Hi all, just gota Skoda Fabia 1.4 2000,  Had it a month now and it seems every week I have to top up the coolant tank, there seems to be brownish liquid under the coolant tank, which im guessing is just from the age of the car and how old the coolant tank is.  Te car seems to run fine, no smoke from the exhaust, and no signs of mayo like build on the oil.  Any suggestions as how to identify if it's just a leak and whether the brownish liquid is a problem?  cheers guys

mine did tho turns out it was the head gasket cause I found no leaks

Have you spotted any water under the car? The radiators tend to leak at the bottom corner when they age. Worth checking. There shouldn't be anything leaking out of the header tank either. You can get a genuine new one for about £15.

Is it common for fabia radiators to leak from the bottom corner ? My vrs is in the garage today getting a cv boot done. I've asked the mechanic to  cast his eye over the radiator whilst he has it on the four poster as I've noticed a coolant drip coming from the near side. I was hoping it was just a hose that needed re securing

Can be radiator itself, or can be the thermoswitch leaking where it seals onto the plastic of the radiator.

Just successfully cured a leak on my Polo by tightening the thermoswitch a tad (up to it's 35Nm spec). Needs a deep 29mm socket to do this though, and access may not be that easy. I just managed it from above, almost certainly easier from below.

Hope its just the thermo switch then as wino said it could be. I've heard that to change the rad it's  quite labour intensive.

Update, radiators shagged. Anyone got any idea what price I should expect to pay? I understand it's laborious job.