1 Lady owner from new, 80,000 on the clock

The dashboard message advised me to stop engine as it was too hot, I pulled over within 1 minute and noticed there was no coolant in the tank.

As it was 1am and no shops open i put some water in the coolant tank and noticed steam coming out of a crack in the degas pipe pictured below.

 

Im currently thinking to buy 2meters of this following pipe 4mm inner dia on ebay - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/403428130792

Does anybody know if this should be ok?

Ive read on this forum that its a known problem with this specific year car... I think Ford ought to send us all a new mk3.5 pipe system for free... where is the logic in creating a £20,000 car and then cutting corners on cheap sh*t which can cause the whole engine to break... its scandalous

 

Hopefully somebody creates a lawsuit over it.

 

 

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12 hours ago, DodgyMk3 said:

1 Lady owner from new, 80,000 on the clock

The dashboard message advised me to stop engine as it was too hot, I pulled over within 1 minute and noticed there was no coolant in the tank.

As it was 1am and no shops open i put some water in the coolant tank and noticed steam coming out of a crack in the degas pipe pictured below.

 

Im currently thinking to buy 2meters of this following pipe 4mm inner dia on ebay - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/403428130792

Does anybody know if this should be ok?

Ive read on this forum that its a known problem with this specific year car... I think Ford ought to send us all a new mk3.5 pipe system for free... where is the logic in creating a £20,000 car and then cutting corners on cheap sh*t which can cause the whole engine to break... its scandalous

 

Hopefully somebody creates a lawsuit over it.

 

 

i`m sure there was a recall for this years ago. call in to your local ford and ask `em if it`s still an active recall

2 hours ago, andypsp said:

i`m sure there was a recall for this years ago. call in to your local ford and ask `em if it`s still an active recall

That is the replacement pipe.  They eventually fail again but will not be replaced under recall more than once.

 

15 hours ago, DodgyMk3 said:

Im currently thinking to buy 2meters of this following pipe 4mm inner dia on ebay - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/403428130792

Does anybody know if this should be ok?

With these engines being so sensitive to coolant loss, I don't think anyone on here wants to take responsibility for a bodge job.  The plastic T piece is a weak point so personally I'd want the whole thing replaced.  Either with an identical brand new one for short term, or ideally the facelift hose setup.

Normally with these engines by the time you get the warning it's already too late. Be prepared for a scrap engine.

2 hours ago, mjt said:

Normally with these engines by the time you get the warning it's already too late. Be prepared for a scrap engine.

Thats what I am dreading, However I have since put a temporary pipe on just to test the car.

It starts and drives fine like before, but is there still a chance the engine is knackered like you're saying?

3 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

With these engines being so sensitive to coolant loss, I don't think anyone on here wants to take responsibility for a bodge job.  The plastic T piece is a weak point so personally I'd want the whole thing replaced.  Either with an identical brand new one for short term, or ideally the facelift hose setup.

Yes, I wasnt planning to bodge job it, I measured in the inner and outer diameter of the perished pipe that ford uses but planned on buying a better suitable material.

6 hours ago, andypsp said:

i`m sure there was a recall for this years ago. call in to your local ford and ask `em if it`s still an active recall

I have called in today, waiting for a response from ford direct

1 hour ago, DodgyMk3 said:

is there still a chance the engine is knackered like you're saying?

If the engine sounds OK    AND   you're not losing coolant, I think you've got away with it.  My guess is that the engine is NOT knackered.  But head gasket MAY have been damaged. 

2 hours ago, alanfp said:

If the engine sounds OK    AND   you're not losing coolant, I think you've got away with it.  My guess is that the engine is NOT knackered.  But head gasket MAY have been damaged. 

Hopefully.

 

Ford say theres no active recalls and want me to have it lifted to a local ford dealer as its not driveable... an expensive they said I have to cover, thats £150.

Then they said the diagnosis cost may have to be paid by me if they cant determine its the coolant pipe, despite the coolant pipe being so brittle it breaks off when you touch it in your fingers.

This will be the last ford car I ever purchase. Pathetic engineers they have employed... the pipe must cost them maximum £0.50p but they skimp on it.

If you turn the engine over for 10 seconds, does/did coolant leak out of that pipe?  If so shouldn't need much diagnosis I would have thought! 

Also. do you have RAC At Home cover??? That might cover getting an undriveable car to a 'nearby' garage, perhaps.

The same thing happened on my daughter's (previously my) '63 plate 1.0 Ecoboost about 3 years ago.  Long story short, I got it recovered to our local Ford garage who confirmed that all was ok with the engine, so I immediately swapped to the Mk 3.5 degas hose and the car then ran perfectly until they part exchanged it this January, rather than pay for the timing belt doing 👍

My daughters did the same so, as above, I upgraded her to the later Mk 3.5 pipework (you need to buy 2 pipes). Also while you are doing that replace the coolant header tank as they crack (underneath where you cant see). Luckily hers seemed to run OK since then.