Hi, new member here, I have been lurking in the background trying to solve an issue with my Punto I've just acquired from my brother.

Today i replaced the thermostat after that was faulty, as i thought that was the cause of it overheating, the old one was definitely faulty, but after replacing it, the temperature still crept up into the red, and the fan still didn't come on, i even manually bridged the connection so the fan comes on but the temperature gauge still stayed well up.

Tried bleeding the air out, but still nothing to solve this issue.

No signs of the head gasket failing, from what i can see, no mayo in the oil cap, no oil in the water, running perfectly fine, no steam out the exhaust.

I'm hoping its not something like the water pump, but its not leaking or making any noises so I'm quite stumped

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

is the radiator getting hot?

Yea i think it is getting hot (can't remember today! bad memory) but i know the top hose was getting very hot when the thermostat was opening, I flushed the radiator out beforehand anyway, so its definitely not blocked.

Perhaps waterpump has had it? or possibility that the HG has gone still, just not showing the usual signs

yeah well thats my thinking.if theres no heat getting to the rad then the fan wont come on and it will overheat.
so worth checking if the pipes n rad are heating

Would or could a water pump just stop working as such after overheating? are the vains inside made of plastic?

1 thing I am curious about is these cooling system bleeding points, i can't find them, looked everywhere, only way i've found that'll bleed it a bit is squeezing the top and bottom radiator pipes with the cap off.

If it is the water pump i hope its easy to change!

All sorted, the radiator needed bleeding (i couldnt find the bleed screw for the life of me) right under the headlight, most awkwardest place to put it! now it sits at 1/4 whist driving, and 1/2 when the fan trips in

Well chuffed because i thought it may have been the Headgasket or waterpump

The Mk1 also (?) has a pladtic bleed screw on the hot hose supplying the heater matrix, up by the bulkhead. An airlock in this heater pipe stops water from filling the radiator all the way to the top (and makes the heater blow warm, rather than hot).

Ralf S.