Draining coolant from a 1.6 focus

Clarkey said:
glad i'm not friends with you then.
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lol
well you must be able to get in touch for the key surely
you contact him tell him about the cold coming and the danger to the car
if he`s bothered he`ll come round i guess
have had mates leave cars here before but i always make them leave the keys incase there is a problem or reason i need to move the car
 
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So, I let him leave the car here after coming to use my tools and being unable to fix the problem by 9.30 on NYE with a party to be going to. That makes me a mug?
Lets explore the options..

Tell your friend that no, even though they know that you have a garage and a full range of tools that they can't come round and fix their car.

Continue to work on the car through into the new year even though there is little to no hope of fixing it without a proper new part from Ford. Both miss NY celebrations.

Send your friend off to try to nurse a car 15 miles while majorly haemorrhaging coolant, they will miss NY celebration at the side of the road with a broken down car.

Call it a day, leave their car on the drive, both head off to NY party in my car and good times are had by all...


Which of those would YOU choose, considering the final one makes you a total mug...
 
None of the above, I'd just ask that they leave the keys. Or if it came down to this situation then i'd ring them and ask for them to come round with the keys. I wouldn't be faffing about trying to drain coolant from a lock and presumably alarmed car!!
 
Theres a drain screw on the back of the radiator at the bottom (on the passenger side).

Unscrew that and it will drain out, not ideal as it won't drain the whole system but it'll be better than nothing.

Also you'll need a new thermostat housing for it. For some reason Ford decided to make them out of plastic which eventually warps against the block! There about £80 from Ford.
 
dazz25 said:
Theres a drain screw on the back of the radiator at the bottom (on the passenger side).

Unscrew that and it will drain out, not ideal as it won't drain the whole system but it'll be better than nothing.

Also you'll need a new thermostat housing for it. For some reason Ford decided to make them out of plastic which eventually warps against the block! There about £80 from Ford.
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Are they the same across all Sigma engines then? I've seen partbox have them for a Fiesta/Puma for under £20, genuine part and they are local too.
 
Ah sorry, didn't see the 1.6 bit! I just saw zetec and automatically thought Duratec!

Yeh, they'll be about £20 then, I think there metal as well so compared to the duratec thermostat housing it's a bargain!
 
Oh I thought they only started making them from plastic on the later engines. Still don't understand why they did it!

Everyone I know with a focus has had to change the housing at some point. I had to do mine when I had my ST170 and for some reason they cost a lot more.

Hope it goes well with your friends car anyway.
 
Defcon5 said:
He doesnt have the keys to the car, so he cant put antifreeze in it.
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Its not really the point I was making, It doesnt matter if he cant get all the water out, you dont drain the water out from the top of the system anyway.
When he puts it back in, is what I should have said as well.

AS for getting the bonnet open without keys, you can do it, but its an immense faff, and its not his car so its not worth the hassle of doing it, then putting it right after its done for the sake of this.
 
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