Owners of Ford vehicles fitted with the 1.0 litre and 1.6 litre EcoBoost engines have had to pay out thousands of pounds for repair work on their engines, due to a known fault that had a safety recall notice in America in 2014.
The problem dates back to 2012 and relates to an overheating issue which could lead to the car catching fire, or a catastrophic engine failure. It took until January 2018 for Ford UK to issue a recall notice, and until that point, owners were faced with settling the repair bill themselves – up to £8,000.
Separate problems
Despite both problems resulting in an overheated engine, Ford says that they aren’t related; the smaller of the engines suffering from a coolant hose problem, the 1.6 litre affected by localised heat and cracking cylinder heads.
With that said, some owners of the 1.0 litre EcoBoost have reported issues with their cylinder head, but that could entirely be a result of the overheating – many owners claiming that they’ve driven the car until it wouldn’t drive further.
The problem has been highlighted by an investigation by the BBC’s Inside Out programme; it found that hundreds of owners have paid to have their cars repaired, or traded-in at a loss due to Ford’s lack of acknowledgement of the problem. Even when that acknowledgement came, Ford was offering some customers a goodwill gesture of just 55% of the repair bill. It has since stated that all repairs will be covered by them, providing that they fit within the scope of the problem. This will be retrospectively applied.
Legal action #1
Law firm Roscoe Reid is talking to the members of the Facebook group ‘Ford EcoBoost Nightmare’ and others to investigate whether there are grounds for a Group Legal Action (GLA) against Ford, it says that this could potentially cost the U.S. car giant around £1 billion in legal fees and compensation, as this isn’t just about a failed product.
Ford has known about the inherent danger particularly associated with the cylinder head cracking, as this leads to hot oil spraying on to engine components and catching fire, in some cases, owners have reported their car being engulfed in flames within minutes of the first sign of trouble.
Ford did issue a recall notice for the 1.0 litre engine in March of 2015, and it says that 96% of the 44,682 affected cars have been fixed, but that it wasn’t classified as a safety issue due to the fact that a driver would be warned if the car were overheating, therefore they’d have time to take action. The question must be asked regarding the cracking cylinder heads on the 1.6 EcoBoost though?
With Ford issuing a recall notice in the U.S. back in 2014, you’d have to wonder how successful they’d be in fighting any GLA from the UK consumers – the EcoBoost Facebook group has over 3,300 members currently, and they estimate that nearly half have suffered a problem directly relating to the issues stated.
Affected cars
As has already been pointed out, Ford says that a great many of the affected 1.0-litre cars have already been fixed under their warranty or recall notice, but they’re contacting the 15,600 owners of the 1.6 EcoBoost engined cars to arrange a fix.
The cars affected are:
The 1.0 Litre 3-Cylinder Turbocharged EcoBoost engined cars such as the Fiesta and Focus manufactured between October 2011 through to October 2013, and the 1.6 Litre EcoBoost fitted to the Focus (from 2010) along with the C-Max and Kuga, and from 2012 onwards, the Fiesta ST.
If you’re unsure as to whether your car is affected, or has been recalled, your local Ford dealer will be able to give you the information you need or book your recall slot. In all honesty, there is very little you can do personally, aside from perhaps avoiding getting the car too hot. Equally, if you’ve already been faced with a bill for repairing your car because of this issue, you should talk to your dealer about reparation.
If you carry a fire extinguisher for just such an emergency, the safest advice is to ignore the fire and get yourself to a safe distance – do not open the bonnet; more often than not, the very act of opening the bonnet to fight the fire allows oxygen in to the engine bay, which feeds the fire. Leave it to the professionals.
If your car does start to overheat, don’t press on regardless – find a safe place to stop and let the engine cool naturally. Do not be tempted to aid the process with a liquid, and do not open the expansion cap – the water is beyond boiling temperature, and the system is pressurised.
Have you suffered any of these issues? Did you have to pay for them personally? What are your experiences of the Ford customer service? Let us know in the comments.
I’ve heard that it’s the clutch slipping that causes the overheating. It seems that , if you’re lucky, the clutch fails first and only costs you £1500!
Ford – say no more…….
Wash your mouth out. Ford are a superb manufacturer. That is why they could produce a 325bhp Focus, but didn’t imagine that having floating cylinders, when at top chat the cylinder head will get very hot, expand and allow coolant to leak into the combustion chamber. Thankfully, they solved the problem by retro-fitting an extra thick head gasket hoping that it will keep the water inside.
Ford galaxy power shift auto transmission also have major problems it costs owners thousands of pounds to have it repaired each time but they keep on building the same transmissions in newer models. They couldn’t care less about customers
In Australia they refer to that transmission by removing the letter ‘f’…
The power shift box is a manual box with a auto change system connected to it the main issue is not changing the oil at the correct intervals which results in swarf sticking to the magnetic sensors in the box so it can’t see what gear is selected and therefore starts missing gears or sticking in gears
Poor maintenance is the most common issue
is this issue for diesel or petrol ?
Petrol engines only.
Ford have been compensating for this fault. It was on last week. Pug monkey you need to find another mechanic to do your repairs £1500 for a clutch?
Hi all, i have had the recall for the regas pipe as part of a ford service when it first came to light.. But i have had the same regas pipe crack and fail again along with the expansion tank this year. I could smell antifreeze in the engine bay. The .ford dealer would not cover the cost of parts or repairs due to the regas pipe splitting and failing again,the expansion tank had a hair line crack underneath these engines run extremely hot, regas pipe out of warranty!! Luckily I repaired it my self with ford parts it’s due for it annual service with ford in October 2018, with the clutch recall cheers gary ( Ford 1.0 125 focus 2012)
Bottom line don’t buy a Ford built quality shit engines s**t that’s what happens when Ford America Ford takes over Europe Ford
Ford telling customers ‘too bad’? Well, that is a surprise.
Yet another example of motor manufacturers’ arrogance.
Buy a bicycle: you can inspect all its components. Go for a cheap one with a steel frame: aluminium and carbon fibre frames are lighter but susceptible to fatigue. Cyclists avoid road tax, parking charges, ever-increasing fuel and car dealer’s servicing costs. Most bicycle repairs are easy DIY jobs. Theft cover is usually included in your household insurance, Third Party insurance is optional and about £20/year. If you’re a train-commuter, get two cheap bikes, use one between home and the local station, the other between the destination station and work. Many stations have secure covered parking for bicycles.
and you get rained on regularly, an will find it almost impossible to ride in frost, ice, snow and especially in strong winds…. plus that saddle will really hurt when you bounce through a pot hole or two, or three….but you could always use the bus…! You will find the timetable in the local library under fiction!
Oh, and make sure you have massive security for your cycle… or some member of the local under priviliged will borrow it and you end up walking anyway.
And don’t forget all the pollution you’re sucking into your lungs as you pedal hard along your daily commute. A lot of city cyclist commuters are going to fall prey to lung disease in the future. Wear a good breathing mask!!
Plus you risk getting wiped out by buses that never look when they pull out, or car drivers pre-occupied in traffic as they are too bust texting.
The older guys may remember the Ford Pinto crash fire scandal of the 70’s.
They are still at it: theUK and Australian versions of the latest Mustang do not have the same level of safety equipment – seatbelt pre-tentioners etc – as the US versions.
I do, cheaper to compensate than change design and production lines!
Buy a Kia ,as I did. Seven years to find it problems but there weren’t any. Year eight an ABS sensor went in rear near side which cost me £450 but otherwise been the most reliable and dependable car that I have ever owned. I also have a 55 plate petrol Mondeo which has been good but sills have a bubble at 13 years -one year after the bodywork warranty ended. Well played Henry.
Korean cars are good. I’ve owned two Hyundai cars and found them to be very reliable.
Why didn’t you make the same comment about the Kia. #onthebandwagon
I have a 2012 Grand CMAX with 1.9 diesel engine. Been driving for 45 years had numerous cars but for the first time had clutch go at 50000 miles. Later had problem with Turbo boost and cruise control. Total cost at main dealer £4000 . Used to work in warranty and policy dept at Ford offices in Warley in my youth but they refused to make any payment for what I understand is a common set of problems. Lesson learned. Lousy customer relations and poor quality car. Will never buy a Ford ever again. Niether her will the rest of the family.
Lots of problems with the PowerShift but still not acknowledg ed in Europe
I live in the Philippines and bought a secondhand Focus turbodiesel with the Powershift gearbox. So far the gearbox has cost me more than half of what I paid for the car and, though it is more or less OK now, I don’t trust it. The Ford dealer wanted to replace the entire gearbox at a price double what the car is worth. Fortunately, I found a guy who knows how to repair the Powershift gearbox (so much so that Ford dealers go to him sometimes). Ford have settled a class action lawsuit over the similar Fiesta gearbox in USA, are being sued in Australia and have replaced some similar boxes in Thailand but elsewhere they expect the customer to shoulder the bills for their defective products. The latest Focus uses a different autobox, basically a manual with an auto clutch.
In Australia & US big action legal on Powershift. I was told it was made by different manufacturer in UK. Lots of problems here.
Shame on Ford. This type of issue appears to be common with all manufacturers. VW are still to make amends for their fraudulent behaviour yet they have paid out in the States. Perhaps this another “benefit” to being in the EU???
Ford cars were once called “Dagenham Dustbins ” no longer made there but has much changed .??
They had no choice but to improve or go out of business, but they did not improve enough. The spend more money on marketing than on quality. Look at Jaguar Landrover, when Ford sold them to Tata there where huge improvements.
FORD Fix Or Repair Daily.
My Daughter in-law has had a recall for her Fiesta over 6 weeks ago! She is still waiting for parts. The car has been back to the dealer 3 times and they still not got the parts! Big joke!
Its 9 years since I was last in a Ford dealership, in Berwick upon Tweed, and because I pulled up in an M reg Ford Probe (V6) was completely ignored by the sales staff. I was looking for a Motability car, so have had 2 brand new people carriers since. We keep them 5 years because of the hoist we have fitted for my wife’s mobility scooter, we will be looking for a 3rd new car next year and Ford are most definitely not on my list.
Had a similar issue in 2014, arrived home from a 60 mile journey to find 1.6 engine overheating and water a brown oily consistency. Vehicle was 1 month out of warranty. Ford would not confirm if they would repair the car at no cost, not prepared to risk ford charging me a fortune and needing the car for work, my brother worked at a garage and one of there mechanics replaced the engine for £2250 purchasing a new engine of the internet for £1850.
FORD stands for ,,,, Fix Or Repair Daily,, and that is a fact, bought a RS2000 in 1990 nothing but trouble from day one got rid after 12 months. have a Ford Motor Home Transit MK7 based. 8500 miles the rubber mounted pully wheel sheered, CD palyer broke around same time and the AC switch, and the ac motor, just out of warranty FORD DID NOT WANT TO KNOW, since then EGR valve, Starter motor, Calipers front and rear, abs rings nad now again abs rings , circlip came off rod between the turbo and the switch unit nearly blew up the turbo. Reversing switch went faulty. basically a heap of rubbish only covered to date 31,000 miles !!!!!!!!
FORD FIX OR REPAIR DAILY FORD
32 comments. Not all from owners. How many cars do Ford sell in the U.K. every year and how many is the total Ford ‘car park’?
It does not help if owners are constantly topping up the coolant but not getting to the bottom of the problem!! It won’t fix itself and will only get worse and causes the catastrophic failure that we are now seeing
As for the 1.6 engine it’s the head that’s cracking on the oil gallery and the resulting oil leak ends up on the red hot catalyst and catches fire
Focus 1.0 ecoboost Jan2013. Recall on degas hose done July 15 engine went Dec16 30800mileswith no warning and temp gauge still at midway point !50% goodwill from Ford!! Since then had to replace coolant reservoir tank cracks (leaking), Heater matrix pipe ‘O’ rings failed leaking coolant to drivers footwell all due to excessive heat produced and design with coolant system ! Ford now will reimburse but there is a catch that no further claims or repairs will be carried out on coolant system or engine overheating and will not admit any liability to the known issues .
It’s not just the one litre Ecoboost’s up to October 2013. Mine is a one litre 2014 Ecoboost and the degas hose went leading to engine failure. Ford contributed 65% of the costs but that still left me with a bill of over £1450!
My car a 2013 1.0l c Max suffered catastrophic engine failure last year despite us having taking it to ford several times with problems. After fitting a new water pump problems persisted and it went back several times undiagnosed. It eventually suffered major engine failure. I could not afford the £5000 quoted for a new engine so had no other option other than to sell to the garage for scrap value. They paid £2800. I still owed £6000 on finance and am still paying that off for a car I no longer own.
For anybody interested in the tremendous engineering and design quality of Ford Ecoboost engines and Powershift transmissions, I recommend the AutoExpertTV channel on Youtube. It’s Australian and they know about overheating problems there – some great footage of cars engulfed in flames (with literally zero prior warning to the drivers). A flimsy cylinder bore design and inherently failure-prone head gasket were implicated in the engine faliures – Ford addressed the head gasket problem, but the flimsy cylinder bores (they literally wobble…) are still a worry, particularly in higher-power versions.
I had a faulty ignition switch on my Ford Fiesta 1.6 TDCI . FORD took almost one month to repair car charged me over £2000 to fit a new engine management chip. Customer service was non existent, appeals to Ford UK achieved nothing. Having driven Fords for 35+ years sold Ford and am driving. Mercedes. Will never ever buy another Ford…
Grand c max 1.6 ecoboost 2011 went boom. Ford say not our problem, customer service terrible. Never buy ford again!
I took my 63-reg Grand C-Max to my local Ford dealer for some routine pre-holiday work in July; and was surprised to be told that they were doing recall work on the cooling system – for which I hadn’t asked and about which they hadn’t told me when I took the car in! They didn’t charge me, but it was tiresome as I needed the car next day for a trip to Yorkshire, and it wasn’t ready in time. The solution? After lengthy discussion, they let me take their Fiesta courtesy car to Yorks! But at no point did I realize how serious this problem potentially was
I bought a brand new TDDCI 1.5 Ford Fiesta in January 2014 in Portugal, Madeira Island. It has only 40.000km and during the last 5 years it occurred problems with the cooling tank, having to be towed. During that time I had to replace the battery and the the cooling tank, never suspecting there was an actual problem with car, trusting a 100% in Ford . Just after my 5 year guaranty expired, my car had to be towed again and Ford representative just then asked permission to open the engine to let me know that i need a new engine. I will repeat, my car has 5 years with 40.000km.
I will never trust Ford again.
Had coolant issues and had to replace engine. This safety recall has nothing to do with the clutch issues, they had 2 safety recall, one for coolant and one clutch. Our car has been in for repair and it still isn’t right , we want the money back that we paid out for a new engine!