Hi there,

I've had a problem with my car over the last few weeks and have no idea what to do with it...until I get paid and can throw it in the mechanics!
I drive a Fiat Punto mk1 55 SX.

The problem is that my car seems to overheat real quickly when driving it, also the cooling fan only comes on when it feels like it and will only last about 2 seconds when it does come on!
Everytime it gets in the red i'll pull over and top it up with water and then I end up with a puddle on the floor of the car, this'll keep it cooler for about a day or two then it'll start overheating again. Also when it does start getting hot and I accelerate theres a rattling sound from the engine. My dad had a look over it and says he doubts its a problem with the thermostat as it looks fairly new!

The heating fan inside the car comes on okay and its warm so the waters getting about I just don't get it. Also another confusing thing is that when its past the red and extremely overheated I can still open the water cap, I can hear boiling water at the bottom but the cap'll be cold.

Anyone got any ideas as the past few weeks I've been :bang:!!!

Thanks for the help!

Sam

right then we need to sort this.the coolant you see on the floor when filling,wheres it coming from?
when you open the cap do you get a pressure release?
looking at a stat isnt a good test!

Thanks for the reply!!!
I'm not exactly sure where the waters coming from, I think my dad was saying that it was coming through the heater pipes or something like that!? Not too sure though, but it is leaking through on both the driver and passenger sides!

When I open the cap theres a short release of pressure and a bit of steam will come out, but nothing near the pressure that I'd expect to come from it, and also when I open it you can hear like the water start bubbling or something!?

Reckon it could be something to do with the thermostat?

well 1st thing you need to do is source the leak.
stats and expansion caps are easy relativly cheaply replaced so can be ruled out quickly

Right I believe the leak is coming from the heater box in the centre of the car if that helps!?!

heater matrix,oh tis a bitch to replace as its a dash out job.
or do oyu mean engine side?

I reckon more engine side really! The water doesnt seem to be reaching the engine! I just topped it up with water earlier on and its empty now so just had to top it up again and the floors soaking!

Yeah it seems to be like on the way into the heating matrix I reckon somwhere along the line...What I might try when I get chance is flush it out, open the bottom and see what comes out!?

What dya reckon? :worship:

Bump...
Just to add to this, you can hear noises coming from down in the foot part of the floor, sounds like a sucking noise of some sort, any ideas what this problem could be?

Have you got it sorted ???? If its your heater matrix try a bottle of barsleak to seal it.