Technical A busy day

[hennabm]

It was all systems go today to sort my 2012 Punto Easy 1.4.

The cambelt was 2 years overdue, the sump was bubbling and crumbling like mad and to top it all, the NSF coil spring broke.
I used the Gates cambelt kit which included the water pump and follower. A new aux belt was also fitted. I didn't use the locking tool, just made sure the crank didn't move. The car went back together and no warning lights came on, so a successful job.

The sump was easy - ish. The worst part were the nuts on the exhaust join but in the end I did manage to persuade both to come off without harming the studs. I painted the sump in POR-15 paint a few weeks ago to give it extra protection.

The coil spring had broken quite near the top and in the process had destroyed the upper bearing and gouged into the bodywork as a result. A quick rub down and some paint later a new spring and upper bearing were in. Just got to waxoyl the area again to add a little more protection.

The sump and coil spring were OEM parts but the cambelt and upper mounting were from factors.

I am now happier about using it again as the sump was looking mighty rough before.

 

[hennabm]

Just when you think that all is going well...

So, soon after the above jobs were done I noticed the coolant level kept dropping. Fearing it was the sealing of the new waterpump I had a good look around. Thankfully it wasn't but it turned out to be the radiator. The car has only done 23k and is 12 years old but hey ho.

Can I say that it was a ballache to get to the rad. The Fiat CD manual I have suggested two bolts each side holing the bumper on the outer edges to the wings. WRONG. There was just one each side going virtually vertical. Thankfully the wrongly detached bolts were easier to put back with the bumper off.

With the bumper off and the headlights out I could remove the cross members and finally the AC radiator from the back of the coolant radiator. The rad then came out and as you can see from the picture, there was the culprit for all to see.

I took the ooportunity to clean up everything and to coat the metal cross members in lanoguard. All fixings were coated in grease before reassembly.

The only issue I had was one of the speed nuts on the bottom of the bumper was rusted through but thankfully came out, without too much drama. I'll be ordering some new ones from Fiat next week.