I've had my 2013 AWD Escape SEL (1.6L) for about 100k miles now. I'm starting to get into big-dollar repairs which I feel could have been avoided if I was more proactive with maintenance. However, I was basing my service-intervals on the owner manual's recommendations, which sounds too risky in hindsight.
Here's the owner's manual for reference:
2013 ESCAPE Owner’s Manual
Here are my gripes about the recommended service intervals in owner's manual:
Long story short, I don't trust any of the recommended service intervals in the owner's manual. We all know that this car (especially the 1.6L 2013/2014s) has its share of reliability issues, and I'm wondering if the person who wrote the manual didn't know what they were talking about, or was too optimistic about the car's reliability. What does everybody else think?
Here's the owner's manual for reference:
2013 ESCAPE Owner’s Manual
Here are my gripes about the recommended service intervals in owner's manual:
- Timing belt replacement - The owner's manual says it should be replaced every 150k miles. My timing belt failed around 90k (which required an entirely new engine as a result). Note that the recommended interval is 150k miles for the timing belt (1.6L engine) and there's no recommended interval for the timing chain (2.0L engine), which I interpret to mean it's designed for infinite life. I've never heard of a timing belt lasting 150k miles.
- Transmission/Differential Fluid - The owners manual says the fluids should be changed every 150k miles. My differential was shot after 95k miles, and the transmission is already acting a bit quirky. When the car was in the shop at 95k miles the mechanic said the fluid in the differential (and transmission) was filthy.
- Oil Changes - The owners manual claims that there's a sensor which tells you when the oil needs to be changed, and it should be every 7,500-10,000 miles under normal use. The oil-light never came on and I made a point to change it out every 5,000 miles, maximum. When the engine was replaced, the mechanic said the lube system was cruddy from infrequent changeouts, and there were metal shards accumulating in the orifices (maybe the metal shards were from overheats encountered due to the coolant leaks).
Long story short, I don't trust any of the recommended service intervals in the owner's manual. We all know that this car (especially the 1.6L 2013/2014s) has its share of reliability issues, and I'm wondering if the person who wrote the manual didn't know what they were talking about, or was too optimistic about the car's reliability. What does everybody else think?
