Any help out there please.
1999 Mondeo 1.9td. All of a sudden I can smell antifreeze in my car when I have the heater on. I am loosing some coolant, but I cannot see any leak, the carpets are bone dry under the heater. Would I do any good putting in Radweld
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I would imagine it's the heater matrix leaking enough to smell, but not enough to soak the carpets yet.
As it's 6/7 hours to pull the dash, removing airbags and a/c refrigerant, I would speak to Ford about a goodwill gesture.
What is it they say? 'Engineered to last' (for the warranty period anyway).
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Thanks for that Dave, that would just be my luck ( bad luck )I do have a warranty with the RAC and the heater matrix is supposedly covered, but they do seem to want to get out of every claim i've tried make so far. I really hope they will pay up for this one!
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Heater matrixes can develop hairline cracks in them which seal themselves when cold, but open enough to let a little antifreeze "steam" out when warm. Do you find your windows mist up more easily/take longer to demist? (Never had a car with aircon, so I don't know if the dehumidifying effect might mask this.) Antifreeze mist on the windows is greasy and difficult to wipe clean.
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Thanks,
would anyone know if its worth putting in Radweld , or would I be wasting my time?
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Trouble is my experience is some years ago, and I have no idea what the effect would be on a modern car. It does seem rather excessive for a 1999 car.
However, on the cars I have used radweld on, it was effective at the time. But whilst it blocked the hole, it didn\'t fix the fact that there was a crack or hole. Eventually, whatever caused the hole/crack in the first place, continued its work and the fault got bigger. Resulting, eventually, in a major dumping of water and immobilising of the car.
I would say that with this in mind, you are probably better to tackle the problem now, when you can pick and choose time/place, rather than Radweld now and allowing the car to pick the time/place at some point in the future.
M.
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Thank you Mark, I will take the car into the garage tomorrow and let the experts do their magic, any idea how big/long a job this is on a mondeo, any what sort of bill can I expect?
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Well those good people at UMSTelford replaced the heater matrix today, cost £179.18
They did try the RAC warranty people who told them I had invalidated the warranty because as I did not use a Main Ford Dealer to service the car, apparently (small print) I should have had a service performed at 6k mile intervals if not using a main dealer and not the Ford recommended 10K. As I have had 3 major services done by UMS since April this year, I would have thought this would have been adequate, but alas no, that?s another customer the RAC have lost and I?m down a few hundred pounds into the bargain
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