Technical Punto 1.2 8v - head gasket symptoms?

[5pot]

Our little '99 punto has been fine for ages and now all sorts of issues, some fixed and one in particular puzzling me:

Known facts:

It has lost some water and overheated once
Water seems to pressurize quickly
It's running like a pig
No'1 cylinder is sparking but not firing (wet plug)
No'1 cylinder 'gurgles' if you take the plug out after turning over with engine stopped.

But -

There is no sludge in the oil filler cap
The engine oil is clean
The water looks clean

I suspect head gasket but for the no sludge or milky oil. Not really wanting to strip down unless sure.

Any opinions gratefully received.

Cheers
Chris

 

[dave]

if gasket goed between a cylinder a water way only, then you don't get sludge

 

[seanMcPot]

Our little '99 punto has been fine for ages and now all sorts of issues, some fixed and one in particular puzzling me:

Known facts:

It has lost some water and overheated once
Water seems to pressurize quickly
It's running like a pig
No'1 cylinder is sparking but not firing (wet plug)
No'1 cylinder 'gurgles' if you take the plug out after turning over with engine stopped.

But -

There is no sludge in the oil filler cap
The engine oil is clean
The water looks clean

I suspect head gasket but for the no sludge or milky oil. Not really wanting to strip down unless sure.

Any opinions gratefully received.

Cheers
Chris

take it to a good garage/mechanics an get them to do a sniff test,its easy just test a liquid if it goes the wrong colour it your head gasket,shouldnt be that expensive

 

[wavestar]

The head gasket on that model usually goes from water jacket to cylinder, so no oil in water or vice versa. Usually cylinder 1 or 4.
Water gets into the cylinder and finds its way out of the exhaust usually as steam if the cylinder is still firing. Likewise compressed gasses get into the water systom playing havoc with water pressure , loss, overheating etc.

The symptoms you decribe are classic HG failure

dont despair its an easy job , just make sure you get the head skimmed and use new stretch bolts.

 

[5pot]

Thanks for the replies, looks like I'll be getting my hands dirty again

Will probably get the bits from ECP, unless anyone has any other recommendations?

 

[fiat_freak]

My experience may help 5pot

Symptons are exactly the same as when my head gasket went
Mine went at no 1 waterway [as wavestar said]
I got replacement gasket from ebay and new bolts from local factors

A local mechanic did mine. He had never done a Punto head before.
He said it was the easiest engine he had ever worked on and all engines shouldbe built this way!
1 hours labour saw the head off, £30 covered the re-skimming and 2 hours covered the rebuild including grinding in No 1 valve

Problem solved for minimal expense

 

[5pot]

Looks like we were all right, head off today and nice shiny no.1 piston crown and light rust deposits on the gasket ring. Stripdown was really straightforward, which I was pleased about as it's a long time since I've done one

I reckon its been done before and just hope there's some tolerance left for another head skim. If that goes ok, I'll have it all done for about £75

 

[5pot]

Re: Punto 1.2 8v - head gasket done, now what?

Everything bolted up and checked but it's running lumpy and very rich - no wet plugs, just black ones.

Lambda probe? Could this have got damaged by excessive unburnt fuel/water vapour?

 

[bridges]

Re: Punto 1.2 8v - head gasket done, now what?

Everything bolted up and checked but it's running lumpy and very rich - no wet plugs, just black ones.

Lambda probe? Could this have got damaged by excessive unburnt fuel/water vapour?

Might be worth checking the timing

 

[5pot]

Checked and double-checked timing, ht leads, multiplugs etc. Some head scratching later, found vacuum pipe off the ECU

 

[diggerman]

how much should i pay for a garage to repair cylinder head gasket
all genuine parts

 

[arc]

£250-£300 tops. and thats inc waterpump, cambelt, tensioner, new oil, filter and coolant.