We've been having some horrible cold weather (allegedly lower than -9 overnight last night) and my V-Reg punto is having some issues. I have an earth leak somewhere causing my battery to drain overnight so getting started is always a problem and I can't afford an autoelectrician. This morning, after deicing both outside and inside windows, the ignition gave that disappointing few pathetic turns so my boyfriend and I had to push start it. Often when I push start the car, if I don't crank the revs right up for a few minutes (i guess to charge the battery) it will stall when I don't apply gas, no matter if I'm in gear with clutch down or in neutral, and I'll have to push it again. So I was revving it in neutral and after a bit it felt like no gas was getting to the engine. Even with my foot flat down on the gas, it wasn't revving at all and stuttering like it was going to stall - it felt like the gas wasn't getting into the engine properly. I put it in gear and drove it round the corner and after a few minutes the gas seemed to be working fine, other than when I put it into second gear when it started lagging again. This cleared up too after a few seconds of being in 2nd. About 10 minutes into the journey, the overheat light came on. My car has been driving hotter than usual since the beginning of winter but the red light hasn't came on, and only came on once since I owned the car when sat in traffic on a hot day. I pulled over for a few minutes and let it cool, then started up again and the heat indicator had fallen back to half way where it usually is. But I only got another 200m or so before it shot straight back up (and it didn't gradually increase, it just suddenly flicked to max) so I had to pull over again. The next time I started, I managed to get to my destination which was less than half a mile away, with no issue. The water and oil levels seem fine but I did notice that the interior fans were blowing out ice cold air, though set to hottest.
My father is quite experienced with car repair and he will be coming up this weekend so if it's a relatively simple fix he'll be able to take a look. If I need a garage to fix it and it'll be a dear do, I may need to start looking for a new car (I only bought it for £350 so if the repair work will come to over that amount it's not worth it).
My father is quite experienced with car repair and he will be coming up this weekend so if it's a relatively simple fix he'll be able to take a look. If I need a garage to fix it and it'll be a dear do, I may need to start looking for a new car (I only bought it for £350 so if the repair work will come to over that amount it's not worth it).
