Hello everyone. First time caller! I drive a 61 plate Focus 1.6, 42000 miles and last week it broke down. The warning display stated 'engine malfunction service soon' (or similiar) followed by a warning the car was overheating. I looked under the bonnet and noticed the coolant reservoir was totally empty. Called Greenflag who refilled resevoir and ran engine to see if there was any leak of which we could see none, making us fear it maybe the head gasket. Towed to local Ford dealership who have ran a diagnostic test and identified it as a heater matrix failure. Admittedly the windscreen has been developing a strange dense mist from bottom of screen to about five inches in height, almost in a straight line, which could only be removed by switching on the air con and this has been occurring for some weeks, which I've put down to early starts and the cold mornings that come with them.

What puzzles me is that the carpets show no sign of water damage as you would expect nor has there been a sweet smell of antifreeze, although there have been blasts of 'musty-ness' from the vents on rare occasions, but which have gone as soon as they've appeared. Can you still get heater matrix failure without this kind of damage? Am I being unduly worried that it could be a wrong diagnosis?

Levels are checked once a fortnight so coolant loss was fairly rapid, oil looks clean and no sign of smoking exhaust so is my fear of head gasket failure also unwarranted? I assume the dealership would have looked at that as a possible cause.

Any help much appreciated.

the top of the carpet may not be wet , but the underlay under could be soaking up the coolant, the carpet needs pulling up to see.