Hi

Popped my new to me 04 1.3 multijet diesel Punto in to a nearby Fiat dealer for a look over. The car had been supplied and serviced by them, the last service being done 1K miles ago.

They've identified some problems which your comments on would be much appreciated.

The most serious is a weeping water pump, which I hope I can have fixed under warranty. If I can't, how difficult is this to repair? The car has only done 42K miles, is the pump a known issue, or am I unlucky?

The next most serious is that both rear shock absorber bushes have split. Don't think that this will be covered by warranty, so I will have to have them sorted myself. Is this a diy proposition? If so, is this covered in a Haynes manual - the only one available covers the petrol model only, can't see the diesel back end being very different somehow. Is this a serious fault - I can see that the water pump needs doing asap, what are the symptoms of split bushes? The car seems to drive OK, is this an MOT issue, do I have to fix this straight away?

Lastly, the front disks are corroded - the subject of a seperate post. I'll have a go at sorting this myself.

Not mentioned is a faulty heater fan speed 3 - this doesn't work, imagine this is a burnt out dropping resistor. My car has air con, is sorting this out any different from the non-air con version?

Thanks in advance

Hi mate,

The waterpump on the multijet is normally pretty bullet proof, so i would say you've been unlucky on that. Its not majorly difficalt to fix, but the timing belt needs to come off and the acess isnt great.

Re the split bushes. Again this is unusual. Depending on how badly they are split, then it would be an MOT failure and could effect the handling of the car under cornering/breaking etc. Its very unusual for them to have gone on a 4yr old car with lowish miliage.

From your comment re the corroded disks, i am assuming this vehicle stands a lot?? This could possibly explain the increased deteriation of the shock bushes.

Re the fan, its likely to be the resistor pack or the switch itself. If you have a multimeter this can be diagnosed fairly easily. Fixing it will be no different that between the air-con and non-air con version other than you will need a different fan speed control nob than for one without air-con

I would reccomend having a look at these items yourself it at all possible just to make sure that there is actually a leak at the water pump and that the bushes are split. If your not sure, you could always post some pictures here and somone will gladly have a look for you.

Hope that helps,
Alan

henryrym said:

...Don't think that this will be covered by warranty

Click to expand...

Could they not tell you there and then? Things like water pumps and suspension components are usually covered (upto a set mileage).

a1ant said:

The waterpump on the multijet is normally pretty bullet proof, so i would say you've been unlucky on that. Its not majorly difficalt to fix, but the timing belt needs to come off and the acess isnt great.

Click to expand...

1.3 Multijet is chain-driven (on the timing-side of things). Water pump is driven by the auxiliary belt.