Hi, I recently had the top half of my engine replaced by Ford because they said it was damaged due to the degas problem that stops coolant going to the engine. I've since had the car back for a couple weeks and it has been feeling sluggish since getting it back, went on the motorway for the first time last weekend and the car couldn't keep up speed and when in 6th gear it went from 70 down to 60 whilst my foot was to the floor!

I have noticed that I haven't heard the hiss of the turbo since I got my car back, and I'm concerned that they are going to say I need to pay for a new turbo! I've been reading online that the turbo is also fed by the coolant lines. could this have been damaged when the coolant failed and if so why didn't ford change it when they did the initial repairs?

it's going in to be looked at later this week to be diagnosed by ford, wanted to know if it is the turbo do I have a leg to stand on to argue that its a cause of the coolant loss and it should have been changed with the other parts of the engine repairs?

 

Thanks

Hi Niraj, what engine have you got ?

1.0 Ecoboost by the sounds of it.

I reckon if it is the turbo that's gone caput you should still be covered, there must be a certain time/mileage warranty for the top end engine replacement? 

Without the turbo these run like an overloaded tortoise, you'd think they'd have checked the car was performing properly with a test drive before handing it back but at the same time it wouldn't surprise me if they didn't.🤐

yea its a 1.0l ecoboost, I had my service done, then for a week later I could see steam coming from the right headlight, thought the light was hot and that was the reason why as it was December and really cold! it was only when I lost all heating in the car a few days later that Ford said not to drive the car and to have it towed back to them! they initially said it needs a new engine (my understanding of this is the whole engine would need to be changed!) when I got my car back they changed the top half of the engine (gasket etc). it's only been about 3 weeks since they done that work, and cars has been as you said like an overloaded turtoise with a flat foot! I'm not driving it now and it's going back in next week Tuesday. just don't want to be conned out of paying for a replacement turbo if it should have been changed when they repaired the engine! especially as the coolant lines feed the turbo to avoid it overheating!

Was it a Ford main dealer that did the top end rebuild?  Did you get any paperwork with it?  It should be their responsibility to fix properly what they didn't fix properly in the first place.

You're right coolant circulates through the turbo and if it got to catastrophic temps it would bugger up the turbo, I'd have thought it much more likely the engine would kaboom itself before the turbo though.🤔

Could be a number of things they could've got wrong in the rebuild I guess you've just got to wait and see what they say.  Did you tell them it wasn't running right within days of getting it back?  Or did they say it might need running in or something along those lines?

Yes it was a main ford dealer, they have done all the services on the car aswell since I purchased it, infact no one else has touched the car! 

when I got the car back I thought it might have been normal as they rebuilt the top end, It was only this last weekend when I was on the motorway did I really know there was a problem.

I did ask them before leaving if I needed to bed in the engine, but the guy said no it doesn't need to be. I asked him what was changed and he said all of the top of the engine was changed, but he mentioned that the turbo was still the old one. surely If there is damage to the top end the turbo should have been effected aswell? 

Before they did the engine repair for the coolant they made me sign some paperwork, which they said they needed me to sign before they can do anything, and when I picked up my car I got paperwork listing all the parts that were ordered.

so for timeliness, the coolant problem happened middle December, I got the car back 13 January, so its been 2 and a half weeks since they done the repair to me calling them with this issue. car was perfectly fine before all this happened, has never had anything go wrong with it and never had to change anything (apart from tyres and brakes) plus it's only done 45k miles! can't imagine the turbo being at the end of its lifetime at that mileage.

Crickey that's really low mileage for all those problems.  If it were me I'd be reading through the paperwork but I still reckon the responsibility falls on their shoulders.  You sound like the sort of person who'd have a record of everything including all the service work so if they did try and wash their hands of it you'd have that paperwork as an advantage.

I find it a bit strange if they fitted new pistons, rings, head, etc that they would say it doesn't need bedding in, I'm no expert but its a top end rebuild so would assume they'd recommend taking it easy for X amount of miles and a short oil & filter change when that mileage was done.

All you can do is let them deal with it tbh, I can imagine you've lost a lot of trust at this point so would anyone.  Pop back and let us know what the outcome is, I wish you luck.  👍

Top end doesn’t include pistons does it? I know on a motorbike people talk about top end and that might include pistons, as the barrels are separate from the crankcases but on a car engine the cylinders are in the same lump of metal as the crankcase so top end on a car is just the head,  I think. (Might be wrong)

As above, top end is just the head/valves/cams on a car engine. 

If you were lacking turbo boost, there should be a warning light coming up and potentially even limp mode.  The amount of actual boost is constantly measured by the MAP sensor and compared with the amount of requested boost from the PCM...if the figures aren't within tolerance then it should be flagged up.  Can you access the intake side of the turbo on the 1.0EB to feel for any play in the turbine and checking for scoring around it?  Easy enough on the 1.6TDCi but haven't tried it on a 1.0 myself.

12 hours ago, isetta said:

Top end doesn’t include pistons does it? I know on a motorbike people talk about top end and that might include pistons, as the barrels are separate from the crankcases but on a car engine the cylinders are in the same lump of metal as the crankcase so top end on a car is just the head,  I think. (Might be wrong)

No I reckon you're spot on, I'm certainly lacking in engineering knowledge.😅  But the plan to get people here that know what they're talking about worked !