wokeye

My parents are getting a new car and are going to give me their Focus 1.6 Zetec 52 reg auto. It has only done 44K and in great order except it is losing coolant and I am not sure where from. It is not going into the oil, but it will lose a decent amount in a few days. My parents also let it run a little to low and the car lost all power and went into a kind of limp home mode. The coolant was topped up and it was taken to a independant garage as the MIL light was also on. The garage said that it was bringing up no codes. I checked it as I have a cheapo OBD2 scanner that I use on my Focus TDCI. This said that there was a DTC but it could not display the code. However it reset the MIL. I looked at the car today as if I do not want it they will trade it in. Yet I could find no leak but could smell antifreeze under the bonnet. I took it for a drive and it behaved superbly. I want the car but I am paranoid if it ends up as a money pit. They said that the car lost all power on 2 occasions, one it overheated and one it did not. Is there any common fault with the Focus that can cause this? Also does the Focus need special antifreeze as the Haynes Manual states or is this just crap? Regarding the leak I guess I should of looked at the thermostat housing possibly? Thanks for any help.

LewisT

Coolant will probably be the pink stuff but just put more of what ever is in there dont mix the blue and the pink, you tried parking the car somewhere dry and letting it warm up to temperature to see if you can identify a leak?

As you were suggesting about no coolant in oil or vise versa it could still be the head gasket say if it goes between a cylinder and a coolant channel, do you get any bubbling in the expansion tank? does the coolant smell of petrol ect?

The thermostat cracking is an issue on 1.8/2.0l engines never heard of it being an issue on the 1.6 but you can get them for a tenner on ebay worth a check.

wokeye

Thanks for the reply Lewis. The only thing that I had checked for head gasket failure was no coolant in the oil, or oil in the coolant. I get what you are saying about the possibility of it going into a cylinder directly. I had this with an older car when the head gasket went and it was leaking oil into one of the cylinders and using oil really fast and blue smoke everywhere. thought the engine was kncakered and it was the head gasket. I just thought that if it had went this way maybe it would be blowing loads of white smoke out of the exhaust. The coolant does not smell of petrol by the way, and I was not present when it overheated so I cannot say about bubbling in the expansion tank. It ran fine today when I looked at it but I only drove it for a few miles. I have a feeling that my Dad neglected checking the coolant and let it get to low, with what is probably a minor leak somewhere. But it really needs fixed. The cutting out and MIL light really concerned me, as I hate electrical bugs when you do not know the cause. But hopefully the 2 go together and it is a simple leak to find and is hopefully not head gasket related, touch wood. Thanks again.

JulesT

Maybe you have a leak on your radiator. Check for white residue or rust around the pipes.