Ford Fiesta 04 plate / mk6 pre facelift - Engine management light / coolant tank

Honest John Back Room » Technical matters
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Fri 30 Dec 2011 23:16
Ford Fiesta 04 plate / mk6 pre facelift - Engine management light / coolant tank - Chris_

Recently, the engine management light illuminated on the dash, and upon checking the car I found that the coolant tank had lost a lot of its liquid and there were some crusty bits of coolant found at the bottom where the hose was. Engine oil was all fine, there was no white stuff in the engine oil and the car drove with no problems.

Took it into the garage and they confirmed it was a problem with the tank as it had a small crack in the bottom. I asked about the engine management light and they said the 'overheating sensor' has been set off will need to be replaced.

I don't necessarily doubt what they are saying, but from reading on the internet, it seems that they just need to reset the codes using a reader to remove the EML?

Just would like to get a second opinion on this one before I go ahead with all of the repairs...

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Sat 31 Dec 2011 09:52
Ford Fiesta 04 plate / mk6 pre facelift - Engine management light / coolant tank - elekie&a/c doctor

There is no specific "overheat sensor"only an engine coolant temp sensor which could get damaged if the engine were to be seriously overheated .This does not appear to be your case.What fault code has been logged?Any codes flagged may not be related to the coolant loss.Code clearing/reset should not be a problem if all is in order.hth

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Sat 31 Dec 2011 10:33
Ford Fiesta 04 plate / mk6 pre facelift - Engine management light / coolant tank - Railroad.

A fairly common problem on these engines is that the two core plugs which are situated at the top of the cylinder head between the spark plugs can corrode and eventually leak. Coolant will then fill this area flooding the coolant temperature sensor and causing it to short circuit. This in turn will bring on the Malfunction Indicator Lamp (MIL).....

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Tue 3 Jan 2012 00:39
Ford Fiesta 04 plate / mk6 pre facelift - Engine management light / coolant tank - Chris_

I did have a full service done on the car at the same time when I took the car in, so I would have thought if there was any more damage they would have noticed when they changed the spark plugs?

Edited by Chris_ on 03/01/2012 at 00:39

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Tue 3 Jan 2012 00:37
Ford Fiesta 04 plate / mk6 pre facelift - Engine management light / coolant tank - Chris_

Yeah I thought as much...

The impression I get is that they didn't put it under a code reader as they didn't mention it. I'll ask if they had done it, or I will buy a reader myself off ebay or something to get more information.

But from what I gather they just took at look at the fault from what I had told them about the low coolant level in the tank and the remains of it...

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