fiesta ecoboost engine faliure

[fiesta88]

Hi all, my name is mike from wales, I have a 2013 fiesta ecoboost zetec s 125hp, I have had a few issues with the car from new and have always taken care of it as I felt greatfull for being able to own a new car. my problems started in 2014 when the engine failed whilst I was 6 hours away from home on the motorway, it went into fords and had a new engine fitted under warranty. all was good since then until December 2015 when there was white smoke coming from the exhaust in extreme amounts. I had the car recovered to ford and they had said the cylinder head had cracked and it wasn't covered under warranty because it had been over 12 months since the last replacement. so I sorced and engine from pumaspeed in west yorkshier and went to collect it. I replaced the engine myself on the drive as this was in my capabillites and used all my old auxhilleries. the engine started first time and I let it get up to temp and was checking fluids and for warning lights but all was good, so I reversed the car off the drive and took it around the block (a very short distance) and it was smoking yet again to a point where you couldn't even see out the rear view mirror. I have since parked the car up on the drive and has been stood eversince :( I really want to get this car on the road again but have no idea on what it could possibly be. I hope pumaspeed really didn't rip me off as I would not expect that from a company like them. has anyone experienced this yet or maybe have any idea on what could be going on? I know I am new to this site but would really appreciate all the input I can get. many thanks in advance mike.

[dave1987]

Engine coolant circulating properly? The 1.0L did have a habit of a plastic coolant hose splitting, spilling its coolant everywhere and knackering the engine. Worth a double check?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[iantt]

has the coolant level dropped a lot?  may not even be engine fault, turbo is coolant cooled, and could be chucking coolant into engine that way?

when they diagnosed cracked head, did they actually remove head to inspect?

 

[Mariner]

9 hours ago, dave1987 said:

Engine coolant circulating properly? The 1.0L did have a habit of a plastic coolant hose splitting, spilling its coolant everywhere and knackering the engine. Worth a double check?

 

I believe that particular fault was limited to the Focus version which had/has shorter hoses.

[Tdci-Peter]

14 hours ago, fiesta88 said:

I sorced and engine from pumaspeed in west yorkshier and went to collect it. I replaced the engine myself on the drive

Hi,

Sounds pretty horrific, 3 engines gone in 3 years!

Do you still have the 2nd engine, that you removed? I think it is worth getting the head off it to try to see what went wrong. It may give a clue. A common cause of a cracked head is overheating from some cooling failure.

If you want to claim off Pumaspeed, then you can't touch the third engine, but you need to be confident that it was an engine fault, not a cooling system fault before you can be sure the 3rd engine was duff.

 

[DieselPig]

When you had the first new motor fitted was it a complete engine or a short engine?

Sounds like they fitted a short motor and the original cylinder head.

The third engine smoking could be oil and water in the exhaust being burnt off.

[fiesta88]

hi guys many thanks for the replies, as you can imagine it is quite frustrating in trying to work out what is going on, when the first engine went it was claimed the head gasket had failed after driving the car on a 6 hour trip, but there were no symptoms to back this up e.g overheating or smoke or loss of coolant. they had the car for about 15 days and said they were waiting on a new engine, when I had the car back there was a knock when I was driving which was the track rod ends hadn't been tightened up and a oil leak, they sorted these problems. after 14,000 miles of troble free motoring on the new engine it just started smoking really bad to a point you couldn't see out of the rear window and it just died (no power at all). it was sent to a local ford dealership and stated the cylinder head had cracked but was not coverd under warrenty as it had been over 12 months since the replacement engine, so I sorced a new one and low and behold its still doing it. I had the old engine stripped down by a local garage but he said he couldn't see anything visually worng. this is when my susspicians arose. so until now my lovely car has been sat on the drive unable to get any answers on what has happened just going mouldy. I know these have water cooled turbos so I am tempted to replace this and see if it might be the cause but as its only the housing that's cooled bu water I don't really see how this could be the solution.

 

[mikeyd1]

Hope u get this sorted mate it seems u have been really unlucky but hopefully ur luck has changed as it comes in 3s.👍

[fiesta88]

Thank you mikeyd1, iam truly frustrated, I may charge the battery and take it to fords and ask them to look at it again I really don't understand what it can be, I mean to loose a full coolant tank in 5 mins is a lot of water to go through the engine without any overheating or warning symbols.

 

[mikeyd1]

Proper feel for ya. I think u should charge battery refill with coolent and go from there. Hopefully its just burn off as diesal pig said. Fingers crossed for ya mate 

[fiesta88]

umm, ive tested the engine a few times and its the same outcome everytime, huge amouts of white smoke/steam out the exhaust everytime it is like a smoke screen iven never seen anything like it, plus its on contract hire so every month iam paying 200 quid its just turned into a money pit.

[Brevis]

It must be a massive coolant leak if it drains it in 5 minutes. And it goes thru the engine, thats were the smoke comes from. It has all the characteristics if a detective head gasket or cracked head. 

It is however unlikely that two engines in a row exibit the exact same symptoms like that. Did you reuse the turbo from engine 2 to 3? Being water cooled, and if its cracked somewhere, the coolant Will be fed directly thru the engine and fast at that. 

I suspect a faulty turbo. 

[fiesta88]

yes I used the turbo form the second engine to the third I was suspecting this in the first instance but I spoke to a guy from a turbo specialist and he said that the bearing housing is cooled by water and would highly doubt it would be the fault, but my thoughts are I don't think pumaspeed would give me a dodgy engine but you never know. i did contact them in the first instance and he assured me that the engine was sound and there was no fault known.

[The Undertaker]

I'm a coach driver by trade and have had quite a few turbo's blown on me. It always blows out tons of white smoke when they let go. Maybe worth checking down this route again. Hope this is some help, good luck.

[dave_k]

What a very unusual and extreme set of circumstances you've had, with you now on to the third engine! good luck and keep us posted on the outcome.

[Tdci-Peter]

2 hours ago, fiesta88 said:

I used the turbo form the second engine to the third

Without seeing the turbo construction, it is hard to tell whether a crack or break could allow water into either the compressor side, or the turbine side. But as these units are quite compact, I would have thought there would be some points where the water jacket is adjacent to one side or the other, if not both.

Have you check the oil for emulsion or water? Inside the crankcase breather hoses is a good place to look, as well as the dipstick & filler cap. This is a typical sign of a leaking head gasket, or cracked head. I think I would drain the oil out anyway, it is likely to be contaminated by now.

Then I think I would disconnect the turbo water hoses, disconnect the intercooler from the turbo, and rig up a system so I could pressurise the turbo water jacket with mains water (without pressurising the engine). If water flows into it, it will either come out the exhaust, or out of the inlet side. If the turbo is ok, no water will flow, and it will not do the turbo any harm.

With a leak that bad, it should be possible to determine whether it is the turbo or engine.

There may be another leak point: Does the car have an EGR cooler? This is a water jacketed pipe from exhaust to egr valve? Most diesels have this, I am not sure about Ecoboosts. I have seen releases saying the 4 cylinder Ecoboosts do have EGR coolers, so the 3 cylinder 1l one may also.

If there is a Lot of water in the oil, it could be the oil cooler, if your car has a water cooled one. But the leak seems to be into the air side of the engine (inlet, head, exhaust etc), rather than into the oil side (crankcase). Though some water will pass by the pistons into the oil from above.

 

[iantt]

no egr on 1.0 ecoboost.

[fiesta88]

Td-ci peter thank you for your input, I am going to have a good look this weekend hopefully and I may post a video on here if I can so you can see what I am up against. is it possible to post videos?

[Tdci-Peter]

49 minutes ago, fiesta88 said:

is it possible to post videos?

i can answer that quite firmly: Don't know

Most people seem to upload the vid to YouTube or somewhere, then put a link in.

May be worth a try to the "Drag files here to attach" section of the posting window! (Don't make it too huge though!)

[fiesta88]

here is a link to the video, please excuse the spelling as my 12 year old uploaded it for me.

 

[Peterjones]

That's oil burning in the turbo. That is deffo something wrong with the turbo.

However ....

Why are you even trying to sort it? If it's as you have said, your covered by consumer laws as the item has to be "fit for purpose". Quite simply I'd be pursuing this in court knowing I'd win a case like this if followed through properly.

Also you mention that you have it on finance - you have even more rights. It's not your problem to put right. Get on to the finance company and tell them that your not happy and get them to get it sorted.

Failing that , seek some legal advice as it could be the best advice you ever get.

[TomsFocus]

Was all the oil/water removed form the intercooler and exhaust before the new engine went in?

[fiesta88]

as the m.o.t is due the finance company were asking for documentation to show it had been done but I did explain the situation to them but they didn't want anything to do with it they have since sent me a bill for the car to purchase it and I have now paid that. ford are useless and quite frankly I don't want the hastle of having to go through court as I have replaced the engine myself this time as I was over the 12 month period from the last replacement. if it is the turbo then I shall just buy one and be done with it and my partner can have this car for herself. I am quite releved that you think its the turbo as they are not too expensive, maybe I should now replace this.

[Tdci-Peter]

2 hours ago, fiesta88 said:

here is a link to the video

What does that smoke smell like?

It looks too white to be engine oil, unless unburnt. Burnt oil is grey/black and smells awful, unburnt oil will smell oily.

Coolant will smell of anti-freeze (if you have anti-freeze in it, of course)

Un-burnt diesel also produces whitish smoke, but will smell oily/dieselly. Burnt diesel smoke is black.

Before splashing out on a turbo, you should try to test whether it is the fault.

If the smoke is steamy / anti-freezey, and the coolant is going down, try the pressure test on the Turbo water jacket that I suggested above. I think water leaks in Turbo's are rare, and Turbo's are expensive. So even though it seems the obvious common link, it really needs checking first.

Peter.

[fiesta88]

i really couldn't tell you what it smells like but I took the car for a good spin yesterday and gave it a bit of welly down a duel carridge way and the smoke seems to have subsided? I also took it out today and again there wasn't any smoke. really don't know what is going on now.