2013+ Ford Escape Forum banner
731K views 612 replies 155 participants last post by  mattg 
#1 ·
I have a 2013 Ford Escape SE 1.6L GTDI. I have taken my car in to the dealership 3 different times for coolant loss. Ford customer service has been contacted and the dealership has tried all of the recommendations at this point. Ford is now telling me that they can see the coolant levels drop but, they can not find where it is going. Since they can't find where it is going then there isn't any issue with the car and it is "safe" to drive. The car has about 20,000 mile on it currently. I have had the vehicle in the shop for about 32 days now. This last time was 7 days in the shop with no solution. I was told that since Ford has can't find the leak there is no issue. I am wondering if anyone else is having the same issue with their Escape or am I just special. Thanks for any help.
 
Discussion starter · #4 ·
The build date is January 17, 2013. It is under the current recall which Ford has told me they hope to have a solution by the end of June 2014. They told me I just need to keep taking it to the dealership and have them add coolant when it is low.
 
Discussion starter · #10 ·
My bet is on micro cracks in the cylinder head. A small amount of coolant is being burned off and out the exhaust.


Is this a design flaw, or just caused from cooling issues? I'm sure we will never be told fully.

I remember back when the 1st generation Dodge Neon came out. A cheap head gasket was used which caused coolant leaks. Chrysler never did a full scale recall, and most repairs where left up to the customer.
That is what I think is happening. However, Ford said they have checked that. I don't believe them. They never pulled/ disassembled the engine. How can they check the cylinder head for cracks?
 
Discussion starter · #13 ·
It isn't a big leak. I have had to fill the coolant twice since the beginning of February. It was almost empty both times. I can smell the coolant every time I turn the car off and get out. It is definitely burning coolant in the engine but a little at a time.
 
Discussion starter · #15 ·
According to the Ford engineering support line, "this is normal and there is no issue at this time". I have a 4 year old Nissan and I have never had to add coolant to it. I talked to the dealership today and they did not look at the cylinder head. all they did was remove the spark plugs and look for coolant in the cylinders. I tried to explain that they wouldn't see coolant there because it is only a small amount at a time and is being fully burned off.
 
Discussion starter · #18 ·
Ford has already pressured tested it twice for an external leak. No leaks were found. The dealership called me back today and said they had just received a 52 page document on how to correct the over heating problem and they will let me know what they find out.
 
Discussion starter · #25 ·
The Ford dealership just called me to tell me they have performed the recall 13S12 fix after having my car for 10 days. They told me it was a 52 page manual and a bunch of parts they had to replace from hoses to the thermostat to a wiring harness. I have to drive about 700 miles this weekend and I will be keeping an eye on the coolant level. I told the Service Advisor that I would let him know if it worked or not ( I have about 1% faith it fixed the issue since I believe the issue is cracks in the cylinder head). I will update this post to let everyone know my findings.
 
Discussion starter · #32 ·
Ford tech line told my dealer to use a mic and look inside the head. Sure enough there was micro cracks all though it. But it took almost 11 weeks to get everything resolved, so prepare to be patient..
When I talked to the dealership they told me that Ford tech line told them to just pull the spark plugs and look for coolant. I asked if they looked at the head and they said did not. What is a "mic"? I am wondering if I should suggest that to the dealership. Did Ford reach out to you about the issue/ replacing the vehicle or did you have to call them about it? Thanks for any info.
 
Discussion starter · #64 ·
I picked my car up on Friday 3/28 from the dealership after they preformed recall 13S12. I drove about 700 miles this weekend with 250 mile stretch with 80 degree weather. I had very little hope that it would actually fix the issue because I thought this is just a band-aid fix to the issue. I will say it has significantly reduced the amount of coolant lose from the whole degauss bottle every month or about 2,500 or so miles. Now it will probably take about 3 or 4 months to use all the coolant in the degauss bottle or about 7,500 miles. Ford hasn't even tried to offer me an extended warranty or anything on the vehicle. I am afraid now that the engine will die right after my 60,000 mile warranty runs out.
 
Discussion starter · #70 ·
After having observed some coolant lose over the course of the weekend, I talked to the dealership that did the recall work. They stated they believe the lose of coolant over the weekend was do to air in the coolant lines. I told them I would bring it back in and have the top it off again. I then received a phone call from my Ford customer service rep. She talked to me about the repair and told me to call her before I took it back to the dealership so she would be in loop and know what is going on. She then offered me an extended warranty on the powertrain only for 5 years/ 100,000 miles. The extended warranty is a nice gesture on Ford's behalf. I am still not 100% confident in the vehicle or the recall repair. There is also another issue that no one has talked about yet. That is the issue of removing the 2 lower active grill shutters on the vehicle. They were put there on the 1.6L to help with fuel economy. By removing them Ford was able to help with the over heating issue but now there is the possibility for fuel economy to suffer. It is still to early to tell if it will hurt the overall fuel economy but from the 700 mile trip I took it was lower than the average over the same distance a few months ago.
 
Discussion starter · #72 ·
Did I miss something? Ford has now removed / disabled the Active Grill Shutters on the 1.6L models as a part of the overheating fix? If so, where are the details on this?
It is on page 56 of the 78 page recall document. The dealer is instructed to remove the 2nd and 3rd grill from the vehicle using a hacksaw. From the recall document:
"OVERVIEW: The second and third row shutters in the lower Active Grille Shutter (AGS) assembly will be
removed to provide additional airflow in the engine compartment.
UNIQUE TOOL REQUIREMENTS: Coarse 18 tooth-per-inch hacksaw blade and hacksaw blade holder (commercially available)."












 
Discussion starter · #81 ·
did ford call you directly or did you call first? got me wondering since mine is undergoing the lemon law suite and now into day 4 of the combo recall and water pump replacement.

cutting off the shutters makes me wonder if this band aid will work either
I had to call the dealership and talk to them this morning about the coolant still disappearing. I also had to contact Ford customer service first.
 
Discussion starter · #83 ·
hope you do not also have a water pump leaking like on mine. as that alone is a all day job. and I used to think changing a pump on a vw was hard. compared to this motor the vw is walk in the park
I don't think my water pump is leaking as there isn't any signs of coolant on the ground. I am going to try and take it to the dealership this weekend and have them top it off and look at the whole coolant system again just to make sure.
 
Discussion starter · #88 ·
So I took my Escape back to the dealership today. I was told several interesting things about the recall fix. According to the dealership they were told to not fill the degas bottle above the Min line. They also informed me that the system is now an open system and vents coolant to the atmosphere and because of this they can no longer pressure test the system. I have several issues with this statement. One the recall document states that the: "Coolant level should be filled to the "MAX" mark on the degas bottle once the engine is cold, prior to returning the vehicle to the customer”. Also the recall document states that the system should be: " Procedure N - Vehicle Reassembly and PCV Tube Retention OVERVIEW: The vehicle is reassembled, the cooling system is filled, pressure tested and bled; and a PCV tube retainer installed." So either the Recall document is wrong or Ford/ the dealership is just tired of dealing with me and is telling anything and everything to get me to just go away. Anyone else have the recall preformed and have a half empty degas bottle? Mine has dropped since I picked it up a week ago and they originally said it was probably just air in the system. Now they are saying that it is suppose to be that way and the way Ford redesigned it, it should leak some coolant.
 
Discussion starter · #90 ·
I have called my customer service rep with Ford. I left a Voicemail for her. I didn't even think to ask her to open the cap to the degas bottle since it isn't under pressure nothing would happen.. That would have been spectacular since they upped the pressure to 21 psi now with the fix it place. Coolant would have gone everywhere. I will post back what Ford customer service says when she calls me back.
 
Discussion starter · #95 ·
Talked to my customer service rep this morning. She is going to verify if the info the dealership gave me is correct or not. She told me she would call me back once she verified the info with Ford Technical and let me know what to do from here. I will say up to this point the dealership has been great to work with and have honestly tried to help me get the issue resolved. I am not sure why they suddenly changed to not wanting to help me.
 
Discussion starter · #97 ·
Talked to my customer service rep again today. She has contacted the Shop Manager at the dealership and he is contacting Ford Technical Services for dealerships to get insight on the situation. My customer service rep did tell me that they can in fact pressure test the system and that when the vehicle is in motion that the coolant systems new vent tube behind the right headlight can open to vent the system. I am now completely confused as I thought that was the point of the cap on the degas bottle to open when pressure got to high. So now I have to wait to hear from the dealer and take my car back in again. This will be the fifth time in less than a month. I am trying to play the game and let Ford work through all possible issues but it is starting to get overwhelming. I will post back a follow up once I hear from the dealership.
 
Discussion starter · #98 ·
I dropped my Escape off again this morning at the dealership. They said they will call me back once they figure something out. The Service Manager told me they may have to take the block apart to find out what the issue is. I believe the issue is getting worse not better. This weekend when I would start the car with the a/c off and just air blowing you could clearly smell coolant blowing into the car. Has anyone else had this issue with their 1.6 L 2013 Escapes?
 
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