Technical punto mk2 coolant disappearing / misfire

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Technical punto mk2 coolant disappearing / misfire

andyathome

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Jul 4, 2008
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Hi,

I've got a 53 plate 1.2 8v punto with a few issues.

A few weeks ago i had some juddering whilst accellerating, had the AA out, he plugged in his laptop and it came back with Cylinder 3 misfire.

So i thought it'll be HT Leads. Admittedly i didn't get it sorted right away, as had a busy time at work etc etc, and was waiting until I could take a day off to get the HT leads.

After a long drive (~180miles) i was in traffic around town and noticed stream coming from the bonnet and the temp gauge just off the red. So i immediately left the traffic and drove for a mile (gauge went back to normal) and left it for an hour to cool down, opened up the coolant resevoir to find it was below min. Added some coolant, back to max.

Drove about 500 more miles and noticed coolant had dropped again from max down to just below min (refilled).
Yesterday on trying to find any possible leak (assumed at this point misfire and coolant were seperate issues) i noticed there appear to be no drips coming from engine when either on or off, however if i rev it (~3k) i get some water spitting out of the exhaust.

The oil looks clean, and the coolant looks to be the correct colour.. Anyone got any ideas, i'm assuming its early signs of impending head gasket failure?! Though there doesnt appear to be any scum on the resevoir cap..

Thanks

Andrew
 
Always look for a coolant leak first before assuming the worst. The coolant is going somewhere, if not into the car (via the heater matrix) or onto the ground outside, then the engine is consuming it. A cold engine will spit water spots or even dribbles until it is hot, if yours still runs water from the zorst at operating temperature it may be the HG. A compression test should confirm, but check the basics first.
 
Okay so i had the AA out, sniffer test reveals nothing and pressure gauge on the radiator cap stayed nice and steady - He couldn't see any sign of a leak, nor could I.

He suggested change the thermostat so i will do that tonight, and i'll change the spark plugs which will hopefully help the misfire issue..

Andrew
 
Better first to swap the spark plugs around and see if the misfire moves to a different cylinder. But keep a very careful watch on the water level and the engine temperature gauge. The cylinder head gaskets go toast all too easily.
 
Better first to swap the spark plugs around and see if the misfire moves to a different cylinder. But keep a very careful watch on the water level and the engine temperature gauge. The cylinder head gaskets go toast all too easily.

Only when a cooling fault has been missed or ignored for a while IMO.

Coolant leak, rad fan failure, air-lock, corrosion due to no inhibitor, leaks, water pump failure....
 
Better first to swap the spark plugs around and see if the misfire moves to a different cylinder. But keep a very careful watch on the water level and the engine temperature gauge. The cylinder head gaskets go toast all too easily.

I don't know how to check which cylinder is misfiring though, I just know it's 3 because the AA man told me!
 
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