Hi everyone,

this is my first post, and naturally is a question which may sound a ridiculous one! My felicia 1.6 GLX has just started leaking coolant - about half the reservoir in a 24 hour period - but other than the large patch of damp under the front bumper, I can't spot an obvious hole anywhere. There's been no off-roading, but some country roads in the past few months. It's a 1996 model, so is at the age where parts are decaying (living near the sea doesn't help with the bodywork!). Has anyone else suffered the same problem? Does this sound like a welding job? Any pointers would be gratefully received!

has it been overheating at all?

have you had the anti-freeze changed recently??

does the temp gauge work?

doesnt sound like a welding job to me, welding would be for bodywork rust not leaking coolant.

You really need to pin point where the leak is coming from, it might help to place an old towel or something under the car for an hour and come back to find out where exactly where the drip is coming from. hopefully after just an hour the wet patch will be small enough to get an accurate idea of where the water is.

Really need to know where the water is in relation to the engine bay before we can even start to guess whats leaking.

It might be leaking more when running, it might be a rubber hose preishing, it could bne a jubilee clip loosened slightly, it could be a failing gasket, heater matrix's are common failures, really need an idea of where the water is to start guessing whats wrong.

Thanks for responding so quickly! I've taken a closer look following the 'towel on the ground', and it looks like the seam has split in a couple of places underneath where the metal is corroding. I can see where the drips are underneath, but there is nothing within or under the engine bay. Bizarrely, the rate of coolant loss has dramatically reduced - there has been very little overnight, and even when I took it out briefly to check about overheating in normal traffic (rather than rush hour, where it did), the dripping is nominal. The clips and pipework seem ok, and the fan is running fine (I replaced the temp gauge in the summer when that went).