24 replies to this topic

[Nathan_M]

Hi,

I am starting to wonder whether or not to keep on with this little pain in the rear, its my first car and cost a fair amount from a ford dealer, anyway im up to the 3rd problem in as many months at the moment, first up the Dash cluster went stupid but i fixed that myself ( just unplugged it and replaced) then i thought i might as well get the cam belt changed while on the way to the garage one of the front springs went ping so an extra few quid to that little excursion, anyway now for the third installment yesterday i drove home from work and heard a weird rushing water noise in the passenger foot well as it was dark i decided to just go to bed instead of checking up on this, anyway this morning i forgot and made a journey to college, the sound came back so i parked up and checked under the bonnet to see a coolant reservoir full only just below the minimum mark, so i left from college and went to my local garage where i have worked before and use for everything else, first we inspected for leaks etc and could find none so we filled it up and left it running to see if it was just an air pocket drove it about a mile up the road and back to the garage checked it when we got back and it was still up at max where it should be, im going to check it in the morning when i set off to see if its gone again or not. So what could this be? Water pump,head gasket, or something else? And i also dont know whether or not to complain to the dealer where i originally purchased the car or Ford direct as i dont really think that its a very well made product at only 24500 miles its done nothing mechanically.

Thanks for any ideas.

Edited by Stoney871, 04 February 2013 - 04:59 PM.
naughty words

[alexp999]

Hey and welcome to the forum.

Is the car still under warranty? I would get it straight back to the garage and have them sort out the problems if you can.

[Nathan_M]

Hey and welcome to the forum.
i
Is the car still under warranty? I would get it straight back to the garage and have them sort out the problems if you can.

Thanks nice forums here,

I tell you what its sods law that the warranty finished about 2- 3 weeks ago, and to be honest the warranty offered was 3 months but worth sweet FA they covered hardly anything, i thought i was on to a good thing with this little motor with such a low mileage and its feature set. Wrong again!

[alexp999]

I would still personally go back to the dealer/garage and complain.

You are protected by the Sale of Goods Act and if they start becoming unreasonable, then I would get hold of Citizen's Advice Bureau and start on the road of Trading Standards and enforcing your consumer rights.

Just explain all the problems you have been having since you bought it and see what they say.

[Nathan_M]

I will wait and see if she leaks again or gets low and then i think i might actually get on to them and see what they say, i mean none of the things that have gone so far are little or cheap to be honest, im lucky that the garage i use is reasonable but the springs alone could have been £200 then the dash if it gives up again will be at least £300 i believe, and now its trying to convince itself it doesn't want water in its radiator, would i get anywhere asking if they would buy it back from me or do you think that i should push for some at least discounted repairs?

[alexp999]

I doubt they will take it back willingly, but I see no reason why they can't offer you discounted or free work to bring it up to a reasonable standard.

You loose nothing by asking

[Nathan_M]

I doubt they will take it back willingly, but I see no reason why they can't offer you discounted or free work to bring it up to a reasonable standard.

You loose nothing by asking

I think my rag may be lost, i tried them on the phone once before when it wouldn't start because of the cluster thing, and all i wanted was to talk to a mechanic first off and then how much for a new cluster and was told to talk to a mechanic i must first make an appointment for service and they wanted £80 for diagnostics to see why it wouldn't start something that i already knew well, and then to top it all off they told me it would take 3 weeks to be able to do a diagnostics test because all of their computers were in repair (apparently) i am slowly starting to see where people get the FRAUD nickname from, they are pretty useless, all ruining the experience of this car for me and when its working well its a great little thing i learnt in a mk5 and this is just so much more refined.
If the dealers are useless again would i get anywhere calling Ford direct to see what they have to say, and thanks a bunch for such quick responses Alex,

[alexp999]

Not sure if Ford can really do much once it is outside its 3 year warranty.

I would definitely give Citizen's Advice Bureau a call though, if you still don't get anywhere with the garage. They should be able to tell you exactly where you stand legally, they really helped me when I had a problem with a car a few years ago.

[Nathan_M]

Alright thanks mate, i will see if it leaks again like i said then i will see what outcome is, i try to avoid the dealers as they are 20 odd miles away and its a fair old ride out for huge bill i will wait and see how bad it is, if it does it and its just a water pump or thermostat then i will pay, if its Head gasket then i will be on the phone to them.

Thanks again i will reccomend this forum to some mates.

[Mordey]

If this was a Ford Direct car then it comes with

• Prepared to Ford Standards
• Independently Inspected and Approved by RAC
• 2 Year Unlimited Mileage Warranty
• 2 Year Ford Assistance - roadside recovery
• Ford Insure - 7 Day Driveaway Cover
• National Mileage Register and HPI Checked

http://www.ford.co.u...sed-cars-phrase

• 30-day 'no quibble' Exchange Plan
• Identified by a Tamper Proof Hologram

[btmaldon]

What year is the car?

Chances are the expansion tank cap wasn't done up tight enough and the system wasn't pressurised. If there was a leak, your mechanic should have spotted it. The most common one being the thermostsat housing which normally breaks down after 7 to 10 years due to these being made of plastic.

I doubt you have a head gasket issue. Just to be sure, take the oil cap of the top of the engine. If there is water in the oil you will have a beige/whitish residue in the cap.

Hope you have better luck with it going forward.

[Nathan_M]

Its a 2004/04 as i said only 24,500 miles and mechanically has been fine, no missing or hesitation or the like all things that i would expect with HGF,if its still full up tommorow then i am leaning towards an air pocket that has found its way to the expansion tank and the water has dropped down into the rad, anyway i looked before hand and with him, he did mention he had done a fair few mk6 fiesta water pumps so could be that quite easilly, time will tell, if i remember i will post tommorow as to whether she is topped up still and if not then there will be swearing

[DanGersFord]

I had a slight split in my coolant reservoir and it only leaked when they car had been running for a while/had heated up. Hope this helps. As stated above even though its out of warranty i'd still take it back to the dealer and threaten them with citizens advice if they dont atleast offer discount on the work required to bring th car upto scratch

[Nathan_M]

I had a slight split in my coolant reservoir and it only leaked when they car had been running for a while/had heated up. Hope this helps. As stated above even though its out of warranty i'd still take it back to the dealer and threaten them with citizens advice if they dont atleast offer discount on the work required to bring th car upto scratch

I have seen this and it seems to be a fairly common complaint but it seems to have lost too much coolant to be only this, although the side of the tub has some kind of crack looking artifacts on it and appears slightly mis-shaped from pressure. One thing i have noticed since i have had it though is that the digital temperature gauge on the dash goes from nothing to half way within 5 minutes of starting it up but then doesn't move, today (yesterday now) even when it was missing coolant it didn't raise any higher nor did a low coolant warning light illuminate, i am wondering if the low coolant warning correlates with the minimum line of the resovoir?

[Nathan_M]

Good Morning all,i checked the coolant before I left home and it had fell to between max and min, I topped it up a bit and checked it again when I got to where I am now and it's still full right up so I'm leaning towards a leak of some kind, I have been parking on a steep right to left slope since this happened and I still can't see any dribbles, I will check my oil cap in a bit when I leave again, one thing I did observe was that the return tube didn't seem to be that warm although it was only a mile drive.