbles into the coolent system

I can't see any bubbles or anything apart from the vibrations of the car moving the water. The smell smell's nothing like rotten eggs but more of a burning oil (or very hot oil) smell. Also wen the hood of the car is up I can hear a quiet hissing sound and engine seems to be making a slight clicking noise.

burning oil & hissing sounds is like mine. It was oil burning off the exhaust somewhere... tbh I wouldn't want a garage NOT to replace oil & water after this type of thing due to contamination.

So by the sounds this is my head gasket then? How does his happen? Is it just wear and tear or could i be doin something to avoid this happening again?

Head gaskets do just go eventually, whats the mileage on your car?

Mileage is 77000

sounds about right i'm afriad

:bang: Everytime I get a new car I have it for 10 months and it either packs up on me or needs work doing which costs more than I have! lol. A friend of mine mentioned a thermostat problem???? Can this be true? I love this car and would hate to have to get rid of it because I am bad with my finances. Is it safe to drive for now for short journeys? (as in a 5 minute drive to work)

I'd say don't drive it but i did drive my 899cc cinq with a blown head gasket for quite a while (heaters on full blast at all times with windows down) but it really isn't advisable at all. You could do alot more damage to the engine than there currently is.

The more it overheats the more you're likely to do damage to the bearings of the engine or even CEASE it up completely... and you think a head gasket change is expensive! Also the longer you drive on it the more likely it is that you'll warp the cylinder head, this isn't too expensive, but it's another 50~75£ on top of your bill. In short, don't drive on it, get it fixed.

Thanks for all your help guys. It's now booked in to be fixed and this time next week he should be good as new