Punto Oil Leak

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Tim - 24 Apr 2007 19:50 GMT

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

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SteveH - 24 Apr 2007 19:53 GMT

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

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

Well under 300 quid to fix on those, though.

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Tim - 24 Apr 2007 20:39 GMT

>> This car had significantly overheated a couple of times 40K miles back
>> due to a faulty thermostat.
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
>
> Well under 300 quid to fix on those, though.

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

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SteveH - 24 Apr 2007 20:44 GMT

> >> This car had significantly overheated a couple of times 40K miles back
> >> due to a faulty thermostat.
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
> Punto's are sensitive to heat and they have known issues with the
> thermostat and other areas.

That's a fair bit of oil to lose.

> 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.

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.

> 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?

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.

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Tim - 24 Apr 2007 20:58 GMT

>>> Well under 300 quid to fix on those, though.
>> It lost from max to just below the min on the dip stick within about
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
>
> That's a fair bit of oil to lose.

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.

>> My biggest concern is some engine serial numbers don't have timing
>> markers on them. The Haynes manual suggests a much more complex process
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> 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.

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).

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

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Tim - 25 Apr 2007 18:06 GMT

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

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Doki - 26 Apr 2007 02:04 GMT

> 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,
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> 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.

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

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Mike P - 25 Apr 2007 23:19 GMT

> 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
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
> 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 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

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Tim - 29 Apr 2007 19:36 GMT

> 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
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
>
> Mike P

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

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