suspected head gasket blown on used car brought less than 2 weeks ago....

Norman_Castle

The guy I borught it off told me he checked all the fluids before I left with it

A car that looses all its coolant in less than two weeks is clearly not fit for purpose. SOGA applies.

mattyprice4004

You have been asked about 5 times for the make and model.

What is it?

swiftnick

^^^^^^

What he said. I'm hedging my bets on a Rover

sarahj1986

Sorry guys

its a fiat punto 1.2l

I got a reply from the dealer who said they were looking into the sale of my car.

surely somewhere I must be covered? these things were there when it was sold to me its not fit for purpose is it not?

Tilt

I gave you my advice in post 7. Did you follow it? I have since taken a step back because I didn't buy you entire story about not having the heater on hot.

But now we know what car it actually is I will comment further. This is not a common fault on Punto's as far as I am aware and I used to work in after sales at a main dealership. As you state the car has only done 44k, I would be looking closely at that by checking the MOT history as I am beginning to wonder about the mileage.

As for being 'covered', I thought I covered that in post #7.

colino

Tilt, you are joking arent you? I love little Puntos as they are very practical, suffer badge snobbery and hence are very cheap for surprisingly good cars. However, second only to K series, they must be the next highest number of head gaskets I've replaced. Certainly bad maintenence (unlike K series great design ruined by accountants) is the normal problem. People fail to notice falling water levels through a leak somewhere cook the engine. Similarly they aren't the quickest of "bleeders" so something innocuous like a lazy anti-freeze change leaves such a big air lock, they are under-cooled and pop goes the HG. Not a difficult job, but a very common one.

Foxy-Stoat_3

colino wrote: »

People fail to notice falling water levels through a leak somewhere cook the engine.

I think this is the single most cause of head gasket failures bar none !

Tilt

colino wrote: »

Tilt, you are joking arent you? I love little Puntos as they are very practical, suffer badge snobbery and hence are very cheap for surprisingly good cars. However, second only to K series, they must be the next highest number of head gaskets I've replaced. Certainly bad maintenence (unlike K series great design ruined by accountants) is the normal problem. People fail to notice falling water levels through a leak somewhere cook the engine. Similarly they aren't the quickest of "bleeders" so something innocuous like a lazy anti-freeze change leaves such a big air lock, they are under-cooled and pop goes the HG. Not a difficult job, but a very common one.

No i'm not joking. The basic block on this engine has changed very little over the years and is till used today in some Fiat models. There is a reason for that. But as you say, the lack of coolant can affect any engine no matter what the make and most leaks are fairly obvious.

But in this case, the car has only (apparently) done 44k miles which suggests one of two possibilities as far as i'm concerned which is either the mileage's accuracy is questionable or there was a leak in the cooling system. As previously pointed out, apart from the temp gauge reading, one of the first signs of a problem is the heater blowing cold and i'm sorry but I cannot believe that would go un-noticed at this time of the year.

It seems to me that what ever the cause is (going on the info from the OP), must of been there when the car was bought. She mentions loose/missing bolts etc. Again not something I would expect on an engine that has done only 44k miles unless it has been 'tampered' with.

All in all from the OP's info, I see no reason to change my advice in post #7.

securityguy

Tilt wrote: »

But in this case, the car has only (apparently) done 44k miles which suggests one of two possibilities as far as i'm concerned which is either the mileage's accuracy is questionable or there was a leak in the cooling system. .

A 2001 car with 44K on the clock has either been clocked, as you say, or it's a car that's never been used to do more than go to the shops. While there might be a dangerous ring of Punto-clockers, but the extra price realised for a "low mileage" 1.2l 2001 Punto is barely worth the electricity used to power the drill used to wind the odo back. However, if you drive a car two miles to the shops and two miles back, you could probably do that for years with very little coolant in the system, a stuck thermostat, a failed radiator fan, etc. Given few people running cars like that are scrupulous about time-based servicing, it might only have been serviced once every few years. That the "light flashed" (Fiats don't have temperate gauges, do they?) after fifteen miles tends to bolster that theory.

Foxy-Stoat_3

securityguy wrote: »

A 2001 car with 44K on the clock has either been clocked, as you say, or it's a car that's never been used to do more than go to the shops. While there might be a dangerous ring of Punto-clockers, but the extra price realised for a "low mileage" 1.2l 2001 Punto is barely worth the electricity used to power the drill used to wind the odo back. However, if you drive a car two miles to the shops and two miles back, you could probably do that for years with very little coolant in the system, a stuck thermostat, a failed radiator fan, etc. Given few people running cars like that are scrupulous about time-based servicing, it might only have been serviced once every few years. That the "light flashed" (Fiats don't have temperate gauges, do they?) after fifteen miles tends to bolster that theory.

Alas 2002 Punto has a digital mileage display - no drills required.

There's lots of low mileage Puntos for sale with 50K for £500-£1000. It really isn't worth clocking cars now due to the information data base and mileage registers. OP if you have the last mot handy you can check the last 6/7 years online to see the mileage every year.

This is more like 10 year old car that has done 4,400 miles a year with very little maintenance is not as reliable as a 100,000 mile car with good maintenance and well used.