Hi everyone, new to the boards,

Im actually asking this for my g/f who owns a punto 60s Sreg. The other night the coolant temp warning light came on on a long drive and also the in car heating went cold.
On inspection the radiator fan doesn not seem to be working (though i have no idea how this would affect the heating matrix) Ive checked all the fuses which are fine and ive bled any excess air out the coolant system where it goes into the heater matrix and topped up the coolant levels (but the car is still cold )
So for the fan it could be a broken motor, broken or faulty thermostat, a loose connection. I havent a clue how to check these things without going to a garage and getting ripped off.
Im even more non-plussed as to the car heating.

So guys any ideas before i go and have my pocket picked by the garage men (they should wear a mask and a striped vest)

cheers

Hi

I had the same problems last week on my 2000 Mk2. The temp warning light came on and there was no cabin heating. I checked the radiator and found it was cold, so took it to the garage to get the thermostat checked. Apparently it was knackered, so got a new one fitted (cost about £50 all in..) and that fixed the problem.

Seven whole days later, though, it's knackered again. Now it seems that the car is running low on coolant - I keep topping it up, but it keeps disappearing into nowhere. Strangely, I can't see any obvious leaks underneath the car when parked so I don't think it's a loose hose / clip / leaky radiator.

I'm thinking maybe it's a knackered water pump, but I'm not sure. Anybody know what it could be?

Thanks!

Tom

My water pump is ****ed and there is a puddle under the car when standing. Only after driving when the water is hot.
I think if your pump was knackered you'd see a puddle somewhere.

Hmm. Took it out for a run earlier on, and there's now some leakage on the floor underneath - maybe because the engine was warm. Time to get out the Haynes manual and try to work out where it's coming from I suppose.

Thanks for your help

Tom

I had a leaky radiator on mine which for some reason never left any puddle under the car - it took ages to find out where the water was going (and the car was overheating) until it went for its MOT and it started leaking when on the ramps. A faulty thermostat as well didn't help matters

Ironically, i have an S reg lack punto 60S and i had the exact same problem. I replaced the theromstat to begin with, but it turned out that the old one was fine. Then i suspected the water pump, that was fine as well.

At the end of the day, it turned out to be a lot of air in the system. I used the bleed screw and kept poring coolent into the system untill it started to flow out, making sure there was no air in the system.

Now i am enjoying those toasty drives to work in the morning hehe

Hope this helps you

Finally got to the bottom of the problem, unfortunately it was the one i was hoping it wouldnt be. After extensive tinkering its now obvious that the headgaskets gone. (the steam coming out the exhaust and the dropping coolant levels were a bit of a giveaway) this explains why water wasnt making it to the heating matrix.
guess its a trip to the garage then and headgasket changes aint cheap lol

colonel-shoe said:

Finally got to the bottom of the problem, unfortunately it was the one i was hoping it wouldnt be. After extensive tinkering its now obvious that the headgaskets gone. (the steam coming out the exhaust and the dropping coolant levels were a bit of a giveaway) this explains why water wasnt making it to the heating matrix.
guess its a trip to the garage then and headgasket changes aint cheap lol

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Damn. I think a lot of us who have had Mk 1 Puntos have had the head gasket go at some point!

Ems said:

Damn. I think a lot of us who have had Mk 1 Puntos have had the head gasket go at some point!

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Too right, i'm another, cost is around £300-£400 (Depending if the Mechanic will fix it, £400 is for a new engine (Second hand scrappy replacement).

Only problem for me, i only had my car 4 weeks!! had to have new head gasket, wishbone, CV lock's, brushes starter motor. Should be a nice easy MOT though!!!

if you get your Head gasket done, MAKE SURE you get the head skimmed, at my place a head skim is included in the price as we wont under any circumstance re-fit a head without a skim first, specially on a punto.
If you dont get it skimmed expect future problems, personaly i have plenty of experience with punto's that have been to fast eddys quick chop n change garage for a HG job, and 2 months later they bring it to us cause the problems are back.
MK1 punto head gasket problems are extremly common.
1.2 8v MK2 puntos are catching them up, its 1 a day at my place for a mk2 punto with a head removed at the moment!!!