Hi all

I was driving my Punto along the motorway this morning and I noticed some steam intermittently coming out of the windscreen vents.

Also a funny smell when I turn on the heaters.

Possibly a small amount of coolant loss, although the overflow tank on the Punto is so deep down I often find it hard to measure whether there's any change in the coolant level.

No sign of any dampness in the footwells.

At present my first thoughts have been "heater core leak". That said, I did also notice that one of the times steam appeared is when I used the windscreen wash. Coincidence, or could the windscreen wash be getting into the air conditioning somehow?

I don't know if this is likely to be relevant or not, but I changed the radiator a week or two ago because it was corroded and leaking.

A little update on this:

I don't think it's the heater matrix. I don't seem to be losing coolant and the heating seems to be demisting the windscreen just fine.

I now think it's the windscreen wash, because it's when I use the windscreen wash that I suddenly get the steam through the vents.

So...how can windscreen wash get into the air conditioning?

It's possible theres a leak somewhere, take a good look around the engine bay also get a friend to look around whilst they are being used.