I've got a 1.4 16v petrol fabia, 55000 miles.

I have noticed today that the coolant has dropped to about 1cm below the min mark. Last time I checked it would have been about 2 weeks ago - presumably, I would've noticed if it was below, so I imagine that at worst it was at the low end of normal. The car has done ~5500 miles (6 months) since last service.

Is this a significant loss? I cannot readily see any leaks, the colour of the coolant is nice and pink, and there appears to be no oil in the coolant. There is no mayo under the oil filler cap, and I've had a quick look at the side of the engine block, and I can't see any there (although it's difficult to visualise the head gasket because of the engine cover and current lack of torch!). The engine temperature gauge has been reading normally, although there was one day last week where it didn't hit the absolute centre of the middle mark, being a fraction low (which is unusual, as it is usually bang on the middle).

At the same time, consistently since the last service, the oil has very slowly gone down - now to the low 1/4 of normal range. I was going to do an oil change today as routine, but will probably sort the coolant first.

What's the best plan?

1) Top up with G12+ and watch it closely

2) Drop it into the dealer (car still under skoda used warranty, so presumably would not cost me, but would be a pain in the ar$e)

Appreciate any of your thoughts.

Thanks,

Rob

Hi Rob

Take it to a dealer and get it checked out

It could possibly be the rad fan switch seal

This is common

At the bottom of the rad if I remember correctly

You can usually tell as the leak turns to pink crustations

Sarah

Do you check it when it's cold all the time, the level will be lower when it's cold and rise in the header tank when it's hot.

The water will go into the oil if the head gasket has gone and make it a grey colour not normally the other way round.

The head gasket will break on the inside normally so you won't see anything from the outside.

Is the pressure cap on the header tank fitting ok? The coolant could slowly escape from here, as the coolant is kept at 95 - 97 degrees when it's under pressure by that cap.

Just some thoughts....

Take it to a dealer and get it checked out

It could possibly be the rad fan switch seal

Sarah

I did and it was - thanks for that.

Additionally though, the dealer reported back that the engine was burning oil - I was in a hurry so forgot to ask anything about this. Is this significant (see earlier post in thread for oil usage)?

I understand that the engine is permitted to use a litre every 600 miles, but am intrigued as to why the dealer felt the need to report that back if it was not important.

Thanks,

Rob

Keep an eye on it for sure, and get the fault logged NOW - that engine IIRC often has head gaskets failing, and if it's using oil then that;'s worth bearing in mind.

Warranty job would be good for that tbh - wouldnt want to have to cover this cost yourself if it can be avoided

if the dealer said it was burning oil , what they mave have seen was blue smoke from the exhaust when they were warming the engine up after the coolant leak was repaired , this can be caused by a number of things i.e. bore wear , piston ring failure , valve stem seals etc