Ford Fiesta 1.25 1996 - Another Overheating Fiesta!

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Mon 25 Oct 2010 15:25
Ford Fiesta 1.25 1996 - Another Overheating Fiesta! - MDon

Hi all, read through pretty much all of the overheating fiesta threads now & cant find one that matches my problem.

Two weeks ago, driving to work the car started to go into the red, so i pulled over, let it cool down & continued to work. When i got there i opened the bonnet & noticed the heater valve inlet hose looked quite swollen, so i touched it, at the point the plastic pipe it connects to disintergrated, covering me in rather hot, smelly, brown coolant.

So, to get home i bypassed the heater valve with a bit of copper pipe, and had to stop twice to let it cool down on the way home.

Ordered a new heater valve from ford, fitted that the next day, had a bit of an air lock which sorted itself out, then started overheating again.

Have since changed the thermostat (jammed shut, tested in boiling water), temp sender, radiator.

Since changing the rad, its been worse, this morning i started the car, let it warm up, then took the inlet pipe off the heater valve, and only a dribble of water was coming out, put it back on, took the outlet pipe off & no water coming out, and heaters are stone cold.

Sooooooo, my last guess is water pump, as it seems the water is not being circulated around the system.

One other random fact, before i changed the rad (but at all other times), if when driving i changed the temp of the heater, ie, its too hot, so i turn it down a touch, the car instantly cuts the heat from the heaters & overheats.

Strange but true.

Cheers for any help.

MD.

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Mon 25 Oct 2010 16:42
Ford Fiesta 1.25 1996 - Another Overheating Fiesta! - madf

As your water is brown, that indicates your antifreeze is kaput and your engine is likely to be corroded in all water ways.

Water pressurising suggests HG gone. If the water is not circulating, the pump may have corrroded away. As that is the cheapest to fix, try it. But I suggest you flush the cooling system as you may very well have terminal corrosion and air locks or a HG gone.. or all of them.

Sorry to be of little help.. Old neglected cars are difficult to diagnose.

Edited by madf on 25/10/2010 at 16:43

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Mon 25 Oct 2010 17:16
Ford Fiesta 1.25 1996 - Another Overheating Fiesta! - MDon

No other signs saying HG is gone, coolant isnt dropping, oil is fine, no mixing in oil / coolant.

Since changing the stat it has been drained & filled, and again when i changed the rad, coolant stayed blue antifreeze colour, so thinking old coolant may have just been left in a little too long. Had 3 good years out of this 250quid 1 owner runaround, only had to change a few pas pipes & get a patch on sill, fingers crossed it is just the pump, be a shame to bin her after being pretty reliable (until now). Rocking up to 100k now, so debating on changing the belt & tensioner at the same time. Rather get this problem sorted first as dont want to get belt etc changed for it to be something else.

Cheers for input.

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Tue 26 Oct 2010 11:24
Ford Fiesta 1.25 1996 - Another Overheating Fiesta! - MDon

Hows this for an oddball problem?

Drove to work today, left the heaters on hot, temp got to mid point & stayed there, heaters stayed hot. got 2mins from work & thought i'd test my theory - i turned the heaters to half way temp.

literally 2 secs later, heaters go stone cold & temp shoots into red & i pull over, turn off, turn the heaters to full heat, start the car, temp is mid point & heaters are hot.

Perhaps ford have sold a faulty heater valve??

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