Hi all. Interesting question time...
I have a 4/4 Zetec 1.8 from 2004. It's done the grand total of 120,000 miles (yes, really!) Over it's time, it has had its fair number of replacement radiators but the last was a long time ago.
Over recent months it has been running cool than normal but has been losing coolant too. I've had it checked by my local dealer, who flushed it through 4 times and replaced the expansion bottle, so I can actually read it. They didn't replace the thermostat and I've not checked to see if it works (it is, after all, what I paid them for! Not been back to them yet.)
I then drove it back home and found it had lost coolant. I drove it to work and back and had to top up both ways - 21 miles each way.
Today I ran it up to temperature on the drive. The radiator cooling fan kicked in at around the usual spot on the dial and I could see no coolant loss around the radiator top or bottom hoses, or any other hose around the car. The garage floor is dry.
The oil is clean and the oil filler cap has no indication that there is water in the oil - I've seen that terrible mousse before on an old A series engine I had, and on a Renault engine too.
So, any ideas? It could be thermostat, I guess, but that doesn't explain the coolant loss. I've not checked the heater matrix to see if that's leaking. Is there anything else I need to look at or get checked out?
Thanks for reading and any advice :-)
