2003 Ford Ka Problem with 53 plate 2003 StreetKa Luxury (te

Tiny
DAVE2010
  • MEMBER
  • 2003 FORD KA
  • 4 CYL
  • FWD
  • MANUAL
  • 50,000 MILES
Yesterday after driving approx 40 miles the oil temperature light came on. As I was unable to stop the car I crept the car the remaining 5 or so miles home. When the car had chance to cool off I checked the oil and water levels the oil was low so I put a Litre in it, and it also took on over 2 litres of water. The next day (today) everything seemed ok however after driving approx 5 miles and parking I noticed there was a water leak, the car was left for half an hr and proceeded to leave a small pool of water, however after looking at the water level it was still between the min max level and the water leak was obviously nothing more than a few drops. I then drove the car to the nearest garage approx 5 miles there was no noticible difference to the drive of the car, and no oil temp light, however just as I approached the garage a small amount of steam was leaving the bonnet. The guy at the garage had it up on the ramp and said that the radiator was not leaking but it would need to be checked by a ford mechanic as the radiator appeared to be forcing water out? On the journey home there was no steam and the car drove fine however the temp light returned and there was a noticible smell coming from the car, at this point I decided to pull over and leave the car. Any advice would be much appreciated apologies for the longwinded story.
Sunday, June 20th, 2010 AT 7:58 AM

2 Replies

Tiny
MHPAUTOS
  • MECHANIC
  • 31,937 POSTS
Hi there,

On initial inspection the mechanic should have conducted a cooling system pressure test, this will locate any external coolant leaks, you don't have to be a Ford mechanic to do this simple test.

Mark (mhpautos)
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Sunday, June 20th, 2010 AT 8:04 AM
Tiny
DAVE2010
  • MEMBER
  • 2 POSTS
Hi thanks for the quick response I should have mentioned that the garage I took it too was mainly a m.O.T service depot (tires / exhausts etc) I took it there because it was close and figured they could get it up on the ramp to see if the radiator had a hole in it. I have it booked in with a mechanic tomorrow to give it a good look at. The reason I wanted any input here is because im worried about the drive tomorrow its about 6 miles from where ive left the car. I figure the best option is to check the water level tomorrow morning then drive slowly to the garage, if the oil temp light comes back I will just have to pull over and wait till the engine cools enough to carry on. I personally think that the problem has come from the car running low on oil which has caused the radiator to over heat taking the level of coolant to such a low level that a pocket of air has become trapped this is now forcing the coolant back out and therefore causing the engine to overheat. However I am the first to admit I know very little about cars / engineering.
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Sunday, June 20th, 2010 AT 8:14 AM

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