Complete car novice with a Coolant question

[BB68]

I have no idea about anything cars so I figured I'd ask here. Is this the coolant in the sport? I have been having heat issues where the heat is either not working at all or taking forever to warm up. It was so much so that I made a post about it elsewhere on this forum. I popped the hood today and saw that this container is bone dry which is ridiculous since I just had an oil change in July. I was going to run out and get coolant today but just wanted to double check that this is, in fact, the coolant container. Thanks all.

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[dakman]

Yes that's it

 

[Meanderthal]

That is the coolant reservoir, however if it is low/empty you might have a bigger issue to be concerned about. A few others have had leaking water pumps on the 1.5L. You probably need to have this checked out. Adding coolant should certainly be the first step.

 

[BB68]

Thanks. Was reading about this issue as well. Ugh.

 

[wireman]

Do yuo have any coolant on the ground under the vehicle? Is the splash guard wet?

 

[Meanderthal]

Do yuo have any coolant on the ground under the vehicle? Is the splash guard wet?

That is how you would think to diagnose a coolant leak, but in many cases talked about here the leak is slow enough that there aren't really any external signs because it evaporates before it leaves the block. Several have reported bad water pumps without ever seeing any fluid.

 

[wireman]

10-4 I figured since he’s a novice it’s some place to start in case it’s leaking a lot.

 

[BB68]

Do yuo have any coolant on the ground under the vehicle? Is the splash guard wet?

No I haven't noticed anything outside of maybe a little drip here and there from the AC

 

[thomasm23]

I have no idea about anything cars so I figured I'd ask here. Is this the coolant in the sport? I have been having heat issues where the heat is either not working at all or taking forever to warm up. It was so much so that I made a post about it elsewhere on this forum. I popped the hood today and saw that this container is bone dry which is ridiculous since I just had an oil change in July. I was going to run out and get coolant today but just wanted to double check that this is, in fact, the coolant container. Thanks all.

Make sure you add the correct coolant.

I was having to top off the coolant in the past, but have not had to add any recently. If the reservoir is empty, you probably have a bad water pump. However, the coolant maybe being sucked into a combustion chamber through a bad head gasket.

The leaking water pumps are a known issue.

 

[wireman]

I would take dated photos of the reservoir to record any coolant loss if you have to go to the dealer for warranty work.

 

[BB68]

Good idea. I'll do that. Thanks.

 

[BB68]

Make sure you add the correct coolant.

Yes, thanks. I ordered the stuff from the manual.

 

[RSH]

If its still under warranty I would take it to the dealer, they can pressurize the cooling system and should be able to diagnose where the leak is fairly quickly. As said, it likely has either an external or internal leak. A number of 1.5's have had leaking water pumps.
You can also pull the oil dipstick and check that the oil doesnt look like chocolate milk, which could mean an internal leak to help rule that out.
Unless the system was not completely bleed at the factory (unlikely) and had an air bubble that was finanlly expelled allowing the coolant back into the system therefore emtying the coolant resovoir. Ive seen that happen multiple times but not typically from the factory.

 

[Leeford]

I bet it's the water pump. Same happened to me. NEVER identified with the Ford oil change with the FULLY service. Wasn't happy that I accidently saw the reservoir low. They assessed the pump and determined that there was a leak. Replace, no lose of fluid since. BTW, never saw any leaks.

 

[ZQ8]

Water pump !

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