Hi all,

I have a Ford Focus 2019 1.0 ecoboast and have noticed coolant levels occasionally dropping. I've had to top it up twice in last 9 months. I top it up between max and min and on both occasions would say I've had to add about 100 to 150ml of coolant.

It's a bit of a weird one. After driving on long journeys for over 2 hours, coolant levels have been fine. But I can only assume, when the air conditioning is used for a prolonged period on high to max, the coolant levels drop below min. No obvious pools of water under car or anything like that.

Temperature gauge on car is always balanced. I'm pretty sure gasket is fine as smoke from exhaust isn't that visible. 

Any ideas what may be going on here and what I can check? Car has been annually serviced by Ford and is going to be fully serviced again next month at an independent garage. (I've sourced the correct oil for that service)! 

Thanks in advance! 

Darren 

I think if it is around 200ml it is supposed to be normal decrease.

Ah right interesting, didn't realise that, thanks Bol

Yes especially when you run the car on very long distance or high speeds and on high temperature days.

You need to investigate where the leak is happening.

The A/C has nothing to do with it, they are separate systems

My two sons have had ecoboosts for the past 5 years.  Over this time we've not had to add a single drop of coolant (that is, of course, until I changed the timing belt in one of them and it now seems to be consuming coolant.....but that is another story altogether..)

UW

On 9/24/2024 at 9:21 AM, DaveT70 said:

You need to investigate where the leak is happening.

The A/C has nothing to do with it, they are separate systems

Thanks Dave. Do you have any ideas why it may be intermittent? I checked quite regularly after I first topped it up after long and short journeys and it was fine for a couple of months so I stopped checking. Just rediscovered it was below min again recently. I have been checking when engine has cooled too.

Update: Car fully serviced today and garage could find no coolant leak anywhere...Strange one and something I will need to keep on monitoring. Anyone got any ideas what else it may be? Read about air blockages. How do they manifest themselves and how can you cure them? Thanks! 

Just to give you somewhere else to check - I had a similar problem myself (on my Mk3). Paid a main dealer to look for leaks who said there were none. Eventually found it myself, in the engine bay where the hoses to the heater matrix go through the firewall. One of them was dripping down the fabric against the firewall.

Wasn't easy to find or see, but running a paper towel around the hoses and joins, then inspection mirror did the job.

 

4 hours ago, BMNZ said:

Just to give you somewhere else to check - I had a similar problem myself (on my Mk3). Paid a main dealer to look for leaks who said there were none. Eventually found it myself, in the engine bay where the hoses to the heater matrix go through the firewall. One of them was dripping down the fabric against the firewall.

Wasn't easy to find or see, but running a paper towel around the hoses and joins, then inspection mirror did the job.

 

Thanks for that I'll check there. Just odd how it's intermittent, makes it harder to check. Hasn't dropped since I last posted, weird one!