Ford 1.5L (4 cyl) Ecoboost, replace head gasket?

[SC Maintenance]

My uneducated guess is the gasket - which has too small of mating area with the block by design, begins to leak and when it does pressure from the piston prevents coolant flow and the block over heats in that area. Which likely is why the block cracks at that point. Again - complete guess.

How many hours is a head gasket only replace? It’s a band aid at best either way.

The newer blocks are cross drilled I believe.

 

[pbm]

If it were mine I'd put a couple of tablets (or a bottle) of Barsleaks in the coolant (not in the vegas bottle but remove one end of the hose and put it directly in) and keep an eye on it. When I bought my new 2016 Escape I got the 2.5L engine because I was leery of the small turbo....I'm glad I did.
Some people may not like the Barsleaks idea but many manufacturers put it in at the factory (at least in the past they did). I've put it in as a preventative measure in a few cars with no problems.

 

[zzyzzx]

I did not know they actually made a 1.5L engine. Seems tiny, like a large lawnmower engine.

Didn't everyone make or made 1.5L or engines? A quick internet search suggests so.

 

[vwmaniaman]

I had a 1.5/L 6 cylinder in Honda Goldwing. I never had a coolant issue but I only used Honda antifreeze. Had.98k on it when I stopped riding due to hip replacement.

 

[SC Maintenance]

Didn't everyone make or made 1.5L or engines? A quick internet search suggests so.

Yes but they often don’t make it to N America.

 

[ElectroMechanoMan]

My escape has 115,000mi on it. I do oil testing at every oil change.(5000mi or less in the winter) no sign of coolant in the oil yet. If I get coolant in the oil, I’ll put in a head gasket.