'15 Ford Fusion eating coolant

[Delta1]

My neighbor's 10 year old Fusion with the 1.5 Turbo has started drinking coolant at 200 k km. The dealer diagnosed the issue as the infamous Ford cracked block, and of course it's beyond economical repair.

Since no one will give him any money for it, he's decided to drive it into the ground before buying another car.
Which stop leak should he buy to slow the leak? He cares not that it could plug heater core or whatever.

BARS Stop Leak? Blue Devil?

Thanks!

 

[Analog-1]

Junk it. None of that crap is going to make a difference.

 

[Kira]

Have any details of the "infamous Ford cracked block" been recorded?
What cracks? Where are the likely regions of occurrence or width of crack?
Was it bad casting or bad machining?

Q: How does this jibe with "Built Ford Tough"?
edit: I forgot, "Hey man, every car company makes bad ones".

I think it stinks that something like a cracked block is allowed to fly.
At least, Ford should make replacements available or offer a BIG credit for a trade in.
Heaven forbid they make a run of these engines after correcting the problem.

 

[Delta1]

Junk it. None of that crap is going to make a difference.

It will be junked, he just wants to see how far he can push it before it fails entirely.
He might even abandon it at the Ford dealer he bought it at new, and who did all the maintenance for the past 10 years.....

 

[JohnnyG]

Have any details of the "infamous Ford cracked block" been recorded?
What cracks? Where are the likely regions of occurrence or width of crack?
Was it bad casting or bad machining?

Q: How does this jibe with "Built Ford Tough"?
edit: I forgot, "Hey man, every car company makes bad ones".

I think it stinks that something like a cracked block is allowed to fly.
At least, Ford should make replacements available or offer a BIG credit for a trade in.
Heaven forbid they make a run of these engines after correcting the problem.

This is actually NOT a cracked block, but I well documented failure. It seems Ford used a "slot cut" between the cylinder heads to aid in cooling in that area. Those slots reduced the sealing area of the head gasket and they leak. Known issue.
Some cars qualified for a new engine, not sure which.
The newer blocks have a hole drilled between the cylinders to accomplish this same cooling, so a change in production methods.

My neighbor has one with the same problem. Trying to find a new block but NONE are available.

 

[Delta1]

This is actually NOT a cracked block, but I well documented failure. It seems Ford used a "slot cut" between the cylinder heads to aid in cooling in that area. Those slots reduced the sealing area of the head gasket and they leak. Known issue.
Some cars qualified for a new engine, not sure which.
The newer blocks have a hole drilled between the cylinders to accomplish this same cooling, so a change in production methods.

My neighbor has one with the same problem. Trying to find a new block but NONE are available.

Oh right, thanks for the clarification!
I feel like I should convince this guy to press the dealership a bit more for a possible warranty claim on this engine, though it seems like there are probably none left.

 

[Furious]

Blue Devil is one of the best head gasket sealers on the market for those wanting to try a band-aid before junking the vehicle. Only do this on vehicles with the intention of eventually junking it.

 

[JohnnyG]

Oh right, thanks for the clarification!
I feel like I should convince this guy to press the dealership a bit more for a possible warranty claim on this engine, though it seems like there are probably none left.

They build them every day (new version) but trying to get one under warranty is most likely a bridge too far.

 

[Number_35]

Oh right, thanks for the clarification!
I feel like I should convince this guy to press the dealership a bit more for a possible warranty claim on this engine, though it seems like there are probably none left.

My friend's 2017 Escape, bought new, started having weird intermittent symptoms in the last year or so of the powertrain warranty. The dealership tried various things which didn't help for long.

I think the engine was a 2.0 EcoBoost inline-4.

A few months out of warranty, the engine failed.

Ford covered 75%, so my friend got a new engine with the revised design for C$2000.

I feel Ford should have covered the entire cost as the problems started within the warranty period, but it could have been much worse.

 

[daves87rs]

Maybe he could leave it by me…..I’ve got Fusions, Escapes, and almost anything Turbo dumped o the side of the Freeways around here. I had to do a late evening run to drop off documents for a customer, and there was a guy pulling plates off a beat up 2018+ Chevy Equinox……

 

[Exhaustgases]

Junk it. None of that crap is going to make a difference.

Yeah like everyone can afford to buy any of this latest and well used as well, poorly engineered and manufactured junk, costing untold thousands of dollars and just get a few bucks from a scrap yard.

In the past USA manufactures would brag about warranting for manufacturing defects, I guess that is not the case now is it?

 

[mougly]

Perhaps with a good lawyer, you could argue that there was a design flaw, since Ford has corrected the design.

 

[SC Maintenance]

This is actually NOT a cracked block, but I well documented failure. It seems Ford used a "slot cut" between the cylinder heads to aid in cooling in that area. Those slots reduced the sealing area of the head gasket and they leak. Known issue.
Some cars qualified for a new engine, not sure which.
The newer blocks have a hole drilled between the cylinders to accomplish this same cooling, so a change in production methods.

My neighbor has one with the same problem. Trying to find a new block but NONE are available.

I know this story. It might even have been you that passed on the TSB a while back. However remind me again why they don’t just slap another head gasket in? It’s likely the head gasket being too thin around the slotted deck correct? Might last another 50k?

 

[97prizm]

My neighbor's 10 year old Fusion with the 1.5 Turbo has started drinking coolant at 200 k km. The dealer diagnosed the issue as the infamous Ford cracked block, and of course it's beyond economical repair.

Since no one will give him any money for it, he's decided to drive it into the ground before buying another car.
Which stop leak should he buy to slow the leak? He cares not that it could plug heater core or whatever.

BARS Stop Leak? Blue Devil?

Thanks!

Depending on how bad the crack is, I saw a guy fix a Jaguar leak with the stuff in the silver bottle. It has carbon fiber suspended in it and won't clog heater cores. Is there not a pull n pay close by to source an engine if the frame is not junk?

 

[JohnnyG]

I know this story. It might even have been you that passed on the TSB a while back. However remind me again why they don’t just slap another head gasket in? It’s likely the head gasket being too thin around the slotted deck correct? Might last another 50k?

Not sure why they aren't going that route. The only two common things that I can think of is maybe that sealing area corrodes or warps from whatever. The block probably won't take a resurface. In addition, with the use of aluminum, the blots might just pull the threads anyway resulting in a failed repair.
I didn't post the TSB, but I did see a very good YT video that someone posted about the problem.

 

[SatinSilver]

Too bad it's not a '15 Fusion with the 2.5 liter engine.

 

[Fordiesel69]

You can most likely get another 50k if you replace the headgasket.

PS the 2.5L natural aspirated engine is awsome, and will run 200 to 300k. Kinda gutless but it is a little 4 banger.

 

[threeputtpar]

My simple brain says take the block to a machine shop and have them TIG weld 90% of the cooling slit and then resurface the deck and reassemble with a new head gasket. Essentially you'll have the updated design now.

 

[GSCJR]

This is actually NOT a cracked block, but I well documented failure. It seems Ford used a "slot cut" between the cylinder heads to aid in cooling in that area. Those slots reduced the sealing area of the head gasket and they leak. Known issue.

+1

 

[Timmastertech]

Oh right, thanks for the clarification!
I feel like I should convince this guy to press the dealership a bit more for a possible warranty claim on this engine, though it seems like there are probably none left.

15 never had the extended warranty and failures on the older ones arent as common as the 17-19 1.5. The ones that had the extended warranty covered out to 84k miles so he is well well past that. 1.5's also do not get a complete long block on the extended warranty like the 2.0s do, they get a short block and an install kit. Some other parts are replaced as necessary. When I do these I add a cylinder head (reasonably priced from Ford) just to make sure there are no issues, faster turnaround replacing the head and similar cost to having my machine shop go through it. I also do the timing components and some other stuff Ford does not on the warranty.