Hi guys new to joining this forum and just looking for some advice really. I bought a 2003 fiesta back in April (first car), it had the EML light on which turned out to be the lambda sensor after reading the codes. I planned on getting this replaced & i also noticed later on it was suffering a coolant leak, I was told by a friend that it was probably the thermostat housing & would need replacing. Money has been a bit tight lately so I havent had these repairs done yet. All was fine & I was monitoring the coolant so if it got low I topped it back up. Went out a couple of days ago and noticed a judder, loss in power & eml flashing then going solid again. Up on inspecting the engine I removed the HT leads and noticed some water in well number 1 (looks to be rain due to the dodgy washer jets) then well 2 was like 3/4 full of coolant. Doing a google brought up the horror of a cracked head gasket however my oil is fine (not milky), no smoke from the exhaust so I'm wondering could this be the core plugs? I'm just thinking more of I'd rather get those done than be hit with a HG replacement. Can it still be cracked even though the oil is fine & no smoke from the exhaust?

 

Many thanks for any info on this.

Dan.

Carry out a compression test to see if there down,you can get a crack from combustion to coolant but then again your hoses would be solid in this case,if you had white smoke out of exhasut that would be coolant to combustion chamber and if blue smoke oil into combustion chamber and if coolant to oil then yes white gunge...Lamba remove clean replace,this can cuse missfiring issues via ecu not getting a correct signal,then again plugs breaking down ht leads broken etc.Thermostat may of gone what is your running temp gauge say?

10 hours ago, Gazcaz said:

Carry out a compression test to see if there down,you can get a crack from combustion to coolant but then again your hoses would be solid in this case,if you had white smoke out of exhasut that would be coolant to combustion chamber and if blue smoke oil into combustion chamber and if coolant to oil then yes white gunge...Lamba remove clean replace,this can cuse missfiring issues via ecu not getting a correct signal,then again plugs breaking down ht leads broken etc.Thermostat may of gone what is your running temp gauge say?

Thanks for the reply Gazcaz :).

Temp has always been fine (never high on the gauge) i'm not that clued up with car engines (pressure testing etc) lol. The coolant leak issue seemed to only go down under pressure (no leaks under car) so I just watched it & topped up when needed all was fine. The judder & misfire was just out of the blue. I got all the coolant out of the spark plug well & then put everything back & seemed to run better but as soon as you accelerate you can feel the misfire happen. Now getting a litle smoke from exhaust when the car hits operating temp but still no high temp on the gauge though its always been in the norm level. The car was only a cheap runabout as it was my first car so I'm looking at giving a gasket sealant a go if it fails I may just have to scrap it. Can't afford head replacement & couldnt even try to DIY as I don't have the tools :(.

 

Many thanks, Dan.

Okay get the bright green stuff if your going to use that ...

But make sure you completely flush out all red coolant otherwise it will turn to gel with head sealers.