Overheating Engines Have Owners Boiling
Ford already has enough bad press concerning reliability. In the past month, the automaker announced a recall for almost 1.1 million vehicles, another for 300,000 vehicles, and a Do Not Drive notice for a few thousand more, but the bad news isn’t over. The Blue Oval is now facing litigation over what plaintiffs are calling a potentially dangerous fault in their engines, according to CarComplaints. The lawsuit claims that EcoBoost engines displacing 1.5 to 2.0 liters have a defect that allows coolant to leak into the cylinders and that Ford didn’t inform owners of any potential dangers this may cause. Cylinder heads reportedly crack, too. Worse still, the lawsuit alleges that Ford’s remedy was insufficient, failing to address the root of the problem.
Several Affected Vehicles Named In Ford Lawsuit
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The lawsuit reportedly states the following: “Ford has not satisfactorily or effectively addressed the source of the defect for those consumers, including for those whose vehicles remain in warranty. Instead of replacing the engine block, Ford merely applies superficial stopgap, ‘Band-Aid’ remedies such as installing coolant level sensors.” The vehicles named in the lawsuit are listed below:
- 2013-2019 Ford Escape
- 2013-2019 Ford Fusion
- 2015-2018 Ford Edge
- 2016-2019 Lincoln MKC
- 2016-2019 Lincoln MKZ
Related: Ford CEO Farley tells retired engineers fixing quality will ‘take several years’
In 2020, Ford issued a technical service bulletin (TSB) to replace the short block and head gasket on Ford Fusion and Escape vehicles over coolant loss issues, but the plaintiffs reportedly claim that this doesn’t fix the issue because the replacement blocks have the same defect. For those whose vehicles are no longer covered by warranty, this is an even bigger concern. Even if they have the new coolant level sensor, the lawsuit alleges that coolant continues to leak into the cylinders even when low, and that can lead to corrosion, oil dilution, and contamination. According to CarComplaints, the lawsuit alleges that “engines can leak coolant and fail even when the vehicles don’t have many miles on them
Some Say Other EcoBoosts May Be Affected
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The FordTechMakuloco channel on YouTube has a video (embedded below) that appears to show the design flaw. Therein, it’s alleged that the head gasket fails between the cylinders, and on a turbocharged motor running relatively high boost, one can see how a small leak can quickly turn to catastrophe. Notably, the abovementioned channel claims that the EcoBoost engine’s thirst for coolant is evident, not just on 1.5-, 1.6-, and 2.0-liter motors, but also the 2.3-liter, as seen in the Ford Mustang, for example. A Reddit thread concerning a 2018 example of the pony car confirms it’s not an isolated concern, as does the fact that this class-action lawsuit (naming some 28 customers) is the consolidation of three others: Reed v. Ford, Patricia Lund v. Ford, and Miller v. Ford.
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