Hi everyone, I was wondering if I could have a bit of advice. I have a 52 reg Ford Focus 1.8 TDCi Ghia and recently it has cut out twice due to it over heating. I put some water in the water bottle leading to the radiator and it ran fine for a couple of days. Now for some reason the water bottle is continuously empty but I don't know where the water is going. Also white smoke is coming from the exhaust and the temperature gauge pointer only moves half way up the gauge. I would be grateful for any advice given. Many thanks.
Liz
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I'm no expert so i could be wrong but blown head gasket?
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Certainly sounds like head gasket.
Get it tested and confirmed by garage and then re[aired if it is b4 driving it much more.
More driving may do more damage.
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Thanks. I sort of had a feeling it might be the head gasket but needed someone else to confirm it for me. Do you know if it's all that expensive to repair? I'm not to sure about these things.
Regards.
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Unfortunately, yes it is pretty expensive. I can't quote any exact prices (as i said in my previous post I'm no expert) but probably at least £400?
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Oh, I see. Better start saving then. :(
Thanks :)
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Never done 1 of these but "book" time is 6 hours + parts so depending on your choice of garage I would expect between £ 250 - £ 500 + parts .
Get couple of quotes 1st
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Thanks I will do that.
Regards.
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May be worth considering having the cam belt changed at the same time whilst the engine is in bits.
Also ensure they flush out both the oil system and water system, refill with new engine oil + new oil filter, fresh water+anti-freeze collant throughout.
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Yes, I agree. It would be crazy not to have the cam belt and all the bits replaced while having such a major strip-down.
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Hi,
We bought the car last Novemer and we put it through a service and had a new timing belt fitted. It cost £329 at the time, so is the cam belt and timing belt the same thing? I'm totally clueless when it comes to cars.
Also, does anyone know if there are other things that could possibly go wrong with it or is a Focus normaly a reliable car?
Regards
Liz
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Hi We bought the car last Novemer and we put it through a service and had a new timing belt fitted. It cost £329 at the time so is the cam belt and timing belt the same thing?>>
Yes.
Also does anyone know if there are other things that could possibly go wrong with it or is a Focus normaly a reliable car?
It is normally a very reliable car, is it under warranty?
Sounds like it initially cut out due to over heating, I am afraid to say that ignoring this warning and presumably the temp gauge and then carrying on driving has perhaps made something simple like a failed fan relay, or minor water leak into a major job, nevertheless it may be covered by warranty.
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If it is not the cylinder head gasket, it may be a water jacket that exhaust gases run thro', situated somewhere behind the engine on the exhaust system. It is something to do with the emmesions control system. My Focus started losing water and belching out steam when first started. The steam stopped after a few minutes. Apparantly an overnight internal leak was evaporated as soon as the exhaust got hot, hence the steam. I think the part cost approximately £180 and took about 2 hours to fit.
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Boumph may have hit on the problem - an "EGR cooler" would have exhaust gases and coolant passing through it.
If fitted (and I am not sure it would be unless a high power variant) this would be what i would check out first.
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Thanks a lot, I will definitly look into that. I don't want to be paying for the head gasket to be fixed, and it might not be that after all.
Regards
Liz
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