Hey Guys,

I was got home from Ikea on Friday and noticed a loud bubbling/hissing noise coming from the engine. I opened her up and seen the coolant expansion tank boiling. I let it cool down and noticed that the tank was full of brown gunk. The car was also running slighty rough although the Engine temp light never came on during the drive. I also noticed some of this brown oil/coolant mix near the belts indicating a leak. The dipstick and oil cap were clean however and had no traces of coolant.

Sounds like the dreaded HGF after only 47,000 km. Unless the oil and coolant could mix somewhere other than the head? Someone suggested it might be an oil cooler or transmission oil leak.

Going to compression test the engine first.

Any ideas?

The system is overheating - does the cooling fan cut in ?

Yeah the cooling fan is cut in when i tested it this morning along with the temp light. I shut down the engine and let it cool.

The brown gunk is probably rusty water & is not unusual - more worrying is why is the system overheating - especially as the cooling fan is operational ?

I'd drain the system & refill with correct coolant mix & replace the thermostat to begin with

That leak must be also fixed

I hate to break it to you mate....

It's the curse of IKEA, I kid you not, same thing happened to my French lump (Saxo)

Common causes are;

Too much flat pack furniture

Too many Swedish meatballs

Too long away from vehicle (4hrs +)

I found all three to be true in my experience. Woooops!

In all seriousness hope it isn't the head, but as above flush everything out first and look for any leaks.

Keep us posted!

Sent from my iPhone using Ford OC

Haha yeah things you do to keep the Missus happy. Visiting Ikea Friday night as well, how depressing is that!

Well it is HGF, $600.00. Hopefully the head doesn't need machined but if it does then the price will be heading north.