Technical Hiya! I am new here...

[ILoveConvertibles]

...And I need some infos on the Fiat Punto Convertible, and the problem of raining inside.

Hello dear people of Fiatforum.com,
my name is Walter, I am 33, and moved from Italy to live in MIlton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, at the end of March 2012.

After some months I rewarded myself with a brilliant little car: a Fiat Punto Convertible, produced in 1998 in the (sadly gone) Bertone factories in Torino.

I was looking here and there for a drop-top car with the following features: small engine to avoid the anger of the 1st year car insurance, roomy interior for 4 people, decent boot room, economical run and parts.
Believe or not, the ONLY car in the market achieving this goals was right that old banger. Competitors, whose names are Mitsubishi Colt CZC and Nissan Micra C+C, despite the bonus of the hard top have RIDICULOUS leg room for the rear passengers and boot space. I avoided on purpose the Peugeots 206 and 207 due to excessive engine displacement and lack of budget. But the most important thing was that after a lot of metal tops I got a convertible!

Now I am facing a problem that a lot of Punto Convertible owner, unluckily, know good: when it rains heavily, the rain goes into the car.

I am managing to sort out the rear window, whose glue dried and got rotten after 14 years of hot, cold, rain and sun (and maybe ice and snow) and allow rain to leak in the boot, with a little of silicone sealing paste, but my real nightmare is that I had rain inside a couple of times, and going into the winter the driver's seat who got soaked will NEVER dry, before new year's spring!!!

Needless to say, another problem to face is that when is sunny, all the damp from the carpets and seats rises and the windows get foggy from the inside. First car I have ever had that needed the glasses to be wiped from the inside!!

Does somebody know a car body workshop or a garage in my area in which have my car fixed? Going to Fiat requires a whole lot (and a half) of money, I have been asked 114 GBP just for the FIRST hour of diagnosis, plus parts and extra time. I know for sure that the 2 gaskets/seals running along the roof frame are starting to rot, and the long one on the edge of the roof itself (the one linking to the windscreen), seems to be a little worn out.

Other problem (also well known): the front windows became slow and noisy as hell both going down and up. You can literally hear the electric motors suffer from the strain.

How can I get out of this situation? Luckily I have been given a new soft top by the previous owner, that couldn't have it fitted on the car as the decision of selling it came all in a sudden, I am not able to do that (probably the problem of raining inside will become even worse). A lot of people suggested me to go buying the rubber seals for the soft top at the main fiat dealer, after having checked my bank allowance

So, what can I do?

"Thank you for your time and consideration"

Walter, 33
Milton Keynes
Buckinghamshire.

 

[fostertom]

My problems exactly, tho mine doesn't leak so far @135k, but have a much better younger hood to be fitted. Front windows sluggish ditto. What kind of bodyshop can handle hoods? Mechanics don't want to know.

 

[blu73]

Welcome to FF!

Milton Keynes from Italy, hope it wasn't too much of a let down - not the prettiest place in the UK - But hey you got your little Italian car to look at and thats pretty at least.

I have no experience with cabrio roofs but a quick google search brought up a mobile repairer/fitter of then in your area. Might be worth giving him a call and seeing what he thinks is best way forward. At a guess, replace as much as possible new stuff.
http://www.autotrimmer.co.uk/

windows... https://www.fiatforum.com/auction-watch/311051-punto-window-regulator-motors.html

 

[ILoveConvertibles]

After a long search, I've come to some conclusions:

1) Got the window motors from a scrapyard. Only thing to do is looking for the time and the will to fit them. Luckily I worked on industrial plants and old motorcycles...;
2) There is a convertible expert in Coventry (known to be Jaguar's hometown ), that received a lot of positive feedback from the customers (I only hope that is not being too expensive...);
3) Luck!! I've got from an italian Ebay seller two new rubber gasket for the roof's sides. They are coming next month with my mummy and my sister that are paying a visit to me;
4) Bad luck... :bang: The gasket that I REALLY need, the one sealing the windscreen/roof gap, is UNAVAILABLE everywhere, except going in Fiat and spending an arm and a leg to buy a new one!!!
5) Worse luck: I found another car similar to mine in a scrapyard, with a wonderful canvas roof (instead of the vynil one produced by Bertone), but it got sold as well as the roof frame, gaskets and operating motor just 2 hours before I reach the place!!! :bang:

Anyway: I am pretty confident to find the parts needed, the only problem will be the price...

But believe me: few things in the world can be as awful as a car where rains inside. It starts smelling bad, every time I turn on the heating it seems to be in a sauna, and I get the butt wet every time it rains. There only a word to describe that: DISGUSTING. :yuck:

 

[fingers99]

For the windows, a little spray silicone oil in the vertical chanels works well.

 

[ILoveConvertibles]

Finally, my old banger is coming back in shape!

- Just got 2 window regulators from a scrapyard (55 GBP);
- A BRAND NEW vynil roof from BAS at a RIDICULOUS price (159 GBP);
- Next month, the same day my wage will be transferred to my bank, I'll go in Coventry to these guys: http://www.softtops.org.uk/, that with 250 GBP will replace the roof and fix all the leaking (they already saw the car and told me is not that severe as I thought).

Now I am facing another big challenge: I discovered that the heater radiator started leaking itself (another Punto "classic" ). The problem is not the part itself (you can buy it for 30 GBP on eBay), but the fact that ALL the dashboard must be removed to replace a crappy little piece of aluminium press-fitted into a plastic cradle. That is a shame!

 

[renaultvation]

If your roof is leaking from the front top corners, there are a couple of things you can do. Check that the windows are correctly adjusted, there are adjusting nuts inside the door at the bottom. Check that when you shut either front door, you are not trapping the little rubber flap which acts as a gutter and diverts water outside the glass. If it still drips, then apply a thin smear of silicone grease (not the spray) to the meeting faces of the rubber seal at the front of the roof and top of the windscreen pillar. Our Cabrio leaked for years until I discovered the silicone grease trick. I now use it as well on the door seals of my Jaguar XK8.

 

[fostertom]

I just had the lo-mile spare genuine hood fitted, that came with the car, by local Tor Garage here on Dartmoot. V gd, fits like a glove, looks brand new, leak-free, back window I can see through at last. Incl taking the whole hood down into Exeter to get a bowden tensioning cable end re-made, and incl making the existing window motors work a lot better, and some other electrics, £297.52 - recommended.

 

[ILoveConvertibles]

Hello!!

The Coventry's guys made a wonderful work on my Convertible, and now it is nearly like having a fixed, metal roof on my head. Apart from opening windows when it is raining and getting showered... (I will never get used to the fact that the metal arch with the rubber seal there isn't on convertibles!!).

The only sad part, is that when is raining really heavily and for quite a long time, a little of water is still leaking from a specificate place, on both sides: the doors, and from that little rubber seal found on the metal rail that separates the fixed window from the sliding one. It is originally meant to hit against the other rubber seal lining the metal frame of the windscreen, but I am pretty confident that both parts are starting suffering the 15 years of age...

Most of the times, I find my car pretty dry on the inside, but sometimes, some drop is still penetrating. I will try the silicone grease trick that sounds pretty useful, but now I am coming back home in Italy, and nobody is using the car in 10 days.

Tomorrow I will buy the grease, but I think I will use again some kitchen wrap film... it worked really good in heavy rainy nights. It is not the most convenient solutions, but it is really cost effective!!

Another thing: passing from the scratchy old plexyglass that acts as a rear window to a new one, has been like passing from a nightmare to a dream!!! Having bought a cheaper hood than the original Fiat's one meant for me that I had to give up the original tinted green plexy (that I would have loved to have on my car), but the clear one is so CLEAR that when it is clean it seems like not existing, is as transparent as an actual glass. Sometimes it is hard to believe how good some materials can be.