My 2011 1.6 ecoboost went in for the coolant upgrade 6 weeks ago, 3 days after coolant warning light came on. Booked it back in as im topping it up every week with no sign of leaks. Ford gave it me back saying its been pressure tested all day no leaks myst have been an airlock. Had it back 3 days and its beliw minimum again. No sign of leaks.

If ford cant ***** find out where its coming from what can i do??

 

It never leaked a drop before the upgrade.

 Anyone any advice??

if its being lost this fast either an external leak (look harder, at this rate should be visible staining about) or internal (take the oil filler cap of and look at the colour, and look at the dipstick.  if clean fresh oil that's a good sign...anything else is bad news),

with cars designed to fall to bits these days the "coincidence" of a failure whilst in the garage is quite common and NOT their issue, however it seems reasonable a competent main dealer is concerned with this situation they should either do their bit correctly or help you identify what's gone wrong and explain how its wasn't due to the recent work

Oil seems fine.

Just been looking car over and seems the heater doesnt work, ran 15 mins and its blowing but not hot.

Could this be related?

The heater uses the hot coolant so yes it's almost definitely linked.  Still got an air lock in system if you're sure there's no leak.

if this is air in the system, then the dealer should be shot,

you can't let a car out with air in it after a recall for a cooling system issue that's totally unacceptable, if you needed to drive to Scotland are you supposed to now buy a new engine cos the tech doing the job is a ***** ?

Any wet carpets in the drivers footwell? If so, might want to check the heater matrix. It has coolant running through it, and might explain the reason you can't find the leak outside. The matrix is located at the back of the dash board and if not receiving coolant properly you will lose the heater in the car.

Footwell is dry.

Obvious question, ive done 400 miles since i got it back, driving with an airlick in the system, does this cause damage??

No other issues that im aware of.

Usually the temp gauge rockets up when you get an air lock as there's no water circulating. Then you have a problem...

Gauge has read normal, but gets up to temp in about 2 mins???

I  can see whats coming here, head gasket, and just coincidence it had the recall, despit never losing a drop before.

what do they do for the recall,  its vaguely possible the route or stat has changed hence it warms up faster....

but sounds more like they are idiots and its not a great idea to be driving till its sorted, I would be writing to ford to get this issue out in the open incase u get issues later

trouble now is I doubt a competent ford dealer will want to help do the job properly as some animal has "already fixed it" and got paid the 3p costs for the recall the dealer collects

Just read about test mode.

Put it in mode displaying the temp.

Idled for 15 mins got up to 85

Drove round town got up to 93

Hammered down bypass quickly got to 100 before dropping quickly to 93, rose steadilly to 103 fluctuating a couple of degress, rose to 108 at traffic lights before  returning  down bypas, again steadyish 100_ 103 before parking outside house at 100. Fan came on for 2 mins when ignition off. fan stopped at 98. Temp now at 104 with everything off.

 

Anything seem out of ordinary with this?

find another and do a comparison

108 sounds far too hot

Anyone any idea what normal running temp is?

My old focus 1.6 used to sit between 100c and 105c at motorway speeds. I had it for 7 years with no issues.  The waterloss is a concern though 

If it’s a potential coolant leak and an ecoboost then STOP driving it immediately.

If your engine overheats you could kill it and write the car off or end up with a bill in to thousands.

I’d take it to another garage. Get them to test it. Get the results in writing and if it’s an airlock I’d then get the dealership you took it to at first to pay for the second garage.

Either way, the cost of a second garage will be a lot cheaper than a new engine and ecoboost engines are well known for not liking overheating issues. And they have died without any warning a good number of times. 

Its not overheating.

And the loss is manageable, ie steady loss over days.

Im booked in 3rd time to main dealer. Ill see what they come up with this time.