I have a Fiat Punto and it is running low on coolant. I added coolant about 3 months ago and it is low again. It is also running low on oil, I added oil about 6 months ago and it is now very low again. A third thing I have noticed is the heating system seems to be faulty and the car is steaming up whenever I drive it, this problem is worse at night. I am wondering if these problems are all related? If there is a leak in the cooling system, and the engine is overheating could this be why the oil is running low? and again if there is a leak could this also explain the steaming up?There doesn’t seem to be any white residue in the oil but at the same time there doesn’t seem to be an external leak that I can see.
How old is this thing and what year is it? How often do you change the oil? What does the exhaust look like?
A quart of oil every 6 months is not excessive, and I suspect you should be changing the oil at that interval anyway.
The heating/defroster runs from a small radiator called a heater core fed by the same hot antifreeze the main radiator is. Sounds like this is leaking.
Simply stated, you need a mechanic to perform repairs. ANY car has to have more than just gasoline (or, diesel fuel). Some day, in the not-distant future, it will be time for you to get another disposable car.
Possible bad headgasket.
You only check the coolant every 3 months and the oil every 6 months??? Recipe for a destroyed engine.
Well, it’s entirely possible that the steaming up is from a small leak in your heater core, which would explain where the coolant is going. Do you have a sweet smell in the car? I assume you use glycol based anti-freeze and that has a sweet smell. I assume you are in Europe since the Punto is very popular there, but I don’t know if you use the same type anti-freeze as us Americans.
As for the oil, how many kilometers have you driven the car? If you’ve put 10,000 kilometers on it and you are down a litre, then no big deal. If you’ve only gone 200 kilometers and you are down a litre, then it’s a problem.
Give us some more details. Like mileage and how low is “very low” in your opinion. How much coolant do you need to add, and how much oil?