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changed my thermostat few weeks ago as my cooland light kept coming on every few weeks and its come on again tonight, are the coolant indicator sensors known for being dodgy or have i got another problem with a leak?
ive also got water leaking into passenger footwell from the heater somewhere, is this related or seperate? the water on the floor doesnt smell like coolant from the engine, it has no odour

read on here about the bottow radiator hose or something is prone to leaking?

Ive never had my bottom rad hose leak so I cant give any special advice on that issue, other than go underneath your car and give it a close examination. Jason it may be possible that when you refilled the system it took less to fill than you removed from it in the first place. This happened me when I changed my thermostat a few weeks back, however I was careful enough to take note of how much coolant was flushed out and knew straight away that the system was not ful even though the expansion tank would not take any more coolant. A good run on the motorway and sure enough I had to top it by the difference.
Even if this were the case Id still be worried about your previous problem of losing coolant. Have you gone under the car and checked around the bottom of the cam belt for a possible water pump leak? Is there any signs of a creamy type substance when you remove the oil filler cap on the engine?

i was thinking this but ive been driving the car for 2 weeks or more and would have thought the coolant level would have settled sooner than this, ive got a brown sludge in my oil cap but i read this is from condensation etc and not likely to be gasket? havent really checked round the radiator and pump, i was hoping it would be the thermostat so i changed that and thought id cured it, ill have a look at the weekend.

jason1987 wrote:changed my thermostat few weeks ago as my cooland light kept coming on every few weeks and its come on again tonight, are the coolant indicator sensors known for being dodgy or have i got another problem with a leak?
ive also got water leaking into passenger footwell from the heater somewhere, is this related or seperate? the water on the floor doesnt smell like coolant from the engine, it has no odour

the water in the passenger footwell is coming from your heater matrix thats where ur water is going have u checked your expansion tank to see how much water is in there and thats where the water light sensor is its on top of the tank its nothink to do with the thermostat i hope this helps

Sludge is always due to condensation, the question is what is causing the condensation? If you're driving the car fairly regularly and getting the engine up to proper temp and giving it good regular spins then i'd be very worried about that sludge. It is known for sludge to be present due to condensation from the air but as far as I know this would generally only occur in cars which are'nt driven regularly. Jason I'm not a mechanic (just a diy'er) so im open to correction on all of the advice i've given you but at any rate you need to start with checking the basics first ie the hoses, rad, water pump. If you dont find the leak in any of the obvious places then my only advice is to go and get a garage to perform a pressure test on the cooling system. As regards the headgasket, im fairly sure you can buy a testing kit from most motor factors. Ive never had the pleasure of needing one before so im not sure how reliable they are or how much they cost.

jason1987 wrote:changed my thermostat few weeks ago as my cooland light kept coming on every few weeks and its come on again tonight, are the coolant indicator sensors known for being dodgy or have i got another problem with a leak?
ive also got water leaking into passenger footwell from the heater somewhere, is this related or seperate? the water on the floor doesnt smell like coolant from the engine, it has no odour

the six million dollar question
did you check the level before changing the parts?

to be honest i cant see that changing the thermostat would solve your proplem,if the themostat was leaking,engine running cold/hot then yes but these wernt your symptons.

you say you have water in the passenger footwell are you just guessing its comeing from the heater or do you have proof? does your car have a sunroof?