2012 Ford Focus, 155K miles, it is leaking a decent amount of coolant when my partner drives it to work but doesn’t even leak a drop if I drive it to work. The mileage is the same but I don’t sit in traffic. Could the extra heat from sitting in traffic be opening up a pinhole sized leak in the coolant line?
Edit: Thanks to a tip from the comments when the heat is turned on it leaks. I should be able to bypass that line pretty easy.
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Yes, heat can play a role.
I’d recommend going to your local parts store (or probably Amazon) and getting UV dye specifically for the cooling system. You dump it in, run the car for a bit, then start looking with a black light (you’ll probably need to buy one of those too). The ones we use flash a bright yellow/green where the leak is originating from.
If that’s not something you’re comfortable with, call your trusted mechanic and see if they can do it.
If you’re losing a considerable amount of coolant, don’t let it go, you could be making a relatively simple repair significantly more expensive, or possibly even killing the engine, if it’s as bad as it sounds.
Also, has the vehicle ever been overheated before, or is it getting hot when she drives it?