Fiesta 1.6tdci zetec s coolant leak

[Reynoso23]

Hey,

basically ive recently bought a 59 fiesta zetec, 1.6tdci. It's done 75000 miles. Noticed the coolant was low, I topped it up, went for a 40 minute drive and it had dropped right down again. Took it to a garage, they tested it and said the thermostat housing needs replacing so I got that done. Drove it again, next day checked it, still leaking. Took it back down there and they did the chemical test to check the head gasket, he had the engine running for a good 10 minutes and the colour of the chemical get ever so slightly lighter. They quoted me 800-900 for the head gasket. I've rang up two other garages who both said they cant believe the head gasket has gone so early and that because the only symptom is coolant leaking they don't think it's the hg. One garage mentioned it might be the egr but I have no idea about this. Does anyone have any opinions? Does it sound like a hg? There's no white smoke, no oil with the coolant or visa versa, no bubbles on the coolant, engine runs fine, no misfire or anything like that. 

Any help would be very much appreciated

[jbell]

Are you sure there's no white smoke? My tdci only showed it on cold+wet days, where it would kick out a giant smokescreen covering half the street. 

I had 2 different garages have a look and didn't get a resolution to my slow leak, so I ditched it for a 125 ecoboost, haven't looked back since :) 

Things to try if not already done - replace coolant cap, drip test with cardboard, check exhaust pipe for coolant, pressure or dye test for hg

Hg failure is meant to be very rare on fiestas

[Reynoso23]

Yeah, I haven't seen any white smoke from the exhaust at all, it smelt a little funny when it first started up but after it got warm smelt like a normal diesel. 

 

Ok cheers, it's currently in another garage and they're testing the egr cooler, although I've heard this usually always causes white smoke if it's leaking. 

Hoping it's not the hg, the garage told me when a hg on a diesel goes it usually runs rough  which mine isn't, don't know how true that is.