Ford Focus 1.6T Ecoboost Coolant Leak
Discussion
The recall replaces a big section of the engine bay harness, unsure though if that was part of the issue or just to accommodate the new sensor?
The description in the dealer notes mentions possibility of a fire, which I wouldn’t think possible from a coolant issue alone?
ETA - appears it’s a new loom section for the new sensor. Notes below from the summary page from Guildford Ford:
The description in the dealer notes mentions possibility of a fire, which I wouldn’t think possible from a coolant issue alone?
ETA - appears it’s a new loom section for the new sensor. Notes below from the summary page from Guildford Ford:
Edited by cornershop on Monday 2nd April 23:15
cornershop said:
The description in the dealer notes mentions possibility of a fire, which I wouldn’t think possible from a coolant issue alone?
As far as I can see, these are all consequences of running low on coolant without realising it, leading to the engine overheating and cracking the cylinder head, leading to an oil leak which in turn leads to a fire. The fix would let the driver know when the coolant was low.Given that the coolant level was confirmed OK a few days before this failure, there is no reason to think that low coolant was responsible for the failure.
GreenV8S said:
As far as I can see, these are all consequences of running low on coolant without realising it, leading to the engine overheating and cracking the cylinder head, leading to an oil leak which in turn leads to a fire. The fix would let the driver know when the coolant was low.
Given that the coolant level was confirmed OK a few days before this failure, there is no reason to think that low coolant was responsible for the failure.
I did check the coolant a week before this happened, when it went on fire, there was no coolant in the reservoir..... inside a week it had gone from enough coolant to zero coolant.Given that the coolant level was confirmed OK a few days before this failure, there is no reason to think that low coolant was responsible for the failure.
GreenV8S said:
Doesn't seem to me that this is anything to do with the recall. It sounds as if there has been a wiring fault, perhaps a live wire has worn through and shorted out. You will probably need to repair the loom, which could take a few hours for an auto electrician but doesn't sound like a huge deal. Is the vehicle still under warranty?
Thanks for your reply. They do say if it runs low on coolant, engine overheats, cracks the block and oil could potentially start a fire. I am wondering did it get that hot, the plastic around the wiring loom melted onto the exhaust manifold, and thats what started the fire, onto the rubber boot round the driveshaft joint, or worse as they say, it is leakage of oil through a crack.Edited by GreenV8S on Monday 2nd April 23:16
Warranty up in Nov 2016
Edited by martxxxxxxx on Wednesday 4th April 00:29
LarsG said:
The recall is to fix a low coolant level indicator which it does not have.
This indicates that Ford know the Ecoboost drinks coolant quicker than you might check and they are retro fitting an early warning system.
It drank a lot of it in a week. They manage to put a sensor in telling us when windscreen fluid is low but not coolant. This indicates that Ford know the Ecoboost drinks coolant quicker than you might check and they are retro fitting an early warning system.
Ok, Quick update
Phoned TrustFord, and they have agreed the fire was a result of issues directly related to the recall. They carried out a diagnostics check to come to this conclusion. Car will be fixed under the recall with no cost to me. Now chasing up Ford customer services for a courtesy car, as parts have to come from Germany, and no idea how long it will be, also chasing up car hire i have paid and two tow vehicles. Will update and see how this pans out.
Phoned TrustFord, and they have agreed the fire was a result of issues directly related to the recall. They carried out a diagnostics check to come to this conclusion. Car will be fixed under the recall with no cost to me. Now chasing up Ford customer services for a courtesy car, as parts have to come from Germany, and no idea how long it will be, also chasing up car hire i have paid and two tow vehicles. Will update and see how this pans out.
martxxxxxxx said:
Ok, Quick update
Phoned TrustFord, and they have agreed the fire was a result of issues directly related to the recall. They carried out a diagnostics check to come to this conclusion. Car will be fixed under the recall with no cost to me. Now chasing up Ford customer services for a courtesy car, as parts have to come from Germany, and no idea how long it will be, also chasing up car hire i have paid and two tow vehicles. Will update and see how this pans out.
I had a smiliar issue to the above but without the fire damage.Phoned TrustFord, and they have agreed the fire was a result of issues directly related to the recall. They carried out a diagnostics check to come to this conclusion. Car will be fixed under the recall with no cost to me. Now chasing up Ford customer services for a courtesy car, as parts have to come from Germany, and no idea how long it will be, also chasing up car hire i have paid and two tow vehicles. Will update and see how this pans out.
I received the recall letter on 21/3/18. Spoke to Ford on the morning of the 22/3/18 to ask if my car was safe to drive & to book it in for the necessary work. They said it was safe to drive so i booked it in for a date in mid April.
My car subsequently broke down on the evening of 22/3/18! As a direct result of the safety recall.
My local garage were unable to provide me with a courtesy car, so i spoke to Ford customer services who have been very unhelpful & refused to help out with a courtesy car, cover the cost of breakdown etc
Martxxxxxxx did you have any update with regards to your dealings with Ford customer services?
cornershop said:
We appear to have a failed heater matrix (or connection to) - the driver side footwell is soaked through with coolant!
We have an extended warranty, which i'm hoping will cover this fault - will find out more on Monday.
Car collected after heater matrix replaced under warranty (200GBP parts, 2 full days labour)We have an extended warranty, which i'm hoping will cover this fault - will find out more on Monday.
Hopefully now sorted
Teebs said:
We're still awaiting Ford to get the correct parts In for the recall.
The car has been fine since the original incident but I'd like the coolant system to get upgraded to the new equipment...
Thats a really poor show from Ford, can’t see why anything would take this long to arrive.The car has been fine since the original incident but I'd like the coolant system to get upgraded to the new equipment...
As per my previous post, prior to the heater matrix fix, the coolant had sometimes dropped 1-2” below the MIN lettering on the expansion tank (with no increase in temps), yet no warning light or buzzer sounded on the dash (which i believe it should?)
I wonder how low the coolant level can go before it alerts.
My husband and I are owners of a Ford Kuga and are having some issues and are wondering if you would be kind enough to give us your opinion.
On April 2017 Ford sent us a letter notifying us that our vehicle was part of a recall 17s09 where “... In affected vehicles, localized overheating of the engine head, due to lack of coolant circulation (coolant loss), may cause the cylinder head to crack, causing an oil leak. An oil leak may result in a fire in the engine compartment.” After that Ford, through a Ford dealership, carried out repairs related to this recall in at least three different instances. The paperwork we received advices the Ford Kuga owner to “Monitor coolant level regularly”. Later in January 2018 we made an appointment because our low coolant level light came on, so on 31/01/2018 we took our car to the Ford dealership to get tested. The particular tests ran that they did not show anything amiss with the coolant system. We kept loosing coolant, having to top up the car every 10-14 days so we booked the car in again, taking it to get tested on 07/09/2018. Again, the particular tests carried out did not show anything amiss and there never was any evidence of coolant leaking anywhere that could be seen by just popping the bonnet up. Since we kept losing coolant we started taking photographic records of when our coolant tank was at min and when we topped it up. We kept losing coolant so we took it in again on 31/10/2018 when the particular tests carried out didn’t show any obvious problems but they found that they had to replace the spark plugs. The spark plugs replaced on 31/10/2018 Odometer reading 117273 Km were installed new on 27/04/2018 from our regular mechanic Odometer reading 131297 Km, just 14,024 and they were worn. We kept losing coolant so we took it again on 21/12/2018 upon which date the mechanics at the Ford dealership found the problem. Due to the holidays the fixing would take some time. We went back to pick something up from the car on 05/01/2019 on which date they said that they were expecting a new motor, not to worry the situation was part of the original recall from April 2017 and that it would take time but, as it was recall work, we would not have any costs to pay. On Tuesday, 08/01/2019 we received an e-mail from the Ford dealership asking us for Date of Purchase, Km @ purchase, and Place of purchase and on Friday 11/01/2019 we received another e-mail from the dealership saying that “Unfortunately at this stage Ford have denied any goodwill assistance on the engine replacement required on your vehicle” because “...[t]he issue has been deemed separate from the recall due to the diagnosis carried out in conjunction with Fords technical team and the fact that the recall caused an oil leak outside of the engine through a cracked cylinder head whereas there is a coolant leak into a cylinder. This coolant leak is due to both the cylinder head and engine block being warped beyond specification.”
Does anyone know if the cause for the “cylinder head and engine block [to warp] beyond specification” could have been the recall issue? We had taken good care of the car, servicing it about every 10,000 Km and the previous owner serviced it at every interval indicated by Ford.
Many thanks!!
On April 2017 Ford sent us a letter notifying us that our vehicle was part of a recall 17s09 where “... In affected vehicles, localized overheating of the engine head, due to lack of coolant circulation (coolant loss), may cause the cylinder head to crack, causing an oil leak. An oil leak may result in a fire in the engine compartment.” After that Ford, through a Ford dealership, carried out repairs related to this recall in at least three different instances. The paperwork we received advices the Ford Kuga owner to “Monitor coolant level regularly”. Later in January 2018 we made an appointment because our low coolant level light came on, so on 31/01/2018 we took our car to the Ford dealership to get tested. The particular tests ran that they did not show anything amiss with the coolant system. We kept loosing coolant, having to top up the car every 10-14 days so we booked the car in again, taking it to get tested on 07/09/2018. Again, the particular tests carried out did not show anything amiss and there never was any evidence of coolant leaking anywhere that could be seen by just popping the bonnet up. Since we kept losing coolant we started taking photographic records of when our coolant tank was at min and when we topped it up. We kept losing coolant so we took it in again on 31/10/2018 when the particular tests carried out didn’t show any obvious problems but they found that they had to replace the spark plugs. The spark plugs replaced on 31/10/2018 Odometer reading 117273 Km were installed new on 27/04/2018 from our regular mechanic Odometer reading 131297 Km, just 14,024 and they were worn. We kept losing coolant so we took it again on 21/12/2018 upon which date the mechanics at the Ford dealership found the problem. Due to the holidays the fixing would take some time. We went back to pick something up from the car on 05/01/2019 on which date they said that they were expecting a new motor, not to worry the situation was part of the original recall from April 2017 and that it would take time but, as it was recall work, we would not have any costs to pay. On Tuesday, 08/01/2019 we received an e-mail from the Ford dealership asking us for Date of Purchase, Km @ purchase, and Place of purchase and on Friday 11/01/2019 we received another e-mail from the dealership saying that “Unfortunately at this stage Ford have denied any goodwill assistance on the engine replacement required on your vehicle” because “...[t]he issue has been deemed separate from the recall due to the diagnosis carried out in conjunction with Fords technical team and the fact that the recall caused an oil leak outside of the engine through a cracked cylinder head whereas there is a coolant leak into a cylinder. This coolant leak is due to both the cylinder head and engine block being warped beyond specification.”
Does anyone know if the cause for the “cylinder head and engine block [to warp] beyond specification” could have been the recall issue? We had taken good care of the car, servicing it about every 10,000 Km and the previous owner serviced it at every interval indicated by Ford.
Many thanks!!
Anyone else had a problem with their Ford 1.6 Ecoboost leaking coolant for the first time after the Ford recall - Ford Field Service Action 17S09 work on the coolant system?? Mine was fine before this recall work, I understand that the recall work involves pressure testing the coolant system to a pretty high pressure.
ChrisWR said:
Anyone else had a problem with their Ford 1.6 Ecoboost leaking coolant for the first time after the Ford recall - Ford Field Service Action 17S09 work on the coolant system?? Mine was fine before this recall work, I understand that the recall work involves pressure testing the coolant system to a pretty high pressure.
Yes and it took them three attempts to fix the head gasket went soon after. Looks like the leak is from the coolant pipes in the driver footwell.Teebs said:
packman10_4 said:
I think im right in saying Ford knows about this problem .... give your stealer sorry dealer a ring and ask the question think there is a recall on some hose or something similar ...
Thanks, tried that and they maintained no recalls were outstanding..If you contact Ford head office and ask them the manage to recall repair then the dealer may suddenly wake up. It massively helps if you bought the car from New and it also helps if you've bought other Ford cars in the past. Any independent or incompetent servicing will probably work against you. Ford have extended the warranty period for this recall indefinitely.
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