Hi All! Can anybody help me out there? I've got an M reg 1994 Fiat Punto 1.1 55 sx. Done nearly 100k Miles. I like to work on it myself! Just renewed the sump on it and sealed it with fiats own sealant, cost plenty. Drove it for a week got a bad oil leak. Had to replace nearly all 3 ltrs. Massive puddle of fresh oil on ground! Removed Sump, cleaned it and replaced sealant myself, still leaking badly. Anybody got any ideas how to cure leak with other type of sealant? Punto has never really let me down this badly?

iwannafixit

The only way to fix the sump leak is by fitting a new sump.The reason behind this is that when you take the old sump off you may distort the metal mating surface of the sump. Also the sealant needs 4-5 hours to set propley. Hope this helps.

You must make sure that it completey dry and clean and all old sealer removed.Otherwise it will come back. And do take off frontpipe it makes it a lot easier and you will not get sealer on strainer when fitting

I recently had to get a new sump on my 60s. The local garage fitted it, but it leaked around the seal. They found that the new sump (a cheap aftermarket one - cos I refuse to pay Fiat prices!) was warped. They got another sump and fitted it - 100% success. As such, maybe check that the sump is square / level using a flat edge?

Worth a try?

Here come da judge...

wheres the best place to get a sump and the sealant ? i take it there is no sump gasket , is the sealant the gasket ? what sort of price are we looking at for sump and sealer , cheers guys for any help

i have done the oil sump on mine and its an art that took me 2 gos to master.

1. be generous with the sealant

2. dont push the sump all the way onto the surface, only tighten it up slightly with the sealant just touching. leave it for 2 hours then come back and tighten it all the way. (this allows it to slightly dry to the surface before compressing it)

3.when putting the sump back on with the sealant around the top make sure you dont scrape the fresh sealant off as the sump cathes on the corner and you cant notice it and the sealant gets taken off.

4. let the sealant dry over night!

Great advice there Chris particularly about smudging the sealant off the corners - I find sometimes it's quite difficult to manoeuvre the sump around the oil pump pickup. Also, it seems odd that FIAT use silicone sealant when most of us that build engines do our damndest to avoid the stuff. I think I'd keep it to a modest-sized bead in the groove - wouldn't want a lace doily squeezed out inside the sump, would we...

This four-and-a-half-year-old thread is rather special because every post was from a different user - and the original "iwannafixit" never replied!

-Alex

Thanksvery much alexGS, i didnt notice how old the thred was lol.

I am midway through replacing the sump on my wife's Punto 02 reg 1.2 8V ELX. It is proving to more awkward than I anticipated!

I now realise I have to remove the exhaust manifold to lower the downpipe otherwise the sump cannot clear it. This is a problem because I cannot get the bolts off the heatshield (rusted / rounded) in order to access the manifld bolts / studs .

Also I will now need a new manifold gasket. Great design Fiat! Glad to see the Sump designer had a chat with the exhaust designer to make sure this job could be made a lot more complicated than it needs to be!

I thought it would be a 2 hour job. It is now going to be several days while I wait for the extra parts! Thanks Fiat!

And here's another tip when doing this job if you're anything like me and ridiculous things happen to you all the time.Take the dip stick out before you start to replace the sump!I left it in,replaced sump and started to refill it with oil,went to take out dipstick to check progress of oil going in,it was jammed solid!!!!Sump had jammed it in lol?Just another episode in my hilarious life.

Just an update on replacing my wife's Punto Sump (02 registered 1.2L 8 valve engine).

I had to drill out and re-tap 2 of the exhaust manifold heatshield bolts as they were completely rusted and siezed. This was the biggest problem.

Once they were removed the job was pretty easy...

Remove the 8 nuts / studs which secure the exhaust manifold. Drop the manifold a few inches and move slightly to the side. I tied my exhaust downpipe out of the way with some string.

Remove the flywheel cover. Remove the gearbox support bracket. Now remove the sump bolts and nuts

Cut away the old sealant with a sharp blade. Clean everything thoroughly.

Apply a generous bead of sealant all round the new sump. Offer the sump back up to the bottom of the engine block. Take care not to hit the dipstick.

Tighten all the sump bolts but not fully - I just tightened them enough to make the sealant start to squeeze out from the joint. Then I left it for 1/2 an hour to allow the sealant to start to harden slightly before fully tightening the sump bolts.

Then re-assemble everything in the reverse order of dissasembly. Remember to fit a new exhaust manifold gasket (about £4.00 from the Fiat dealer).

I refilled the car with quality oil, crossed my fingers and thankfully not a single leak!

Now all that remains is to clean the oil that had been dripping onto my drive the last few weeks! Any advice how to remove oil from block paving???

All in all it took me (an amateur) about 3 hours from start to finish (once I had all the right parts that is!).

It would have been much easier if Fiat had thought about the design more in the first place, and enabled the sump to be removed without removing the exhaust manifold!:bang:

Hope this helps other Punto users.

kartnkrazy said:

Any advice how to remove oil from block paving???

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Thanks for the update!

Get some de-greaser pour it on it and then scrub it with a brush...wash away with a pressure washer if poss, if not then hose. Had same thing when i had a cracked sump.

Good luck,
Alan

kartnkrazy said:

I had to drill out and re-tap 2 of the exhaust manifold heatshield bolts as they were completely rusted and siezed. This was the biggest problem.

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I replaced the sump on my 1999 Punto Sporting when I got the car last September. The sump was very rusty and leaking badly, but I managed to get the car quite cheaply because of this. I found it to be one of the most awkward jobs I've ever done on a car!

Every nut/bolt seemed to be rusted on and extremely difficult to get at, the old sump was a nightmare to get off (it was *seriously* stuck on!) but worst of all was the downpipe to manifold joint, where the bolts had completely rusted on, plus had somewhat rounded heads. In the end I managed to get two of them off, but the third one just wouldn't budge. I finally paid the local mobile mechanic £20 to come and remove it using an acetylene heat torch and a weird socket tool where you could turn the handle and it gradually locked on to the bolt head. I was most annoyed about this as I like to do everything myself wherever possible!

I didn't need to remove the manifold heatshield when I did my sump (though perhaps with hindsight I'd have been better off dropping the manifold rather than dropping the downpipe), but I recently posted about a nasty metallic rattle I was experiencing at ~3000 RPM. I eventually discovered that this was down to the manifold heatshield vibrating - it was only being held on by the top bolt, the other mounts having rusted away. At the moment I've simply removed it as the bottom bolt is still in the mount and looks completely buggered. I don't think I'd be able to drill out/re-tap it as every time I've ever tried this I've ended up getting in more of a mess! Any suggestions on what to do about this would be appreciated.

Great info. I just about to replace mine as its rusted through!
What is the name of the sealant? Do you put it around the crankshaft seals too?
Coop

iwannafixit said:

Hi All! Can anybody help me out there? I've got an M reg 1994 Fiat Punto 1.1 55 sx. Done nearly 100k Miles. I like to work on it myself! Just renewed the sump on it and sealed it with fiats own sealant, cost plenty. Drove it for a week got a bad oil leak. Had to replace nearly all 3 ltrs. Massive puddle of fresh oil on ground! Removed Sump, cleaned it and replaced sealant myself, still leaking badly. Anybody got any ideas how to cure leak with other type of sealant? Punto has never really let me down this badly?

iwannafixit

Click to expand...

I replaced the sump on my fiat panda 4x4 1.1 this week, of which I assume is a similar sump to the one mentioned here.

I had the same issue, fitted it and refitted it again but still leaked. On the third attempt, I noticed two little notches on the both radius (either end) on the new sump (cheap ebay purchase) of which I managed the flatten off with a pair pliers.

Fitted it again this evening with the instant gasket sealant supplied and so far so good! Bearing in mind the last two times it leaked oil everywhere straight away.

Thought that might help any of those people out there who have already purchased the cheap sump!