I recently put in a new radiator on my 1981 fiesta to stop from over heating and me having to refill it each day so what else could be the problem

kev, July 2004

Check all the water hoses even a small leak will drain quite quickly especially when engine is warm as the pressure of water expands when hot and finds escape routes easily

Scotty, November 2008

scrap it lol

smokeyjoe121, October 2004

it sounds like you need to change your thermastat it is a £5.00 job. what happens is the thermastat will either stay open or stay closed when the brake down. if it stays closed then the water is not cooling around the system and it will boil up.if it stays open it will just make the heaters not warm up and the car will have a cold running tempreture.

trevor, October 2004

The water could be escaping internally (assuming there is no water inside the car from a duff heater matrix and none in the engine bay from water pipes etc.).

This means, in effect, that you might have a blown head gasket. The water then goes into either the oil or the combustion chamber, or both. Water in oil will create a "mayonnaise" which can be seen under the oil filler cap or on the dipstick. Water escaping into the combustion chamber would create quite a bit of steam from the exhaust. Whilst steam in the exhaust is normal on cold days, excessive amounts are not.

Only way to know for sure is a compression test. This involves fitting a compression tester to each plug hole in turn and turning the engine over to check the compression. A low reading in comparison with the others indicates a blown head gasket on that cylinder. Compression testers cost about £15 - £20.

New head gasket fitment could be about £100 assuming the head is not warped and does not need skimming.

Jack, July 2004