Hi,

I purchased a fiat Punto 5dr automatic a few months ago.

Although i love the car it needs a lot of tinkering and im just not up too the job as i know nothing about cars.

I think theres an issue with the injectors as it needs a jump if you have not used it for a couple of days.
Also just recently i had break fade while driving it and i havnt been in it since.

I was thinking of just cutting my losses and scrapping it as i dont want to be paying tax and insurance on a car i wont use. but with it only having 50000 on the clock i thought maybe an enthusiast would benefit more from it?
What do you suggest i do the scrapman is offering me £80.00 for it but i paid £950.00 for it 6 months ago

so first off, hi and welcome to FF! :wave:

It doesn't really sound like there is much wrong with it to me, I would suggest trying ot sort it out unless you don't actually want to keep it..

from the limited info provided, it not starting sounds like either the battery is on its last legs and needs replacing and/or the alternator isn't charging properly. Both easy things to test, get yourself a cheap electrical multimeter if you don't have one, measure the battery voltage while the car is off and while it is running, should have very close to 12v when off and about 13.5v ish when running - if you have around 13-14v with it running then the alternator is fine and doing its job which would point to the battery. Now you can buy a battery tester but tbh its just easier to go somewhere that sells car batteries and ask them to drop test your battery. All this does is measure the voltage of the battery - then it applies a high current to it to simulate a high load like a starter motor and read voltage while the battery has the load on it, a poor condition battery the voltage will drop much further than a healthy one.

Brake issue could be a few different things can you give us a few more details as to what happened there, had you been driving it hard so the brakes were really hot, did they just get progressively worse and spongy or were they totally normal and then just all of a sudden the pedal felt different and brake efficiency reduced?

Lastly, i see you posted same question in mk2/2b section. What punto do you actually have, what year is it?

blu73 said:

so first off, hi and welcome to FF! :wave:

It doesn't really sound like there is much wrong with it to me, I would suggest trying ot sort it out unless you don't actually want to keep it..

from the limited info provided, it not starting sounds like either the battery is on its last legs and needs replacing and/or the alternator isn't charging properly. Both easy things to test, get yourself a cheap electrical multimeter if you don't have one, measure the battery voltage while the car is off and while it is running, should have very close to 12v when off and about 13.5v ish when running - if you have around 13-14v with it running then the alternator is fine and doing its job which would point to the battery. Now you can buy a battery tester but tbh its just easier to go somewhere that sells car batteries and ask them to drop test your battery. All this does is measure the voltage of the battery - then it applies a high current to it to simulate a high load like a starter motor and read voltage while the battery has the load on it, a poor condition battery the voltage will drop much further than a healthy one.

Brake issue could be a few different things can you give us a few more details as to what happened there, had you been driving it hard so the brakes were really hot, did they just get progressively worse and spongy or were they totally normal and then just all of a sudden the pedal felt different and brake efficiency reduced?

Lastly, i see you posted same question in mk2/2b section. What punto do you actually have, what year is it?

Click to expand...

Hi and thankyou
It already has a new battery in there but same problem which makes me think its the alternator causing the problem.
The breaks got progressively worse as i was driving and came back fully in short bursts this was accompanied by a foul smell.

Its a 2001 model i wasnt sure where to post it ?

ok so its a mk2 then I've asked mod of mk2 to remove the other post and i'll move this one over to mk2 section after this post.

Right, well does sound like an alternator issue but the test i described above will confirm.. of course should check none of the wires are loose on the alternator before replacing and check the alternator belt is not snapped and tight enough to actually turn the alternator.
If it needs repacing you could either buy one 2nd hand from a breaker - sure rob at PuntoSpares (ebay seller) will sort you out, won't cost much. Alternative would be a refurbished unit, most places that sell them take your old one in exchange and give you a partial refund - obvsiously as they will then refurbish your old one and sell that. Either way its not an expensive part, without looking at current prices i'd guess about £30 for a 2nd hand one and £60-70 for a refurbed one. Changing it is easy enough even for a complete novice, but if you really aren't up for it then ia garage should charge no more than an hours labour to fit it, its like 3 bolts to drop it off, put new one in and do up the bolts and connect the wires so not expensive a job really..


Brake wise, sounds like you maybe have a dragging brake which in turn means it gets hot and then brakes don't work well, could have also boiled the brake fluid. Bit more involved but some places will do a free brake check but first I would jack up each corner and check the wheel spins freely, also check the brake fluid level and go from there.

Whereabouts are you located? perhaps someone on here thats local could take a quick look..

Thank you☺
Im in Manchester thinking of taking it to a garage for them to do a pre MOT so they can
tell me everything thats wrong with it so i can then decide if it's worth fixing up.. Its a cracking car for its age seems a shame to scrap it ☺