Bought my car in Feb and had countless problems with it since I started driving it properly in April. The head Gasket was replaced earlier this month as well as the timing belt and thermostat.

But the car was got some problems.. Water goes quickly (Not very quick but it could do with topping up once a week) The fan needs replacing because it makes a really loud clunking sound, that's getting replaced tomorrow.

The Radiator fins are slightly bent (a few!) bad quality pic.



But the biggest thing I get confused with, during the day the car runs fine, but at night (example just now) I pulled up outside my girlfriends house and turned the car off.. About 20 minutes later I turned it back on and within 1 minute the temp light came on after being idle for 1 minute even though its really cold out.

Also the car makes a really loud noise when starting up, sounds like the starter motor is sticking apparantly, but when I turn the CD Player off (unclip the face) it starts more frequently, for example when I turn the car on with the CD player on first it sometimes makes a very loud noise which my father and girlfriends father said it sounds like the starter motor is sticking.

Hi Nicky

When your H.gasket was fixed, do you know if the water pump was checked?
Also have a look at your water, is it the colour of the coolant that you use or is it a muddy brown? Does it look like it has oil in the water?
If it does it sounds like you may have Head troubles again....

If your water is fine then, it could be that your radiator/pipe has a small leak somewhere (have you looked underneath for leaks?) in which case you could try radweld or try your local scrappies and get a replacement rad, or could be just a faulty thermostat which is cheap enough to buy and replace. If you do replace your thermo make sure the water is drained first!

I know it's probably not something you really wanna hear after what's been done to it, but if you don't jump on it soon it could get a lot worse!

Hope that helps a little!

Dark_Crusader said:

Hi Nicky

When your H.gasket was fixed, do you know if the water pump was checked?
Also have a look at your water, is it the colour of the coolant that you use or is it a muddy brown? Does it look like it has oil in the water?
If it does it sounds like you may have Head troubles again....

If your water is fine then, it could be that your radiator/pipe has a small leak somewhere (have you looked underneath for leaks?) in which case you could try radweld or try your local scrappies and get a replacement rad, or could be just a faulty thermostat which is cheap enough to buy and replace. If you do replace your thermo make sure the water is drained first!

I know it's probably not something you really wanna hear after what's been done to it, but if you don't jump on it soon it could get a lot worse!

Hope that helps a little!

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Hey thanks for the reply, the water is fine it just seems a bit misty but that might be from the anti-freeze mixed in with the water. I checked for leaks and it seems fine, I already got a spare Punto for parts so changing over would not be a problem. I changed the air filter today and still seem come on within a minute or two even though its cool out.

Nicky Swans said:

Hey thanks for the reply, the water is fine it just seems a bit misty but that might be from the anti-freeze mixed in with the water. I checked for leaks and it seems fine, I already got a spare Punto for parts so changing over would not be a problem. I changed the air filter today and still seem come on within a minute or two even though its cool out.

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If it's misty that's fine, if it's muddy then theres an issue. Also you say it comes on in like a minute when you look at the temp guage when it has risen to tempreture does the needle at temp level start to gently rise and drop a few millimetres?

First though as a matter of course try flushing out the rad first to see if it is just a small case of a clogged rad. Also check your oil cap as well and see if there is any type of yellow-ish mayionnaise type of deposit on the cap, you'll know of there is because it won't look like oil

Dark_Crusader said:

If it's misty that's fine, if it's muddy then theres an issue. Also you say it comes on in like a minute when you look at the temp guage when it has risen to tempreture does the needle at temp level start to gently rise and drop a few millimetres?

First though as a matter of course try flushing out the rad first to see if it is just a small case of a clogged rad. Also check your oil cap as well and see if there is any type of yellow-ish mayionnaise type of deposit on the cap, you'll know of there is because it won't look like oil

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The oil cap is fine its all clean and nice No gunky mayo looking oil crap in there, saw it last time my head gasket went. And I only got a temp light not needle. So that's no help.

Nicky Swans said:

The oil cap is fine its all clean and nice No gunky mayo looking oil crap in there, saw it last time my head gasket went. And I only got a temp light not needle. So that's no help.

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Well that's cool then

Just monitor that for a little while. Temperature light? does the light go out then when it reaches temp? or how do you tell

Dark_Crusader said:

Well that's cool then

Just monitor that for a little while. Temperature light? does the light go out then when it reaches temp? or how do you tell

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Light comes on when it begins to get hot.

hi is the fan cutting in when it gets hot?

Have you changed the temperature sensor? If the system overheated then it can have an effect on the bi-metallic strip (assuming there is one and not a resitive type) which will trigger the light. I had the same problem on an old Renault 5 which had overheated.

Did the car have coolant level problems before the HG went? If not, then the leak probably lies in the HG, or perhaps the thermostat. Check around the thermostat housing, just in case the gasket isn't seated properly or the hose isn't quite on far enough.

My car has had the exact same problems yours has had, HG replacement then still problems with the light coming on. First thing i would so is to get your fan switch checked, because mine had gone after the HG was done so the fan wasnt cutting in when the temp was up.

After i had that fixed the light was still coming on, this turned out only to be an airlock and was bled to get rid of it.

The cars fine now, hope this has helped

Phreaktwo said:

My car has had the exact same problems yours has had, HG replacement then still problems with the light coming on. First thing i would so is to get your fan switch checked, because mine had gone after the HG was done so the fan wasnt cutting in when the temp was up.

After i had that fixed the light was still coming on, this turned out only to be an airlock and was bled to get rid of it.

The cars fine now, hope this has helped

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Hey thanks for the advice, I am getting the fan done this weekend it makes a terrible sound when running. So I am getting the entire fan replaced and will have the airlock bled. Thanks

Nicky Swans said:

Hey thanks for the advice, I am getting the fan done this weekend it makes a terrible sound when running. So I am getting the entire fan replaced and will have the airlock bled. Thanks

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Its no problem, the cooling systems on these punto's always seem to be troublesome lol

Give me the old thanks button a click