Hi,

For the last couple of weeks my punto has been misting up real badly even when it was fine when I got into the car.

Last week I dropped the wife at the local train station and there wasn't much warmth coming out of the vents so I thought I'd let it tick over for a ocuple of minutes so it would get warmer (and thus I would get warmer too ). but it kept blowing cool (not stone cold) air and the water temp just went up and up (normally never gets much over 1/4 even when ticking over for ages). So I switched car off for a minute. Then started her back up and drove home. The heating was HOT so nice and toasty.

Since then the blower just blows stone cold air and the water temp goes right up very quick. bit worrying so I've stopped using it from today as I don't want to damage the engine.

I hadn't really related the mist and the heating problems together until reading this thread:

https://www.fiatforum.com/punto/154222-just-changed-heater-matrix-punto.html

Do I have the same problem? If you think so, then how sure are you (as it looks like a fair bit of effort to spend fixing it if it ain;t that that's broke ) Wierd how the heating stopped initially then came hot again before seeming to die completely today.

The blower works fine on all settings.

Anything else it might be?

Sounds just like a heater matrix problem
My car does the same its a bit off a job to put right but well worth it in the end.

Could simply be that the coolant needs topping up and bleeding, I had a similar set of symptoms the first time I found I had a coolant system problem (that involved a trip to the train station like you!)

It's worth checking the coolant first rather than pulling the thing to bits un-necessarily!

5abr3 said:

Could simply be that the coolant needs topping up and bleeding, I had a similar set of symptoms the first time I found I had a coolant system problem (that involved a trip to the train station like you!)

It's worth checking the coolant first rather than pulling the thing to bits un-necessarily!

Click to expand...

Good point i remember reading something like that last night completely forgot until i read what you posted

I don't think thats my problem though as the coolant should of been changed before i bought it two weeks ago

One more bit of info.

A couple of weeks ago I noticed it was losing a lot of oil. 2 litres in 20 miles or so! Turns out the sump was rotten and leaking badly. Luckily I noticed this pretty quick before running dry and the car was straight down the garage for a new sump as I didn't have the time to do it myself. The car definately didn't run out of oil but certainly did a few miles (only a few) with oil below the minimum mark seeing as it took 2 litres to top it up (I'd topped it up the day previously after seeing a few oil spots and finding oil level to be on about minimum mark on dipstick)

Hopefully this hasn't caused any problems. Saw a few posts mentioning head gaskets when I did a search about cold air from the heater

I've not lost any coolant. How would you bleed it? Just drain and replace?

I don't mind doing the heater matrix - Just want to make sure I'm doing the right job to cure the issue


edited:
found this bleeding guide
https://www.fiatforum.com/punto-guides/43906-how-bleed-mk1-punto-cooling-system.html

TimK said:

Good point i remember reading something like that last night completely forgot until i read what you posted

I don't think thats my problem though as the coolant should of been changed before i bought it two weeks ago

Click to expand...

Check it anyway, you may be losing coolant via a bad jubilee clip, rotten core plug or a gasket, can't tell unless you check though!

blancy said:

I've not lost any coolant. How would you bleed it? Just drain and replace?

I don't mind doing the heater matrix - Just want to make sure I'm doing the right job to cure the issue


edited:
found this bleeding guide
https://www.fiatforum.com/punto-guides/43906-how-bleed-mk1-punto-cooling-system.html

Click to expand...

Park on a slight incline, nose up, it helps loads

ok cheers. will give it a go tomorrow.

are there any other symptoms of head gasket problems apart from mayo?

Oil and coolant vanishing without any leaks on the outside, smoke out of the exhaust and strange smells are the most common symptoms other than the mayo effect.

None of those so far. Here's hoping

Bah turned out to be the head gasket. All done now.

Now got a wheel bearing and rear trailing arm needing attention. It's never ending

blancy said:

Bah turned out to be the head gasket. All done now.

Now got a wheel bearing and rear trailing arm needing attention. It's never ending

Click to expand...

Car's love eating money, at least you got it sorted in the end, shame it was bigger than just an airlock

the darn misting is back . looks like heater matrix is next job to attack