Coolant light on after replacing coolant

Asked by Sarah Jul 13, 2017 at 03:26 PM

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

I bought a second hand Ka 2 days ago, and drive it
a 30 minute drive home with no problems. I got a
new battery installed today and while I was there
the guy said the antifreeze needs topping up. Sure
enough ten minutes down the road the coolant
temperature light comes on, so I pull over to
halfords to buy some more. This is my first car, I've
never changed coolant, and being a bit of an idiot I
didn't let the engine cool down before opening it.
Thankfully I opened it a little so I didn't get burned
but the coolant leaked everywhere. Once it had
cooled down I had to use nearly the whole bottle to
top the coolant up to the line. Unfortunately ten
minutes down the road the light came on again,
and when I stopped steam was coming from the
bonnet. I lifted the bonnet and stream was hissing
from the cap.

I'm going to let it cool down, then tighten the cap to
see if it's lose. Is this likely to fix the problem? I just
want to know if I'm going to be able to drive it to
work tomorrow or if I should take it to the garage

Thanks

1 Answer
16,455

Guru97FK8 answered 6 years ago

Rather take it to the garage and let them have a look. When this guy removed the cap to top up the reservoir, the cap was possibly not screwed on correctly. One thing of notice that I have seen with these KA's over the years is that there was a slight Mod done to the expansion bottle. On top of the neck of the reservoir there is possibly a slight ridge. which prevents the cap seal from settling properly on the top of the reservoir. This slight ridge should be removed with a fine file and smoothed over to allow the cap seal to have a proper seal. Make sure the cap is secured properly. Always top up coolant with a Ford approved anti-freeze

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