Technical Punto 03 riddle with problems!

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Technical Punto 03 riddle with problems!

itsme

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Hi everyone,

I've had my first car (Fiat Punto Diesel 1.3 Multijet, Reg Nov 03) since Sept 07. In those last 3 months it's had several problems:
  • glow plug failure,
  • squeky noise coming from rear left passenger side,
  • whistling noise whenever the accelerator is pressed (very annoying!),
  • horn failure,
  • sticky gear stick when in neutral (won't spring back to central position)
Out of these, only the first has been fixed. The garage did not know what was causing the squeky noise nor the whistling one! They're still looking into it. I was away for 2 wks and I come back to the horn failure and the sticky gear stick.

I'm going to try another garage but I wanted to know if it is normal to have that many problem with a car in so short a time? Should I consider giving that car up?

Thanks for your insight. Much appreciated from a novice like me!
S.
 
The squeky noise is probably coming from your handbrake cable, all you need to do is grease it up and tie it up with a cable tie, thats the most effective fix really.

Whistling noise thats coming from your engine bay will be the cambelt tensioner, how many miles is on the clock? If its near the time to change it i would get the cambelt and tensioner replaced but if its not long been replaced most likely they have only replaced the belt and not the tensioner, so i would just get that done if thats the case.
 
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Hi mate,

Whistling noise will probably be a split turbo hose. Probably the one between the turbo and inter cooler. Quite common problem.

Horn failure may well be a fuse... if not then check you have 12v at the horn and if so, buy a new horn, can get them from halfords for under £10! Also check the connections, as the garage may have accidentally disconnected it.

Sticky gear - Common problem. I have done lots of these now. Its a simple fix and will take you about half an hour if you DONT know what your doing.

I have nicked this cutesy of DanGill (hope you don't mind mate) as he has described it to a tee on a previous occasion)

" Take your battery out and battery holder, remove the air inlet pipe from the throttle body,

Towards the back of the Gearbox you'll see this part with the gear cables going to it, unclip the back cable and undo the nut holding the shaft in.
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Done.jpg


Then you slide the shaft out (it'll be really tight) and clean it up with emery paper untill its nice and free when you slide it back in.
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Common thing people say is to do is just cain it with wd40, thats wrong don't grease or oil it else it swells the plastic bits and will make it tight again. Mine was like that when I first got mine and nearly four years later after cleaning it up its still perfect."

That should set you straight mate! The 1.3 is a cracking car once you get all the little niggely bits sorted!

Let us know how you get on,
Alan
 
Hi,

Thanks a lot for the encouragement and advice. I will sure try to implement them or show them to someone who can help me with the work. I'll definitely let you know how we get on!

Thanks a bunch.
 
I've just got a 53 Punto 1.3 diesel and experiencing the whistle. The Vauxhall dealer I got it from said "all Punto diesels make that noise". Seems like lies to me after visiting this forum!

Incidentally, could someone give me an idea where to look for the split turbo hose?

I also had a really irritating squeak that seemed to be all around. It turned out that the stereo just wanted removing and re-fitting back into the dash.
 
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Yeah, my missus's Punto has the squeak when people are in the back. I think it's something to do with a 'dry' suspension as it doesn't occur when it's raining or I've given the underside a quick spray with WD40.

She also had another annoying squeak which we narrowed down to the spare tyre. We laid some of that non-slip matting in the boot and put the tyre over it and all is well.
 
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glow plug failure,
squeky noise coming from rear left passenger side, - COMMON PROBLEM, PROBABLY IT IS BACKREST OF BACK SEAT (TILT ARETATION). PUT A BIT GREASE OR THICK RUBBER TABE AND CLICK PROPERLY BACKREST TO ITS POSSITION.
whistling noise whenever the accelerator is pressed (very annoying!),
horn failure, - PROBABLY ONLY LACK OF CONTACT IN CONNECTOR. CLEAN PROPERLY AND PLUG IN AGAIN.
sticky gear stick when in neutral (won't spring back to central position) - DISASSENBLE THE COVER OF GEARSTICK. PUT SOME GRASE THERE, MOVE SEVERAT TIMES. ALSO GRASE (IF POSSIBLE) THOSE MINI "ROPES" THAT GEARSTICK IS PULLING. THIS ALLWAYS HELPED.
 
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