I was in the supermarket today and browsed through the latest AutoExpress. They had done a strip-down on a 2004 Ford C-Max (TDCI, I think) which had done 60k miles - just to see how well it had worn.
I was staggered to read that they found 1/3 of the radiator core was blocked (presumbaly with scale and corrosion). This is really really poor on a car that it less than three years old. I would imagine that the coolant had been Fords OAT (10 year life) stuff. It sounds to me that either there is an incompaticbility between the coolant and material in the engine/cooling system, or substandard materials are being used. This is certainly something that anyone buying one of these Fords should be aware of, and it may obviously apply to other Ford models using the same powertrain. With a radiator blocked to that extent you are well on the way to overheating problems come the summer.
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Don't know about Focus but my 7-year old Escort is still running happily on it's original a/f,also OAT.
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>I would imagine that the coolant had been Fords OAT (10 year life) stuff>
My Mondeo is coming up for 5 years old and 114k miles and the 10 year life coolant is clean as a whistle, likewise wife's Clio whos 5 year life coolant was as new when changed at 8 years.
This surely would have been widely reported if common place, afterall it could just as well effect Peugeots and Citroens, the C-Max TDCi uses the Ford / PSA engines.
Otherwise perhaps the car in question had a prang a couple of years ago which led to coolant loss and a body shop refilled it wrongly?
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Not seen any reports of this being a common problem on the various Focus forums. There are issues with the PSA diesel engines that seem to crop up alot (e.g. EGR valve), but nothing radiator related.
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I'm only quoting the AutoExpress article. I think it was 'their' car - there was a fully repair history described and no accidents were listed.
Simply looking at the coolant will not normally tell you much about the condition of the radiator. The coolant will invariable look 'clean' unless you have really major problems. You would have to strip down the rad to see how much of the core is blocked. Sometimes you can feel cold spots on the rad if its badly blocked.
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Looking at the photo at the bottom of the page I assumed that the Auto Express were refering to the exterior of the radiator, it seems to be clogged with leaves, flies, and general road debris.
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Just read the text alongside the photo, it says "rad fins".
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Just read the text alongside the photo, it says "rad fins".
The fins are on the outside.
--
L\'escargot.
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Just read the text alongside the photo, it says "rad fins".
LOL! That's better then! They must mean the exterior.
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