Hi

I am new to having a fiat, brought my Punto 1.2 8v Sporting 2004 Reg last year.

Its got 45000 on the clock.

The last few months, when I turn left and from left back to straight, there is a rubbing,knocking,grinding sound, when moving or parked up. It does not happen when I turn right or from turning right back to centre.

I took it into a garage and they had a look and said they could not see anything wrong and that they thought its down to the suspension being tight and getting noisy. I have noticed in the last month or so that every pothole, bump I go over, you can feel it bang on the front of the car, more so on the left than when hitting a bump on the right side.

Any ideas? As im sure this is not just a noisy problem, it seems that the ride it getting worse and im feeling every lump and bump in the road these days and my MOT is due in a few weeks time

Any help would be great

same thing happening too me get them too look at the suspension when i had mine lowerd he said sumfin too me but i was so exited too have my car lowerd it whas in 1 ear out the other sorry lol

i had this problem a couple of week ago,it turned out to be the bolt what holds the ball joint in place,the threads had worn so every pot hole,speed bump or corner(mainly left) i got a loud bang,so i took mine in to quick cluth in hull because i had my gearbox replaced there a few weeks prior to this problem happening(there work comes with 2 years gaurantee)hope this helps!

just took it in for MOT, didnt like the result so took it to another garage in another town which friends use

failed badly

apprently the noise is because the coil is broken and corroded and the shock absorber is naff. That is just the front left, which is £400 !!!!!!

I have 1 page of failures and 2 pages of warnings, on a car that has just 5 years old, 45000 on the clock

All 4 coils and shock absorbers are corroded and need replacing
brake cable corroded
front bumper insecure underneath
insufficent water coming out of washers ?!?!?!
rear tyres slighty worn in rounded shape
rear number plate light not working
oil leak from head gasket
headlight adjustment wrong
rear brake sensor not working
gas leaking from exhaust/cat convertor

thats just the start ! WTF

I am never going to buy a Fiat ever again, i thought a small car with hardly any milage and only a few years old would be a good idea

For all the work including advisory work, prices from 4 garages, cheapest is £1400

I have owned around 13 cars and never had this much before, specially from a car thats a few years old and got full service history!!

I dont have £400 let alone £1400 and I will be paying for the car still for the next 3 years

Not all those 'problems' are 'faults'

All 4 coils and shock absorbers are corroded and need replacing
brake cable corroded - Handbreak cable i assume?
front bumper insecure underneath - Could be due to a previosu accident, Should of checked before buying.
insufficent water coming out of washers ?!?!?! Are the pipes blocked/leaking?
rear tyres slighty worn in rounded shape Probabily due to incoirrect tyres pressures
rear number plate light not working - Change the bulb
oil leak from head gasket Probabily leaking from the rocker cover gasket, not the head. Easy fix.
headlight adjustment wrong - possibly due to previous accident again.
rear brake sensor not working - sensor? what rear brake sensor?
gas leaking from exhaust/cat convertor - Probabily from the flexi-pipe

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seanMcPot said:

i had this problem a couple of week ago,it turned out to be the bolt what holds the ball joint in place,the threads had worn so every pot hole,speed bump or corner(mainly left) i got a loud bang,so i took mine in to quick cluth in hull because i had my gearbox replaced there a few weeks prior to this problem happening(there work comes with 2 years gaurantee)hope this helps!

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what did you have done? new CV joint? or just tighten up/replace the bolt? i have a similar problem and suspect the CV joint


Tnpmonkey, £400 seems a bit steep for 1 spring and shock! (or is that for all for)

rear brake sensor not working - sensor? what rear brake sensor?

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handbrake sensor? could be a loose connection or faulty sensor/microswitch (whatever they use)

gas leaking from exhaust/cat convertor - Probabily from the flexi-pipe

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Look into this and then try this website (you can buy each part seperatly, you dont have to buy the full system)

£400 is all the stuff it failed on but only includes the front right and left coil and shock absorbers but not the rear ones

not sure about that price then, could be right! I got quoted £210 for 2 front shocks fitted... but then someone on here said they could fit both for £140 (that is just the shocks, dont know how much springs are, there shouldnt be any extra labour charge as the whole assembly comes out anyway...)

All 4 coils and shock absorbers are corroded and need replacing
brake cable corroded - Handbreak cable i assume?
front bumper insecure underneath - Could be due to a previosu accident, Should of checked before buying.
insufficent water coming out of washers ?!?!?! Are the pipes blocked/leaking?
rear tyres slighty worn in rounded shape Probabily due to incoirrect tyres pressures
rear number plate light not working - Change the bulb
oil leak from head gasket Probabily leaking from the rocker cover gasket, not the head. Easy fix.
headlight adjustment wrong - possibly due to previous accident again.
rear brake sensor not working - sensor? what rear brake sensor?
gas leaking from exhaust/cat convertor - Probabily from the flexi-pipe

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brake sensor would presumably be for ABS. Probably pricey
coils are a bit of a shocker, I've just replaced my 20 year old 130000 mile ones today

but even then the car passed an MOT last month with those on!
Suspension work could be a chunk of the money too but look into lowering while you get it done. Sounds daft but actually a set of lowering springs is probably cheaper than replacing as standard
Apart from that and maybe the cam cover gasket (which is probably what is leaking) if you're not too technically confident the rest is cheap and DIYable.
one thing puzzles me... surely a 'round shape' is a good thing for a tyre!!??
Andrew

firstcar-Y10 said:

brake sensor would presumably be for ABS. Probably pricey
coils are a bit of a shocker, I've just replaced my 20 year old 130000 mile ones today

but even then the car passed an MOT last month with those on!
Suspension work could be a chunk of the money too but look into lowering while you get it done. Sounds daft but actually a set of lowering springs is probably cheaper than replacing as standard
Apart from that and maybe the cam cover gasket (which is probably what is leaking) if you're not too technically confident the rest is cheap and DIYable.
one thing puzzles me... surely a 'round shape' is a good thing for a tyre!!??
Andrew

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I presume he means across the surface that comes into contact with the road

cheers for the advice guys

I just got call from garage and the bolts have not arrived for the new coils etc so its going to take another few days !

Oh and the brake linkage cable that is ceased, they cant repair it so thats another £95 plus fitting time and VAT

Dont you just love the way manufacturers build things these days not to last at all lol

tnpmonkey said:

Dont you just love the way manufacturers build things these days not to last at all lol

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Whilst that is a huge list, I am afraid it is more likely to be due to careless maintenance by the previous owner than bad build quality. Perhaps they had someone printing MOT certificates for them?

I had to get the MOT certificates off the DVLA when I bought my car as the previous owner conviniently lost them for the viewing, plenty of small bits had gone wrong but I was happier to see things had been replaced than questionable.

If it has been maintained on the cheap that can also explain why things break frequently.

its got full service history as well from different garages

£600 + now is the price, god dam it, think ive gota call my bank lol