60sx

a development from a previous post of mine...

after a few minutes driving from a cold start, i seem to get a fair bit of steam wafting through the airvents at the foot of the windscreen.

however if i turn on the internal heater fan to about halfway, it soon disappears and is no longer a problem.

coolant levels seem to be fine, the temp gauge doesn't show anything abnormal (sits just under halfway), the steam doesn't really smell of anything...

puzzled

check your carpets mate def sounds like heater matrix on its way out get some barsleak in there soon as might be a short term fix

sorry for being a dunce, can someone explain what the heater matrix is/what it does... and if it's on its way out, how much it is going to cost to repair?

and barsleak?

PS. i had a new radiator fitted the other week, could it be something to do with that?

its a small rad in your dash, hot coolent goes through it to keep the car warm, barsleak is like rad weld, it stops leaks in cooling systems short term.
a new matrix fitted can cost around £250

is putting in barsleak an awkward job?
where can i pick it up from?

ta

no its easy, its a bottle of liquid goes in where you top up the rad, you get it from some petrol stations and places like halfords

don't need to drain anything etc, literally just stick it in?
ooh, i think i could do that

do you mean pouring into the reservoir where the coolant goes for the main radioator?

secretmachine said:

literally just stick it in?

do you mean pouring into the reservoir where the coolant goes for the main radioator?

Click to expand...

yes to both

oh cool
how does it work then? presumably it's like an oil/water separation scenario?

when it meets air it goes hard, so as it comes out the hole it seals it, but whats left inside the system stays runny so it dont block it up,

just wondering what mk punto it is mate ?

tccat11 said:

just wondering what mk punto it is mate ?

Click to expand...

60sx so tis Mk1

Probably would just be this problem wouldnt it as mk1's have this problem

i'll check for wetness in the footwells in the morning...
so is the general concensus that some barsleak would sort me out?

i hope so as ive just forked out a load on a new rad, and survived a head gasket scare... really dont want to be spending any more money on this car, or i'm going to lose faith in it!

barsleak has worked for a lot of others on here with the same problem

ok, to Halfords i go today then

when is a good time to put the barsleak into the system?
whilst the car is cold or warm, before a journey, after a journey, etc?

thank you

it will tell you on the label

i'll stop asking silly questions now