HELP! My Fiat Punto 1.2 1995 is overheating excessively!!!

[misszippy]

hi i am a new driver and this is my first car (a bad decision at that) there have been numerous problems with this car and the main one is the overheating. Its got worse the last couple of months. I drive from my house to birkenhead wirral approx (6 miles) and my temperature needle is in the red high and the fan starts to kick in. Its getting really bad so bad that i drove to pensby this morning approx 4 miles and it was over the half way point! i dont know what to do! Ive checked the water and there loads of water so i dont know what the problem is. Can anyone help??? is there an easy solution. if i take it to a garage how much would it cost.

please reply a.s.a.p thanks!

 

[DaveStewart]

What does the water look like? Daft question but does it look like there is oil mixing? Also check the oil filler cap - should be black and not like a myonaise. This would suggest head gasket failure!

However, it could be something as simple as an airlock in the coolant system? Or a faulty thermostat? My guess would be the thermostat at first. Would also be a good idea to do a search for a Fiat forum - there will no doubt be people who have had similar symptoms with the solutions there.
HTH

Dave

 

[misszippy]

water is fine and ive had a service on the car recently so there is new oil and normal colour of oil brown ish! My dad seems to think that the is a blockage too, its just hes not a mechanic and i wanna know how easy it is to fix as i havent got loads of money to spend on it!

 

[jonnyfishing]

I think you should first purchase a workshop manual, then try changing the temperature sender/sensor.If it still reads high do as Dave suggests and change the thermostat followed by bleeding the system.

 

[misszippy]

yeh think i might do that. my dad had a look under the bonnet the other night with the engine running and took the cap of the coolant water tank and there was smoke coming out of it!? he topped it up with water but its got plenty. Also we had the engine running for about approx 20 mins and the temp had gone up to half which aint as bad as normally i think it was down to the bonnet lid being up which let some air in!
I think hes going to find some parts for me. last i heard he was trying to locate whereabouts the thermostat is!
Ive got my MOT due soon and i dont know what to do whether just to put it in and tell them about it so they can fix it or sort it out before i get the mot done or what? just dont know how much itll cost to fix it

 

[DaveStewart]

Hi Zippy,

Thermostat would normally be located where the top hose from the radiator enters the engine block. I wouldn't imagine having the bonnet up would make much of a difference when the car stood still. Have you tried driving it since? Less stress on the engine when not under load etc...

Could also be due to any air lock being released when your dad took the expansion cap off? Steam can be normal - water is very hot once upto temperature!

Car shouldn't fail MOT if it's overheating unless it's effecting the emissions, or it boils over when being tested!

HTH

Dave

 

[mattylad]

Remove the thermostat & slowly drop it into a pan of boiling water & see if it opens.

If not it needs replacing.
They are cheap & easy enough to do (get a new gasket too).

I thought all girls liked the car warm anyway?

 

[NewOrder]

Is there any steam coming out the exhaust? These engines (assuming its petrol) suffer from head gasket failure, its not a huge job on this engine but if it is that don't expect much change from £300. Is the fan kicking in?

 

[tommydickfinger]

hi misszipy, you need to go back to basics and ignore manuals and ignore dads and prob ignore this site, if the fan kicks in when it should, leave outside your house on tickover and monitor. replace the thermostat, and remoniter, if still no good, get the garage to a sniffer test on your car- this would diagnose the headgasket, but the most important thing is STOP DRIVING IT WHILST TEMP IN THE RED OR IT IS A GAURANTEED F##KED ENGINE!!!!!

 

[Agile]

I am not sure that Miss Zippy can do all those tech things.

To more quickly check if its just the fan switch I would bypass the switch so fan is on 24/7 and drive around and see if its still overheating.

Overheating used to be caused by stuck thermostats! Has something changed?

Tony

 

[Agile]

my dad had a look under the bonnet the other night with the engine running and took the cap of the coolant water tank and there was smoke coming out of it!?

Just read that!

I think its pretty clear that the head gasket has failed !!!