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PSA: That weird coolant leak on the 2017 Ford Escape 1.5L might be the turbo coolant line
Just had one in the bay that took me a solid 4 hours to actually find. Customer came in saying they were losing coolant but no puddle. Pressure test held fine, no smoke, nothing obvious. I was about to start pulling the intake looking for a head gasket issue when I finally spotted a tiny bit of crusty pink residue way down behind the turbo. The factory clamp on the small coolant feed line to the turbo housing had just barely given up. It was only leaking under full boost pressure when the engine was hot, so it would just vaporize instantly. Replaced the clamp and the short section of hose, problem solved. Has anyone else run into this on the EcoBoosts? Seems like a sneaky one that could send you down a rabbit hole.
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james6723mo ago
The plastic quick-connect on the 2.0L coolant line to the oil cooler is just as bad. It gets brittle from the heat cycles and weeps right where you can't see it. I've had three come through the shop with that slow seep, always losing about a cup of coolant between oil changes. It fools you because it looks dry from above.
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matthew_wilson223mo ago
Yeah, chased that exact leak on a Fusion last month.
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You're going to bat for that plastic quick connect design? Man, I gotta push back hard on that one. I've pulled my hair out over those things on Fords. That little plastic clip gets brittle after a few heat cycles and then you're chasing a drip that looks like it's coming from everywhere and nowhere. @matthew_wilson22 I bet you spent half a day on that Fusion just like I did, swapping the whole line and still wondering if it's gonna hold. The metal connectors on the older models might be more of a pain to get off, but at least they don't crack and leave you stranded on the side of the road with a puddle of coolant. I'll take a threaded metal fitting that takes a little elbow grease over a plastic handshake that's a ticking time bomb any day of the week.
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