Technical Loosing Coolant

[paula13]

Hi, My 1.2 Punto is 3 years old and loosing 1ltr of coolant a week. Took it to my local Ford garage last week who pressure tested it and said there wasn't a leak, but on checking it today it has lost the same amount. Temperature gauge staying in middle so not overheating, can't see any sign of a leak and no white smoke from exhaust. Any ideas what could be the problem?

 

[willeywilson]

Pressure tested what exactly? It also depends for how long they tested it, I know sometimes Air con systems need a day or so to be sure there is a leak at all.

Try getting a coompression test on each cylinder, maybe your head gasket is at fault but 1 litre a week isn't that much, so I wouldn't of thought there would be tooooooo much white smoke to be honest.

 

[Andy Monty]

there have been a lot of radiators leaking on the seam when warm it can be very hard to spot

 

[paula13]

Can anyone give advice? Loosing about 1 ltr of coolant a week. Temperature gauge not high, no white residue on oil cap, no white smoke from exhaust. Took car (2007 Punto 1.2) to my local Ford Garage who did a pressure check and said there was no leak. Any ideas what could be the problem?

Oh, sorry, thought my other post had not worked, but just found it!!! So this post has been put on twice.

 

[Marcos999]

you could try the correct section! This is the Punto Evo section.
Poss a pipe split or leaking at a join or a weak rad cap.

 

[paula13]

Thanks for your replies. They just said that they had pressure tested it to see if there was any coolant leaks. Must have been thorough because they tried to charge me for a hours work!!!

 

[paula13]

whoops. My other post was in the right area though :bang: Thanks for your reply

 

[T14086]

your radiator (more likely) or pump is leaking.

p.s. dont take it to a ford garage, Fiat techs know the weak parts/areas of concern on their cars not ford!

 

[jk73]

Can anyone give advice? Loosing about 1 ltr of coolant a week. Temperature gauge not high, no white residue on oil cap, no white smoke from exhaust. Took car (2007 Punto 1.2) to my local Ford Garage who did a pressure check and said there was no leak. Any ideas what could be the problem?

Oh, sorry, thought my other post had not worked, but just found it!!! So this post has been put on twice.

Hi Paula
Ive recently been suffering with a similar problem, losing coolant. Initially i could not see where it was going or in fact what was the cause, but my local Fiat Dealer (who are also Ford and Mazda) had it for a day and found a pinhole in a radiator pipe, which was spraying it on the rad & the lower part of the engine. This wad bled / new pipe fitted / refilled BUT ... the gave it me back after overtightening the bleed screw and shafting the washer ... i now had liquid candyfloss running down the metal plate below. Back in it went and was sorted in a jiffy.
so id have a good check of those pipes before resigning yourself to the radiator ... Not that id ever doubt T's expert knowledge.

 

[T14086]

not at all infact your right to have a good look about, I pointed towards radiator as common on these models/year but always needs to be inspected and proved

pressure testing should help but its not a 100% reliable test by any means.

 

[Andy Monty]

just merged these two threads together

 

[paula13]

Thanks, will top it up with coolant, warm it up then have a good look round the pipes and radiator before incurring any more costs.

 

[paula13]

Topped it up with coolant and left it for 2 hours. On checking found that it had lost half pint coolant which was very visably dripping from the bottom left side of the radiator. Don't know why the garage didn't spot this.

 

[Ffoxy]

Topped it up with coolant and left it for 2 hours. On checking found that it had lost half pint coolant which was very visably dripping from the bottom left side of the radiator. Don't know why the garage didn't spot this.

Probably because you are paying Paula, assuming your car is actually just a bit more than 3 years old & out of Warranty, & if they can get an hours money for a quick pressure test & you come back for another hours labour etc etc... and as T says... Ford Mechs dont know Fiats too well... (but then in the past T has always said Mechs move around from car maker to maker at different dealerships lol) :devil:

I suppose the bottom line would be :-
"Can we interest you in this Ford as a replacement?" And give you bottom book price against a Fezzer or Ka...

 

[paula13]

lol. I refused to pay for the hour because they didn't tell me they'd be doing a pressure test, but did pay for half hour. Just wondering whether to go to a Fiat garage or a local one that I've been to before who seem honest (and a lot cheaper):tempt:

 

[Andy Monty]

get a quote from your indipendent and then fiat and play them off against each other


for a radiator your looking about £110 from the likes of Euro car parts and other on line suppliers assuming you do not have air con

 

[RB2009]

dont know where the original poster comes from.. but that dealer sounds like 1 around here.

It was originally a Ford Dealer, then the franchise changed their name from Essex Ford to Essex Auto Group.

and their southend branch in essex, started selling and repairing Ford, Mazdas and Fiats.

So they arent actually a Ford dealer, just everyone knows them as Essex ford as that was their original name.

Maybe its a similar scenario to the original poster at a different dealer if its not the same 1?

But their technicians know all 3 marques inside out because they are working on them all the time just the same as the ford cars. so they dont know ford cars any better than fiat generally.

the technicians, some of them are fiat techs, but most i think just work on all 3 because cars are cars lol

but thier master tech who does fiat just does fiat.. they have another 1 for ford

 

[T14086]

in the past T has always said Mechs move around from car maker to maker at different dealerships

but there are techs who immerse themselves in their job and those that just do it as a job then go home at the end of the day, like any line of work I guess. Also techs are often moved around through no choice of their own,