Technical Punto 02 - suspected head gasket - help

[ellie2121]

Hi,

I have a punto 1.2, with about 50,000 miles on it.

I have been hearing a very loud screeching noise when the car is off after long journeys, which was assumed was something to do with the radiator fan as that was the only thing i thought was on at the time.Even though this was the case i carryed on driving it as it just seemed to be an intermittent problem.

A few weeks later (yesterday) I drive for about half an hour, no noises,however i lost the heating inside the car, as in it was on full and it was really cold, wasnt clearing the windows. A little while after i lost power, along with a fairly loud rattling noise and the car cut out and wouldnt re start. After trying to restart much later it did so but wasnt sounding healthy. AA came out and checked water levels etc and put a tester on the radiator and said they thought it was the head gasket.

The car is now in the garage being looked at but i want to try and get some ideas of what may be wrong with it before i speak to them.

I know very little about cars! But i thought that u were usually aware of a head gasket going??? HELP!!

Any ideas if you think this is the case or is there something else it may be?

Thanks

Ellie

 

[Ninja59]

did overhest i.e the temp gauge go over 1/2 and the red light come one for it before cutting out, if it is the HG get a COMPRESSION TEST done to verify it failing...