Ford Focus 03 1.8tdci saloon - Ford Focus 03 1.8tdci saloon engine coolant

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Sun 28 Nov 2010 20:04
Ford Focus 03 1.8tdci saloon - Ford Focus 03 1.8tdci saloon engine coolant - simp

Hi

Just had the RAC chap out as the car would not start.

Turns out there's no coolant in the engine ( i know, stupid for not checking it)

The advice i've been given is not to try to start it until the outside temperature is above freezing as there may be ice in the engine which could damage it.

The chap put some blue coolant and some water in to test how bad the problem was and it basically disappeared.

I've been looking to get some more coolant to top it up and now find out that there are different colours.

I have no idea what colour the coolant was when it was there.

So my questions are

Does anyone know what colour coolant the car would have left the factory with?

If it's not blue do i have a problem?

Can I mix colours if I need to?

Thanks in advance.

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Sun 28 Nov 2010 21:19
Ford Focus 03 1.8tdci saloon - Ford Focus 03 1.8tdci saloon engine coolant - fordman1

The factory coolant would have been the 'red type', which should NOT be mixed with the blue coolant.

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Sun 28 Nov 2010 21:39
Ford Focus 03 1.8tdci saloon - Ford Focus 03 1.8tdci saloon engine coolant - mikej

Some came with the blue coolant from the factory (mine did) - this just needs changing more regularly than the orange coolant (which they claim should last 10 years IIRC)

So it shouldn't matter which one you use, but it's probably wise not to mix them as mentioned above. I replaced my blue coolant with orange when I changed my thermostat, as I don't think it was much more expensive.

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Sun 28 Nov 2010 21:42
Ford Focus 03 1.8tdci saloon - Ford Focus 03 1.8tdci saloon engine coolant - fordman1

You will need to drain out the system, and thoroughly flush it through to remove any traces of coolant.

The two types cannot be mixed, the chemical composition is different. The 'red coolant' is much better than the blue, and has a longer life span.

The RAC man should really have known better than to put 'blue coolant ' in your engine.

I would be conducting an investigation, to find out why there is no coolant in the engine?

This suggests a bad leak somewhere.

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Sun 28 Nov 2010 23:26
Ford Focus 03 1.8tdci saloon - Ford Focus 03 1.8tdci saloon engine coolant - Railroad.

Basic rule of thumb - Do not mix anti-freezes of different colours....

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