Technical Strange problem MK1 1997 Punto

[mby2j]

Hi, I have a MK1 1997 P Reg Punto, on starting the car it idle's fine but after driving to work (about 8 miles) it sounds really rough and lumpy and I get a lot of smoke coming out of the exhaust. Also there seems to be a gradual loss of power in 2nd and 3rd gear after about 10 minutes of driving any ideas what this might be?

 

[thelad]

Smoke or steam from the exhaust, have you checked oil and water? May be a missfire

 

[mby2j]

Oil levels are fine, I do have a water leak though, I have to top it up with about half a litre every other week but I think its the radiator thats leaking as when it gets hot you can see the coolant on the floor so I presume that rules out the Head Gasket?

 

[thelad]

Not really, head gasket may have gone, any water leak is not good and should be fixed asap. Best way is to compression check the cylinders. Have you checked the oil filler cap for mayo (oil and water mixed)

 

[Ziggy122]

A water leak and a misfire when hot

a compression check is vital
But so is sorting the leak, these engines dont like low coolant at any point!

ziggy

 

[mby2j]

Thanks for the replies, as for the low coolant level, I check it all the time and top up if required but if I left it then it would be below the MIN level after roughly 2 weeks.

I had my head gasket done at 78000 miles and now I'm on 94000, would the head gasket go again so quickly?

Also if it was a misfire (as I suspect it probably is as when starting it takes a few seconds for the engine to 'settle' and idle normally) how do I go about fixing this? What would need to be repaired/replaced?

Thanks guys for all your help, its appreciated!