Ford Fiesta - Car overheating suddenly and leaking water

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Fri 12 Oct 2012 20:10
Ford Fiesta - Car overheating suddenly and leaking water - Glenn 42

Good evening

I have a four year old Fiesta which has been completely trouble free until tonight. I was driving home and noticed after a few miles the temperature gauge was hitting the red, this morning there was absolutely nothing wrong and the gauge was in the centre. I do recall hitting some object this morning on the road 1 mile from work and I wonder if this has damaged a radiator hose, as the leak seems to be coming from near the radiator.

Is this likely or is this a water pump failure as a few 02-08 Fiestas had this problem, though usually on the earlier models? Any help would be appreciated.

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Fri 12 Oct 2012 20:17
Ford Fiesta - Car overheating suddenly and leaking water - Avant

Moved to Technical.

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Sat 13 Oct 2012 00:13
Ford Fiesta - Car overheating suddenly and leaking water - Peter.N.

If you have a leak in the system it won't initially become noticable, its not until the level drops below the point at which there is not enough coolant to circulate that it will suddenly run hot.

The other cause for that is headgasket failure, this will pressurise the system and blow the coolant out of the overflow/filler cap, when it gets low enough it will overheat.

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Sat 13 Oct 2012 14:38
Ford Fiesta - Car overheating suddenly and leaking water - Glenn 42

I've checked this morning and there is a puddle of water under the car. Hopefully it's a perished hose rather than the headgasket.

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Sun 14 Oct 2012 11:05
Ford Fiesta - Car overheating suddenly and leaking water - Simon
If you hit something in the road then you have most likely damaged something. It won't be a perished hose on a four year old Fiesta. If you have driven the car with the temperature gauge in the red and a lack of water in it, you could have blown your head gasket too.
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Sun 14 Oct 2012 11:19
Ford Fiesta - Car overheating suddenly and leaking water - jonny10buds

Refill the cooling system and run the engine with the bonnet up to see where the water is coming from, rectify the leak and all should be ok unless you drove for a long time in the red which could have done other damage.

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Sun 14 Oct 2012 14:25
Ford Fiesta - Car overheating suddenly and leaking water - Glenn 42

I only drove for a short period with the temperature in the red and stopped before the car really started billowing steam. However, once I filled the water bottle up, it ran OK, but it is definitely leaking water from the bottom of the engine.

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Sun 14 Oct 2012 20:30
Ford Fiesta - Car overheating suddenly and leaking water - ColinMacdonald
Really common for the seal in the thermostat to go replace housing and thermostat if it's the problem
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Mon 15 Oct 2012 13:54
Ford Fiesta - Car overheating suddenly and leaking water - Glenn 42

Garage say it's a split hose, stopping the car before it really overheated probably saved the head gasket. Thank goodness as I have a far smaller bill to pay.

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