I've a 2001 Punto 1.2 8v and the head gasket just 'went' at 75000 Kilomteters (I live in France - thats about 50,000 miles). THe local FIAT main dealer took two weeks to fix it, offered no courtesy car, and charged 800 Euros (about 520 pounds) for changing the head gasket, water pump, cam-belt,temperature gauge on the radiator, sparkplugs and purging the cooling circuit.
I asked what I can do to avoid it happening again and received the customary gallic shrug,arms open wide and protruding lower lip. I know to listen for the gurgling noise (airlock in the cooling system) behind the heater controls - mine had had that before the failure.
First question : what can I do to stop an air-lock infiltrating in the first place???
Second question : Is it an inherent fault (i.e. down to cheapo engineering) and thus likely to happen again whatever I do. (But there are 1000s of these cars about, they can't all have head gaskets 'going'- or can they????)
Third question :I think I know the answer, but was I ripped off on the price???
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Presumably your invoice was broken down into parts and labour? What did it look like to you in France? Main dealer labour here is around £70 an hour (about 120 euros?) and I wouldn't know about the parts; was the head repaired or skimmed in any way?
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tinyurl.com/3pod This link refers to a problem with head gaskets on the 1200 cc 8 valve engine - is this your one?
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For the work you had done at the main dealer the price of £520 is good - I wouldn't complain about that.
Head gasket failure on the Punto is very common and is down to poor engineering. Not a lot you can do other than keep the car serviced and make sure the coolant is inspected regularly.
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Thanks, at least I know where I stand.
I^ll be buying Japanese next time.
Assuming there are no big bills in the near future ths Punto is extremely cheap and economical - I know it's worth next to nowt after five years but I view it as cheap lease rather than as an asset that has any value.
It's an excellent town car, but feels unsafe and unstable on the motorway (And I feel knackered and want to stop every hour).
And, there's no excuse for head gasket failure at 50k miles.
FIAT will go the way of Rover. They aren't good enough to suvive as a large-volume manufacturer- they'll end up just making sportcars.
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The bill doesn't seem excessive (HG replacement, including skimming, but no other work) cost me 300 euro at an independent last summer.
As Aprilla says, its a common problem. So is the gurgling the OP mentions - my brother's Punto has suffered from this almost since he got it at two years old. Two FIAT main dealers and several reputable independents have been unable to rectify it. The best advice he was offered was to bleed the airlock regularly.
I wish I could say that's the only trouble they give, but mine is just back from having the power steering pump replaced. Along with replacing the coolant and brake fluid, that cost another 520 euro!
Fingers crossed nothing else packs in before I pack the Punto in for, yes you guessed it, something Japanese. Preferably from Subaru...
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As quoted elsewhere on this site, they seem like good value for money until things start to go wrong. And then you start reading how many other things can go wrong and you end up like the guy who read the a-z of common illnesses and became convinced he had them all except one (I think it was in 'Three men and a boat' by Jerome K Jerome). Then anxiety sets in. Once anxiety sets in it's time to change the car.
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