Good moning folks.

I bought a 2000 w reg Fabia 1.9 sdi about 2 weeks ago and in the last week it has developed a coolant leak. When I stop the car I can see contant drips from the underside of the car coming from about the middle of the car but this seems to be runnig from somewhere in the engine bay down into the underside of the car. The leak itself appears to be coming from where the coolant pipes go into the bulkhead/heater matrix but there is no water inside the car and the heaters are fine. Has anyone had a problem like this. When i searched the forum there are lots of faults with heater matrixes however this usually results in water inside the car. There is a funny ticking noise coming from the car too which started about the same time as the coolant leak, it sounds almost like I have run over a nail when I am driving. I dont know if this is connected.

Any ideas folks before I have to take it to a dealer.

Thanks

Jon

Good moning folks.

I bought a 2000 w reg Fabia 1.9 sdi about 2 weeks ago and in the last week it has developed a coolant leak. When I stop the car I can see contant drips from the underside of the car coming from about the middle of the car but this seems to be runnig from somewhere in the engine bay down into the underside of the car. The leak itself appears to be coming from where the coolant pipes go into the bulkhead/heater matrix but there is no water inside the car and the heaters are fine. Has anyone had a problem like this. When i searched the forum there are lots of faults with heater matrixes however this usually results in water inside the car. There is a funny ticking noise coming from the car too which started about the same time as the coolant leak, it sounds almost like I have run over a nail when I am driving. I dont know if this is connected.

Any ideas folks before I have to take it to a dealer.

Thanks

Jon

Hi Jon

Are you sure its coolant ! are you loosing fluid from the tank?

Have you got Air con ? if so I suspect it then condensation from that

Radiotwo

No its definitley bright pink coolant and the tank is losing water everyday which needs topping up. As I said it seems as if it is coming from the 2 pipes that go into the bulk head behind the inlet manifold but its really difficult to see. There is no water in the car so I wondered if it was maybe the connection between the coolant pipes and the heater matrix but cant see.

So really you have already found the leak in the heater hoses, or more likely the hose joints/clips. A car this age would be needing new heater hoses, they are not easy to get to but you'll have to change them.

So really you have already found the leak in the heater hoses, or more likely the hose joints/clips. A car this age would be needing new heater hoses, they are not easy to get to but you'll have to change them.

I just wanted confirmation that this may be a common problem or it there is maybe a gaskit or something there that is common to failing on a car of this age, just before I go ordering parts and ripping things out.

I would think they connect onto the heater matrix with the usual jubilee clips. After a number of years the rubber hose ends expand and contract and thin around the joint on the heater matrix pipes, consequently the clips loosen and then leak.

The matrix may be leaking but the only way to find out is to take it out.