Don't forget to check your antifreeze!

[Bailes1992]

Guess who had to replace two core plugs on the KA today!
Was planning a full service, new rocker cover gasket and a gearbox oil change on the Mondeo but the KA had other ideas.

[trufflehunt]

fairly certain my antifreeze/water ratio is OK. However, just to be certain , this morning
siphoned as much coolant as I could from the reservoir, and replaced that with antifreeze.
Just short of a litre.

Also, driving on hillside roads today, where last nights frost hasn't melted in the shaded bits,
re-discovered that ABS isn't much use where there is little or no grip.

Sounds like you got lucky with just needing a couple of core plugs.

[Bailes1992]

It could have been much worse than what it was. I removed the AUX belt and started it up to defrost the block and had to sit there with a hairdryer to defrost the rest.

Found the entire cooling system had a layer of rusty sludge in it which I couldn't shift with plain water alone. May have to try flush it out with some sort of coolant flush.

It's got an antifreeze mix in it now which is the main thing!

[Welly]

I'm a bit surprised you hadn't checked the condition of the aunty-frees before? just that you seem very 'on top' of car maintenance normally......or is that just the mondy? it's an easy thing to overlook though.

I got extra bonus points last week for spotting her-indoors's Astra struggling to turn over so I hot-footed it down to Parkers for a sparkly new £54.00 extra-sh*t battery and whacked it straight on without a passing thought of electrical capers (there were none).

[Bailes1992]

It was me being lazy more than anything.

All through the year it had a cracked thermostat housing so every week we topped the coolant up with around a litre of water.

I changed the thermostat housing about 2 months ago but wanted to ensure the leak was fixed prior to filling it back up with antifreeze.

The leak was fixed but I never actually got around to replacing the coolant.

[Welly]

Oh I see you kinda diluted the coolant each week....

[steve_earwig]

We had a van like that at work, it kept loosing coolant, we kept topping it up with water. When it got cold the heater matrix froze up but hey, it still worked so we still had to use it.

[Rolebama]

A friend decided to service his Fiesta over the holiday, and when he removed the air filter box, he found large mounds of grunge where his top core plugs should be. Panic to get hold of replacements before his holiday ended.

[Bailes1992]

Replacing the core plugs was easy. Popped a hole in the old one with a drill and just prised it out with a large screwdriver.
Popped some silicone sealant around the new one and found a socket that fit inside the core plug happily and tapped it into the block.
Hardest part was having to remove the fuel rail, injectors, throttle body and inlet manifold to get at them!

[runner1]

Replacing the core plugs was easy. Popped a hole in the old one with a drill and just prised it out with a large screwdriver.
Popped some silicone sealant around the new one and found a socket that fit inside the core plug happily and tapped it into the block.
Hardest part was having to remove the fuel rail, injectors, throttle body and inlet manifold to get at them!

How did you remove the inlet manifold if I can ask? I have got to do a core plug behind there somewhere :-(

[steve_earwig]

That was on a Ford, so a chainsaw would probably do the trick....

Not sure I like the sound of "somewhere", Jesus H, looks like there are 16 of them Would a boreascope help find the culprit? I notice they do them to fit in a mobile these days.

[PeterN]

Lack of antifreeze is probably the most common cause of head gasket failure on high mileage engines.

Peter