Warning light on dash this morning: “coolant level low – check and top up etc.” Sure enough a quick look under the bonnet revealed it was VERY low… way below the minimum mark. I should have been checking it as part of routibe maintenance but didn’t.. (it doesn’t even have a dipstick so I check oil from drivers seat and it’s long life service so never been in to garbage… is my excuse)

It’s all topped up now and warning lights gone but I’ve never owned a car that “used” coolant and over a litre to get it back to optimum feels like a lot… this was a brand new 135i in September 15 that has only covered 12.5k miles. Has anyone owned a car that went through coolant?

I needed the car for work quickly so just sorted it but thinking I should get it checked out under warranty for leaks as it seems excessive? Any car coolant pros in?!

Cheers

If it’s under warranty get it checked. Coolant levels shouldn’t drop as it’s a sealed system.

Sounds like an actual fault – probably just a weeping hose or perhaps a faulty expansion tank cap. I’ve not seen modern engines use very much at all through their entire life.

Yes get it checked under warranty. I have a 118i and there’s a known problem with a coolant hose junction that’s at the back of the engine. It requires part removal of the gearbox to replace, so costs £650 to fix. Mine was just out of warranty, so complained like hell and got a big discount. I’m not saying it’s this, but get it checked in case it might bite later. You have a reasonably different engine to me, but still could have the same layout. pm if you need more info.

Not that rare in older cars but hardly common. On a new car under warranty it’s certainly worth checking. A quick peek into the oil filler cap for mayonnaise just in case, too

The only time my 12 year old Focus loses coolant is when the thermostat housing gives up the ghost and starts leaking. Replacing it solves the issue for another few years. There’s no way a nearly new car should be using that much coolant without a leak somewhere.

Be wary: One of my old cars cooked and seized the engine because the reservoir bottle cap had warped, causing coolant to be boiled off. The dealer replaced the engine under warranty, but it was a bit of an inconvenience when I was driving to Heathrow at 4am to catch a plane to Italy on business.

Thanks GQ and HF – it is a bit much so I’ll just go ahead and book it in.

Adam – that’s interesting as I’ve just been reading on the BMW forums about some problems on the 1 series of coolant issues causing a problem with the autobox..

Thanks all – deffo gonna ring the dealer tomorrow and get it looked at ASAP. Will check for mayo on back of oil cap while wincing behind sofa..

Could be a leak but then again my past three cars have all needed a coolant top up in winter

Hmm interesting – the coolant capacity for the car is stated at 6.7 litres so 1 litre does seem like a fair chunk of that..

The problem is that you don’t know if it was 1 litre in 12.5k miles or 1 litre in 12 miles, keep checking it every week at least

I’ve owned my ’51 Octavia for eleven years, second owner, and AFAIK it’s only ever had the coolant changed once, I don’t recall even topping it up. Even the oil only gets topped up every six months or so; in fact I think I need a new bottle of oil, the one I bought when I got the car has nearly run out, that’s one of those large 5ltr ones.
On the other hand it swallows 5ltrs of water every time I fill the washer bottle…

The problem is that you don’t know if it was 1 litre in 12.5k miles or 1 litre in 12 miles, keep checking it every week at least

But
[list]a)They don’t know that – it’d be perfectly reasonable to take it in saying I have to keep topping this up all the time.
b)It’s a lot (too much?) either way[/list]

The problem is that you don’t know if it was 1 litre in 12.5k miles or 1 litre in 12 miles, keep checking it every week at least

The fact it has dropped at all is a concern – it shouldn’t use any coolant.

Did you top up with just water or anti-freeze?

played it safe and bought some BMW coolant from the local dealer (not the one I bought it from) and it said to mix 1:1. Gonna ring the dealer I bought it from tomorrow when I have a bit more time

Good move, should be fine in the short term and you do right getting it checked.

Mine uses a litre of coolant a week.
It has a leak.. luckily not the head gasket.

Oddly enough my brand new Focus did exactly the same thing in its first few weeks, coolant level dropped below the minimum mark. I topped it up and it’s never done it again. No idea why.

My 20 year old Volvo doesn’t use a drop either. Although it did once split a heater hose so I had clouds of steam coming out of the back of the car which was quite worrying until I found the problem!

The new focus might have just had a small airlock and once thats cleared you top it up and job done.

My 07 focus has started doing this. A litre or so every couple of months. How easy is it to track down the source of the problem?

Sister in laws new Evoque also required coolant top ups then dumped its coolant on the M1 suddenly.

It transpires the landrover factory builds are still iffy – combination of hose not on properly and zip ties not cut short properly = movement = rubbing = cut hose in a year.

Oh dear.. Mayo under oil cap.. Not loads but some. This is not looking good.

My Fiesta started using a bit of coolant and I noticed the top of the gearbox was wet, turns out it was only the seal on the thermostat housing.

Only took an hour to fix and its was still on lease then so didn’t cost me anything but it should only be a cheap part and an hours labour at worst.

Apart from that incident, it’s never used any coolant or oil in 110,000 miles

The problem is that you don’t know if it was 1 litre in 12.5k miles or 1 litre in 12 miles, keep checking it every week at least [/I]

I’d be checking it everytime I drove the car…

Nothing like a dry system to totally ruin a good engine.

martinhutch – my ’05 Fiesta started doing that, it was down to the crap plastic Ford use for the coolant reservoir going brittle and hairline cracks forming on the underside (so hard to spot) that opened when it got hot enough to switch the fan on. Standard problem with most Fords of that age apparently, my mate’s ’06 Galaxy did it too. Might be worth a look as the reservoirs are cheap to replace.

Mayo under the cap not necessarily head gasket, at this time of year the engine sometimes doesn’t get up to a decent running temperature, especially if doing short runs, and any water in the oil didn’t get the chance to evaporate properly from the oil.

Cheers Milky.

As above have not put water/coolant in a car for decades. Get the garage to look at it under warranty. My days of Radweld on old Mini / Cortina are but a distant memory.

It *may* have just been an airlock in the system that worked itself out, and when you top it up , it’ll never lose coolant again.

Or it may be sign of a problem, I wouldnt worry too much about a little mayo on the oil cap at this time of year.

Definitely take it in to dealer and get it looked at under warranty.

I have the same car (m135), and (as you would expect for any car), its not needed any coolant top ups in 3 years/31000 miles.

My new Passat B7 did this. There was some story and the dealer fixed it, can’t remember what but apparently it was normal on that model. Something to do with the coolant being filled at the factory with an air lock in the system?

But smelly mayo under the oil cap is cause for worry.

Thanks for the replies all. Car now at dealership getting checked over. They didn’t even have a courtesy car for me (despite not being able to get bloody parked for cars!).. if it has to stay overnight I shall be demanding an M4..

My coolant leak is fixed, but they also replaced a lambda sensor at the same time. The warning light came back on after 100 miles of driving. They’re talking about replacing the ECU (£1000 part!). Funny how they didn’t have a courtesy car for me either. I work in auto R&D, so this sort of ‘debug’ really annoys me.