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Punto Oil Leak

I've got a Punto Mk II, probably enough said. It's had a bit of an oil leak for the last 25k miles, but nothing major just a little low at the

6k service. But it's just got much worse.

I can see some oil around the head gasket at No 1 cylinder (timing belt end). Visibility is obstructed by the timing belt casing. But the oil leak historically could be seen running down the opposite side on the sump. I've checked head gasket at that end and there isn't any major oil build up. So the first time I see the leak is where the transmission bell box meets the engine block. I'd assumed if the leak was coming from the crank shaft bearing on the fly wheel I'd feel it in the clutch. As I would guess oil would be sprayed over the fly wheel and clutch plate.

This car had significantly overheated a couple of times 40K miles back due to a faulty thermostat.

Any suggestions?

Tim

Reply to
Tim
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I'm going with a weeping head gasket. The 'FIRE' engine is sensitive to overheating.

Well under 300 quid to fix on those, though.

Reply to
SteveH

It lost from max to just below the min on the dip stick within about

300-500 miles. More dramatic than the usual 6,000. I know these Punto's are sensitive to heat and they have known issues with the thermostat and other areas.

My guess for a head gasket, it's going to be about £400-500. £300 seems a little cheap, but maybe I'm going to the wrong garages. I was hoping to do a timing belt change first (another 6K miles). If that went OK, changing the head gasket didn't look too bad.

My biggest concern is some engine serial numbers don't have timing markers on them. The Haynes manual suggests a much more complex process of using a pressure gauge to find TDC. As I don't have any experience this has put me off a little. Could I just use tippex to mark the cam and crank shaft?

Perhaps I could talk the wife into letting me keep is as a project car, that way I wouldn't be so worried ;)

Regards,

Tim

Reply to
Tim

That's a fair bit of oil to lose.

Well, the cambelt has to be changed when you do the head gasket, so you can incorporate that into the cost of the HG change. £500 is well over the odds for the job, though. £300 is what it would cost around here, so I suppose it depends on where you are, really.

Is it am 8v or 16v? - if it's an 8v, just mark it up with tippex. That's what I did when I did the change on a Cinq. with the 8v engine.

Whatever you do, it'll be significantly cheaper than changing the car.

Reply to
SteveH

Yup, that's why I've gone from 'I'll have a stab at that if a timing belt change is simple' to perhaps it's just time to get rid.

8v SOHC, twin cam's look much more complex. A timing belt change on the 8v version is only 3 spanners in Haynes, 16v four spanners and a couple of specialist tools for locking the cams. This goes back to your point in my last post, Punto's are mechanically very simple and easy to maintain. Not so sure about Japanese reliability though (not quite what you said of course).
Reply to
Tim

Had the car in for an MOT today and they checked the leak. They suspect it's coming from crankshaft seal. Actually they had a proper name for it, which he repeated a few times and I promptly forgot.

Sounds expensive too, the equivalent labour cost of a clutch change, fly wheel removal etc. He estimated a minimum of 3 - 4 hours labour.

Not only that, but the car also failed on a front shock absorber. Not so bad as I can do that myself, but still £100 in parts.

Tim

Reply to
Tim

This happened on my 1.2 8V (T reg). It was the crankshaft oil seal. £180 of a job at my local trusted indy. It would go from maximum on the dipstick to minimum in 200 miles and leave pools of oil wherever you parked it. Hated the damn thing, most unreliable car I've ever had. And I've had a lot of Citroens ;-)

Mike P

Reply to
Mike P

£100 for a pair of shocks for a Punto? Where on earth are you buying them? Harrods?
Reply to
Doki

A garage said they would do it for £80 + parts, said it would take about

3 hours. They got a good recommendation from a friend, so worth a try.

I must admit I'm not sure if the Punto's are unreliable or if this is just standard ware and tare, but I'm now looking out for it because I spent more than £200 on a car. I've spent about £1,500 maintaining the car from 40k to 85k miles. Seems a lot, but works out at about 4p per mile. On the whole, the car is in much better condition than any of my previous cars of the same age and mileage.

Tim

Reply to
Tim

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