Hi All,

I recently bought a Ford Focus Ecoboost and have noticed that the coolant level keeps dropping, after a bit of research I believe the issue is the degas hose. There has been a recall for this previously and I have called my local Ford dealer and checked online via my reg and there are no recalls out standing.

I lifted the bonnet after a relatively long journey and could see steam coming out the degas hose under the mesh material in picture 2.

Are you able advise on the follow?

• Is the old or new degas hose? - This will help determine if the recall was already carried out previously.
• What are the best next steps to resolve this?

Any advice is appreciated!

Thank you

Your car has the new design degas hose. This hose is most likely installed during the recall in 2014.

The old design degas hose that was affected by the recall in 2014 was made of plastic and vulcanised rubber. This type of degas hose was only installed on Focus MK3 vehicles with 1.0 ECOboost engine that were built between 25-04-2012 and 05-05-2014. Vehicles produced before and after this production period did have a different type of degas hose and were not affected by the recall. 

Unfortunately the degas hose always remained a very weak point of the cooling system of the MK3  1.0 ECOboost. During time the plastic T-piece and the hardline that are part of the degas hose become affected by heat and vibrations and will finally crack or snap off. This usually results in engine damage. In case any damage to the degas hose is detected the degas hose should be replaced immediately.


As an alternative the cooling system can easily be converted to MK3.5 specs by replacing just 2 coolant hoses. The MK3.5 does no longer have the fragile, poorly designed degas hose. An added bonus is that both MK3.5 hoses are even cheaper than the single MK3 degas hose.

To convert the MK3 coolant system to MK3.5 specs. you need the following hoses:

Finis 1855418 
Finis 2122838

Installation is basically straightforward and will take less than half an hour.
 

Next to these hoses it is also a very good idea to replace the coolant reservoir cap. There is a revised coolant reservoir cap which was introduced on the 1.6 ECOboost cooling system recall. This revised coolant reservoir cap is fully compatible with all other engine types and has Finis number 5193938.

Also inspect the coolant reservoir carefully and in case any (micro)cracks are present the reservoir should be replaced.

It is also highly recommendable to drain the coolant. There is a drain valve at the bottom of the radiator so draining the coolant is very easy. After all work is performed the cooling system can be (vacuum) filled with fresh coolant. Due to the relative high coolant temperature of the 1.0 and 1.6 ECOboost engines the coolant deteriorates and forms crystals inside the cooling system. The coolant Ford uses is G12+ compatible. G12+ coolant is pretty inexpensive so changing the coolant will not cost much.

 

 

1.0 ECOboost cooling system:

This part of the cooling system is identical for both the MK3 and MK3.5  1.0 ECOboost.

 

 

MK3  1.0 ECOboost cooling hoses:

 

 

MK3.5 cooling system pipes and hoses:

On the MK3.5 the degas hose is integrated in the expansion hose. The thin plastic hose/pipe is no longer part of the degas hose but a seperate hose/pipe that runs directly from the coolant reservoir to the engine.

I have seen other pics on this forum where that narrow plastic pipe has broken. 

I think it is unwise to drive the car at all until it has been fixed. these engines are well know for suffering serious overheating damage very quickly when the coolant leaks. If you are driving it and that pipe breaks right off then it is likely you will have caused overheating damage before you realise what has happened

Don't risk it. 

Thank you for the detailed response @JW1982!

Do you have any idea how much it would cost for a Ford garage to do the work? It’s not something I would be comfortable doing. 

Ford focus ecoboost 38k miles. 2013 plate. Degas pipe was replaced as part of recall in 2015. Last week (March 2022) the degas pipe cracked again. Coolant leaked into the engine bay. Ford garage replaced the pipe, carried out pressure checks afterwards. £146 all in. Thought it best to take it to a Ford garage as I'm no mechanic and they've seen plenty of these. Thought this may be of use for anyone in the UK. 

TBH you did well to get 7 years out of the replacement !! 

As stated above, the best option is to replace it with the Mk3.5 upgrade then it will never happen again...It was only £52 for the parts a couple of years ago and can be changed very easily in about 30 minutes 👍

Definitely worth the upgrade. I did it in May last year and cost me about £60 for the bits. Maybe an hour to install which included the time it took me to make a couple of cups of tea.

It didn't last long for me as I sold the car in the June though 🤣