Ka cooling problem

[phillpot]

My daughters Ka has started leaking coolant from this "thing". If you are familiar with modern Ford cars I'd appreciate some advice.
Very slight leak with engine running but when we turned the engine off it sprayed out for a minute or two!




Is it an air bleed or pressure relief or ????

Can it be disconnected from the hoses or does a new one come as "one piece" ?

[Mikey G]

It looks like an air bleed. You normally unscrew it to bleed air out of the system on refill. If its tight an its leaking out its likely to be cracked. If you are getting high pressure after turning the engine off then you also have a cooling issue.

[theshrew]

If I remember correctly they are a old school just bleed system. Although it was a long time ago and it must of been a early KA when I did it.

[Jimmyarm]

It's the bleed point for the heater iirc.

If its leaking, replace the whole section of hose, the system most likely has air in it if that has been leaking for a while. When it's hot it blows coolant out of the leak, as it cools it sucks air back in. This is probably what is causing the excessive pressure in the system but until you replace that hose and bleed it correctly you won't know if any further issues are present.

[phillpot]

Thanks for advice and info.

Once I'd bought a new hose assembly it became clear that it was nothing more than the top had broken off the bleed screw.
Without taking the hose off to see things more clearly I thought it was something a bit more "technical" than a plastic screw, maybe an automatic vent.... nothing that posh on a Ford