O/T '95 Escort Problems.

BillinCentralMO · Dec 10, 2008

My friend is having car trouble and she doesn't have the cash to pay repairs. Her 1995 Ford Escort is leaking radiator fluid. It has no heat from the heater. She can drive it an hour and it never warms up on the temp guage and has no heat. Any of you mechanical wizards have any advice? Does she need a new radiator ? Heater Core ? I asked if it was leaking under the radiator or further back. She parks on gravel though and says she can't tell. She adds antifreeze weekly. She says the light on the dash comes on and says ,"check coolant." Any advice for the damsel in distress? She's nice and works hard to get by but can't seem to get ahead. Any help is appreciated.

jay-eye-see · Dec 10, 2008

Without an idea where the coolant is going, it is hard to say what type of repair is needed.

noncompos · Dec 10, 2008

A few suggestions:
Parks on gravel: so spread a plastic or even newspapers held down with gravel...
Look under the hood for her: if there's a pressure leak somewhere in the engine compartment you'll see dried water tracks...
Ditto underneath it; get it into someones garage, shed or out of the wind, jack/block it up (be careful!) and look under for water tracks, especially from overflow (partially blocked circulation could be forcing water out thru overflow)...
Never any heat or temp gauge rise sounds like blocked circulation in heater water circuit; block to radiator circulation should be OK or it would've blown up by now (if temp gauge sensor in location that is part of heater water non-circulation, that would answer no heat and no temp gauge rise...

Bryce · Dec 10, 2008

The lack of heat is lack of coolant.My 93 has a perpetual leak on the thermostat housing,might start looking there.Does not sound like anything too bad just find the leak. Good luck

Anonymous-0 · Dec 10, 2008

I thought of some more things to look at.Check to see if any of the spark plugs are damaged the coolant is hard on them.That might tell you what cylinder it is.Also if you can see down the spark plug holes and one of the pistons is clean thats the bad hole might have 2 bad holes.Should see some carbon on the pistons in the good holes. Blaine

Anonymous-0 · Dec 10, 2008

First thing, find out where the leak is.The gravel would show signs of dampness if the car was removed.

Brian Jasper co. Ia · Dec 10, 2008

You're going to have to figure out where the leak is. Something you can try is make sure the RADIATOR is full of coolant let the engine idle without driving. If it gives some heat after a while, good chance the thermostat is stuck open. Coolant too low will cause no heat also.

rustyj14 · Dec 11, 2008

Get a couple of large corrugated cardboard boxes, flatten them out, lay them under the car, under the engine area. Run engine, don't move car. Next morning, check cardboard for leak area-s.
Best thing is have radiator shop or dealer shop do a pressure check on it. Don't let it go on too long. could be head gasket, or bad radiator hose, or leaking heater core.
Question: Does car put out heavy white smoke from tail pipe when driving. That is sure sign of bad head gasket. The thing about these troubles in cars and trucks is: They never heal them-selves! You'd might as well "bite the bullet" and get it checked by a shop. No matter how ya do it, and from yer description--its going to cost money to fix it!

O/T '95 Escort Problems.

BillinCentralMO

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jay-eye-see

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noncompos

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Bryce

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Anonymous-0

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Anonymous-0

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Brian Jasper co. Ia

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rustyj14

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