This is not my life story but an introduction

[tsimpson]

Hello, I'm Theo. I"m from swanage. i own a Punto HGT on a X plate. The logbook says it's metallic grey but to me it's one shade away from silver. Had the car since may and luckily it has not cost me the earth to do repairs to the car. Since buying it I've had done:
Timing belt and tensioners
water pump
brake pads
rear wiper
oil and filter change
two front part worn tyres
Remove the ugly stickers the last owners son put on it

At some point I will be doing:
Change variator, will see
rehang bumpers
weather coat under arches and under body
change or get repair drivers seat, worn and ripped
new gear knob
find out why the airbag light is still on
remove rub strips,they are coming away by themselves
glue down edge of carpet
recharge the aircon
Find a solution to the stiff gear stick, as I understand is common with the HGT. WD40 is my friend.

Since buying the car I've done a total of 80 miles and 50 since changing the timing belt. Been looking for a Haynes manual for the HGT but the only one I found does not cover the 1.8 so kind of stuck in what to do next. Hoping get all or most of the answers here and then I can hopefully attend some meets and shows in the near future.

 

[Eklipze3k]

Welcome to the forum

These cars are of an age now that probably every job that needs doing has been DIY'd and documented in one form or another on here Start in the Mk2 Punto section, do a few searches, have a look at the guides and I'm sure you'll find everything you need. If not, start a new thread - we don't bite, much :devil:

 

[Sweex]

You really should have done the variator along with the timing belt as the belt has to come back off to get the variator off.
So youll need another new belt, i know they are only cheap but seems a waste of time now! good luck, i loved my hgt abarth to bits an so should you.

Also, the answer to the stiff gear linkage is not wd40, this will just accelerate wear in the rubber bushes on the linkage. There is a guide on how to clean the linkage

See Here

Different forum but right guide!

Also, the airbag light (as long as its the red one) will most likely be the shoddy wiring in the front seats.
Theres a guy that sells resistors on ebay so it doesnt keep coming back on.
If its the orange air bag light (the airbag above the glovebox which you can switch off) then itll be the wiring behind the glove box where someone has either slammed the glovebox shut or put too much in the glovebox and closed it.

Sorry for the essay.

 

[tsimpson]

Thanks for the warm welcome and pointing me in the right direction. The red airbag light, I always had a feeling that it was something to do with the drivers seat. I'm sure it went out and came back on again while driving Saturday. I'll start looking for the resistor on ebay.

 

[Sweex]

No problems mate, make sure you get two resistors as both front seats play up! Youll have to get the light switched off by someone with a computer to do it but it should be ok after!

 

[tsimpson]

I been looking on ebay and cannot find it/them anywhere. I did do a google and found this link from this site entitled Punto mk2b airbag resistor