2012 Ford Focus, 155K miles, it is leaking a decent amount of coolant when my partner drives it to work but doesn’t even leak a drop if I drive it to work. The mileage is the same but I don’t sit in traffic. Could the extra heat from sitting in traffic be opening up a pinhole sized leak in the coolant line?
Edit: Thanks to a tip from the comments when the heat is turned on it leaks. I should be able to bypass that line pretty easy.
Thanks Kolgeirr@sh.itjust.works
Are you sure it’s coolant? I know older focus had issues with the wiper liquid hose cracking.
The coolant tank emptied out.
When coolant heats up, it can evaporate of there’s a way out. Do you have any residue on the inside of your hood?
If you’re experience a LOT of coolant loss it could be escaping into the engine through a falling head gasket. In this case you wouldn’t see any residue on the inside of your hood.
God speed.
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That was my first instinct, I had a 92 Dodge Daytona which had a terrible head gasket. That was what I was seeing with that. The focus looks fine. No loss of power and no backfires so I don’t believe coolant is getting into the engine.
Inside hood is clean. The coolant hoses though look and feel like they are near the end of their life. I’ve not located where the leak is occurring, no signs of fluid on the engine block. The puddle I saw was next to the inside of the front right tire, under the coolant tank. I checked and it’s leak free.
I added some stop leak to see if that solves it for now. Car only has to last another six months before we replace it and my teenager gets to deal with it.
my teenager gets to deal with it
Oh you sweet summer child
Best way to learn how to work on a car, is to have a car that needs to be worked on.
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The fan comes on, we are in Colorado so we have thinner air.
Does your partner blast the air conditioning?
Either way you should get a coolant system refresh and pressure test asap
Not a car expert, just a guy that learns how to do something when it needs to be done…
I don’t know how relevant the “why” is… you’ve got a leak, and the easiest first step is to inspect to see if you can figure out where the leak is originating from. If you can figure it out, then fix that. If not, the next easiest might be to just replace the coolant lines. If it’s still leaking after that, it could be either the radiator or a gasket.
Good luck!
I haven’t been able to make it leak yet. It was suggested above to try the heater, which I have the ac on. That might be why I haven’t seen it leak, my partner always is cold.
Yes, heat can play a role.
I’d recommend going to your local parts store (or probably Amazon) and getting UV dye specifically for the cooling system. You dump it in, run the car for a bit, then start looking with a black light (you’ll probably need to buy one of those too). The ones we use flash a bright yellow/green where the leak is originating from.
If that’s not something you’re comfortable with, call your trusted mechanic and see if they can do it.
If you’re losing a considerable amount of coolant, don’t let it go, you could be making a relatively simple repair significantly more expensive, or possibly even killing the engine, if it’s as bad as it sounds.
Also, has the vehicle ever been overheated before, or is it getting hot when she drives it?
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