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I had some trouble with this about six months ago as the car was using/loosing coolant, it went to dealers no problem found, all topped up and was fine. Since then the car has been fine on all the trips even long runs down the motorway. Now the other day we went out and drove about 7 miles stopped and I noticed the cooling fan had come on, had a look and the expansion tank is empty. I took off the cap and some water came back into the tank but only about 1/4 litre so I put a litre of water in and carried on doing another 30 or so miles till we get home, checked again with no serious loss and put about a litre in to bring up to the max mark. The car has only done 11500 miles and I have had a quick look around and can see no obvious pipes loose or signs of a leak so it is a bit of a mystery, is there a simple solution as I dread the 60 mile round trip/wait/faff to the dealers, I will monitor it again but it may have to go back.
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This sort of intermitent water loss is very difficult to find as have to 'be there at the time'. Unexplained loss is very often caused by head gasket leakage as the water is usually blown out of the overflow pipe, but on a car of that mileage its unlikely. You could try putting a recepticle under the end and see if any runs into it. Leakage due to combustion pressure is most likely to occur when the engine is under heavy load ie going up a steep hill fast, you could try this and see if it causes the level to drop.
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It has to be a head gasket. I have been there several times, in particular with a splendid 1992 2.0 DOHC Sierra, (which ended up the most reliable car I ever had, after 200,000 miles). I smelt the anti-freeze when I bought it - but it took a year to show up.
Why? The electric fans fail due to a faulty thermo-switch; the engine cooks on a hot day in a traffic jam.
You don`t notice because the temp gauge only gets 3/4 way up - so, it`s a hot day! So what?
I spent weeks putting more water in the radiator; for a time all was well. 6 months later, the problem would come back. I ended up with a new engine from a breaker at £160 plus £800 to fit, (but did another 100,000 miles, no bother).
Eventually head gaskets come back to bite you; they get serious (usually in May, when the weather warms up). This happened over a two year cycle - so it`s very easy to be seduced into thinking that there is just a coolant leak from a hose. Or something. Or not bother. And carry on.
I assume that the car is under warranty. It is important to INSIST to the dealer that they check the problem thoroughly, a coolant pressure test may not show a fault. DO check the header tank for bubbles. Get an INDEPENDENT opinion from a good local garage - how? Ask around! They survive because unlike main dealers they have to find answers, not fob you off.
Write to Ford (you will get a pink fluffy dice reply, but get it on the record)! KEEP records.
You will probably be pushed off into the undergrowth unless you are lucky enough to have an honest dealer. So persevere.
The easiest thing would be to put some radiator sealant in- (it might even fix the problem permanently: Subaru USA used to do this to get the customer over 100,000miles, when they could say get stu**fed) - and you then trade your car in.
I realise that trading in is an expensive way out; and, no certainty the replacement any better. But it might be the answer if you can get no satisfaction. Let some other poor slob sort it out later on.
Weak head gaskets take time to become a disaster. The best bet is to get your dealer to accept the problem under warranty. Why should you suffer? So go on bullying them relentlessly and KEEP RECORDS!
I have a 4 year old Focus II which is causing trouble - not yet as bad as yours, but I am in the hands of Warranty Direct; they are still stalling; my costs since the Ford Warranty ran out are around £850 on known faults reported on this diesel model. Only 40,000 miles.
But, where else do you go? Vauxhall are much worse, and so are VW. (Also meaning Audi, Seat, Skoda etc etc.)
I`ll probably head for Japan - Euro car factories are now all scrabbling for cheap components from Slovakia or Portugal, or wherever. Maybe the Japs are better at bullying their own suppliers.
Good luck!
AS
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 01/11/2009 at 21:00
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Just a thought, but our 1.6 focus started loosing coolant from the water pump gland. Very difficult to spot, unless you look underneath where the crank pulley is, and then you can see the dried coolant. The only way I spotted this was on a routine check of oil etc.
I would have said that the car would have gone for a week and a half before having lost a serious amount of coolant, but I swapped the water pump anyway.
Its worth a look, I think your car has the same 1.6 Zetec engine.
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Hi, I have 2 focuses and both appear to be losing coolant over a short time, but not loads. One is still under warranty. Could it be an inherent problem on the mark2?
I have used coolant sealant on previous cars which I don't think works very well. Stuff I put in my radiator system in my home worked really well stopping a sizeable leak. Would it do any harm if I used this product in my cars system?
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I used sealant in a cooling system once, and would never do it again.
Apart from only delaying the inevitable "proper fix" for a few weeks, I then had to contend with what looked like a buckerful of river silt that was distributed throughout the system. It took an age to flush everything clear afterwards.
Edited by DP on 02/11/2009 at 10:29
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Been out to have a look, there is a tray trim under the pulley end of the engine and this appears bone dry as does the water pump with no signs of water or staining. The head area looks "as new" no apparent leaks or stains and as said before I would doubt CHG failure on a 11000 mile car of this age. It is a strange one indeed so all I can do is keep an eye on it, check the water levels on a regular basis, it is hard to pinpoint as it will run perfectly for months in all driving conditions and then you pop into town (7miles) and it uses 2 litres of water, cars eh! Thanks for the pointers guys.
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Make sure your coolant is up to strength with antifreeze, if you keep topping up with water it will be under strength, the antifreeze raises the boiling point of the coolant. I once had such a problem where after starting off first thing in the morning and driving up a hill the coolant in the engine block boiled before the thermostat had chance to open. It could be the same for you with coolant being forced out of the system by the boiling. Worth a try, bit of antifreeze costs little.
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Thanks to sumpnut for another idea, when the problem started back in April ish I had added quite a bit of water and was concerned about the antifreeze strength as it was a lot lighter in colour (Orange) than the original factory fill. Had it checked at a Ford main dealer and the guy used a hydro thingy where you put coolant on a slide and look through an eyepiece to read a measure and said it was still of an acceptable concentration however I think if it does happen again it will have to go back to Ford as I don't want to tinker too much due to warranty issues. I find it beneficial in my experience that when you go to a dealer with a problem it helps if you can identify the cause to them and point it out to them as in I have a leak from the water pump look here, oh yes sir I can see that etc etc,rather than my car is loosing water.
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Hi Roly,
Is it as difficult to replace the water pump as the Haynes manual suggests. I may have to replace mine, 2001 1.6, before a slight leak becomes any worse. Did you use a Ford part, I've been quoted £92, but motor factors £45. Any advice / tips would be welcome.
Regards, Mo.
SQ
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 03/11/2009 at 19:07
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In to dealers today and got the phone call this afternoon. Cause a loose pipe into the heater matrix, fixed and now waiting for the carpets to dry out!. This all works out as I couldn't detect any water outside the car as it was all going inside and the problem has only just got alot worse as the weather has got colder and the heater is being used alot more so more water through the matrix equals more water out of the system into the car. Sorted hopefully go to collect tomorrow.
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