Rats....Ford recall

murphey

murphey

Touchdown! Greaser!
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murphey
Just got the notice about the possible engine fire, but of course, there's no recourse (parts) at this time. I'm not going to drive Denver-OSH RT with the open recall. No interest in getting stuck someplace in the middle. Everyone I've checked with either already has a ride (or is flying) or isn't going. I have a never-breakable rule of 5 hrs in the air by myself, and it's 7 hrs without the fuel stop.

Hm...perhaps United to NYC and a week of theatre instead.
 
Amtrak, Denver to Chicago. Much more comfortable than driving, anyway.
 
NoHeat said:
Amtrak, Denver to Chicago. Much more comfortable than driving, anyway.
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I love trains in Europe! Amtrak…ok to meh depending on far too many variables.
With a 6 hr layover in CHI, then short trip to MKE then rent a car. Did that in 2012 or 2013 with sleeper, which was great. Except, AC died about 4 hrs outside of CHI. Downside…Amtrak does not have right of way and delays like crazy. Missed the train to MKE, had to take the later one, didn’t get to OSH until midnight. Couldn’t get a car in CHi either. Only method I haven’t used is motorcycle, not gonna, either.
 
Were you planning to drive to Oshkosh? It’s fun to fly into. 7 hours is long, plan a stopover?
 
mandm said:
Were you planning to drive to Oshkosh? It’s fun to fly into. 7 hours is long, plan a stopover?
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Out of the many trips over the years, flown in 3 times. 8 hrs if you add the fuel stop. Staying over someplace makes it no cheaper than flying Unitd. Don’t need that much fun this year. Had the car almost a year but havent’t driven it at high speed ( over 60 ) for more than 30-40 min. This would be the first road trip.

Believe me, I’ve looked at the options. I also need to research this recall. There was another, last year this time, with similar issues. I need to check if the fix last year solved this problem and I got the letter anyway.
 
If you've already owned it for this long, the chances of it bursting into flames all of a sudden are probably pretty slim. Recalls tend to be on the conservative side of things these days after the whole takata airbag scandal. You'll probbaly be fine driving it.
 
This recall is:

"On your vehicle, the engine could fail prematurely. In the event of an engine failure, significant quantities of engine oil and/or fuel vapor may be released into the under hood [sic] environment and may migrate to and/or accumlate near ignition sources"

"Enginer failure is expected to produce loud noises (example: metal-to-metal clank) audile to the vehicle's occupants. An engine failure will also result in a reduction in available engine power."

"You should safely park and shut off the engine as promptly as possible upon hearing unexpected engine noises, after experiencing a reduction in available engine power, or if smoke is observed emanating from the engine compartment"


I'm not sure which engines it applies to, does it apply to all engines in the Escape or ? I have a gas-electric hybrid (2020).

edit: 2.5L HEV/PHEV engines are the ones affected. Don't know how many fires have already occurred.
 
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FORD use to stand for “Fix Or Repair Daily”, I haven’t owned one in decades, have they changed?
 
So... "If you hear loud noises coming from your engine (which would no doubt be accompanied by other symptoms) then stop driving before it catches on fire."

Seems like good advice all around.

MooneyDriver78 said:
FORD use to stand for “Fix Or Repair Daily”, I haven’t owned one in decades, have they changed?
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What, the 60s? 70s? We've owned various Ford products for decades. With the sole exception of the '88 Aerostar minivan they've been exemplary. My 2011 Ecoboost powered F150 hasn't seen the inside of a repair shop since it was new for anything mechanical (I did have to replace a seat heater grid once).
 
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Bob Noel said:
edit: 2.5L HEV/PHEV engines are the ones affected. Don't know how many fires have already occurred.
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The one article I read said there had been 28 fires, 5 of which happened after last year's recall.
 
Bob Noel said:
This recall is:

"On your vehicle, the engine could fail prematurely. In the event of an engine failure, significant quantities of engine oil and/or fuel vapor may be released into the under hood [sic] environment and may migrate to and/or accumlate near ignition sources"

"Enginer failure is expected to produce loud noises (example: metal-to-metal clank) audile to the vehicle's occupants. An engine failure will also result in a reduction in available engine power."

"You should safely park and shut off the engine as promptly as possible upon hearing unexpected engine noises, after experiencing a reduction in available engine power, or if smoke is observed emanating from the engine compartment"


I'm not sure which engines it applies to, does it apply to all engines in the Escape or ? I have a gas-electric hybrid (2020).

edit: 2.5L HEV/PHEV engines are the ones affected. Don't know how many fires have already occurred.
Click to expand...

In other words, the engine has to blow up before there’s a risk for fire. There is always a risk for fire when an engine blows up, so this is nothing special in my opinion and anyone who has been around an engine that blows up knows to anticipate a fire.

Im surprised this is even a discussion on an aviation board, where the risks taken in flying are far greater than the risk of fire associated with this recall or engines blowing up in general.
 
MooneyDriver78 said:
FORD use to stand for “Fix Or Repair Daily”, I haven’t owned one in decades, have they changed?
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I've got an '02 Ranger that has over 212,000 miles. Runs great, AC is cold, heat is hot, radio plays, and the cruise still works somedays. :D

On the other hand, we had a 2012 Focus and I couldn't get that junk out of the yard fast enough ...
 
2-Bit Speed said:
That's possible?
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Yep....I'm 30 miles from the airport (hangar) on the interstate. I've had it faster but we shan't discuss that.
I'm on the interstate (in rush hour traffic) from home to downtown for work.
Everything else is local.

That's about it.
 
Daleandee said:
I've got an '02 Ranger that has over 212,000 miles. Runs great, AC is cold, heat is hot, radio plays, and the cruise still works somedays. :D

On the other hand, we had a 2012 Focus and I couldn't get that junk out of the yard fast enough ...
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My Merc (Ford) was 15 yrs old, over 250K miles but the transmission died and the engine was on it's last legs. I got my money's worth. I had a Mazda CX-3 for a year, no acceleration, handled very well but very uncomfortable for an aging, overweight pilot. Traded it in for the Escape. Much happier. Plus more room in the back for gear.
 
mondtster said:
In other words, the engine has to blow up before there’s a risk for fire. There is always a risk for fire when an engine blows up, so this is nothing special in my opinion and anyone who has been around an engine that blows up knows to anticipate a fire.

I'm surprised this is even a discussion on an aviation board, where the risks taken in flying are far greater than the risk of fire associated with this recall or engines blowing up in general.
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The discussion started because I received the letter on Friday, and this impacts going to AirVenture. Definitely aviation.

There was a previous recall (last summer) in the same vein: fuel injector can crack, which may lead to an underhood fire. Here's the fix:

"To complete the recall repair, your Ford Dealership will update the engine control software and install a drain tube. The updated software detects a pressure drop in the fuel rail and will provide a dashboard message instructing customers to seek service if the pressure drops. This update will also automatically reduce engine power if a pressure drop is detected. This minimizes the risk of fire and gives drivers time to find a safe location, stop the vehicle and call for service. The drain tube drains fuel from the cylinder head and away from hot surfaces."

Of course my car wasn't subject to the previous recall, which was for the 1.5 engines, and I've got the 2.5 HEV engine. But they did it anyway.
 
murphey said:
My Merc (Ford) was 15 yrs old, over 250K miles but the transmission died and the engine was on it's last legs. I got my money's worth. I had a Mazda CX-3 for a year, no acceleration, handled very well but very uncomfortable for an aging, overweight pilot. Traded it in for the Escape. Much happier. Plus more room in the back for gear.
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Looking at new(er) vehicles now. A friend has an Escape (2022 I think) and it's a fine vehicle. I'm not a fan of FWD and avoid it if I can. I guess it's gonna be another RWD pickup ...
 
Daleandee said:
Looking at new(er) vehicles now. A friend has an Escape (2022 I think) and it's a fine vehicle. I'm not a fan of FWD and avoid it if I can. I guess it's gonna be another RWD pickup ...
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Mine's the hybrid, AWD. Great acceleration, handles just fine and more important, very comfortable. The Mazda wasn't.
 
murphey said:
The discussion started because I received the letter on Friday, and this impacts going to AirVenture. Definitely aviation.
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My point was, the risks associated with flying to air venture are far higher than what I believe the risks of fire are from this recall since it sounds like the engine needs to blow up before there is a problem.

I wouldn’t lose any sleep over this nor would I quit driving the car. I’d just get it taken care of when I had time.
 
So what's Ford stand for?

F---er Only Runs Downhill

But seriously that sucks. Had 2 recalls on my service truck. One for the block heater plug getting corroded....but they didn't have a fix. So they just cut the plug ends and siliconed it up. That was nice not having a block heater all winter when we had -20s for a bit.
 
My wife drives a 2016 Edge with the 2.0 Ecoboost. 85k miles, no issues aside from stupid recalls. Even has the original brakes.
 
Well, for me, Ford was everything. Dad was one of the fleet mgrs for Ford. So Ford paid the mortgage, food, utilities, everything. Half my undergraduate expenses (I had to pay the other half, and grad school was all mine). Other than Mom's old Buick (which was a land yacht) and the Mazda (because my cousin the car geek "highly" recommended it) I've always driven Ford/Merc products. Cousin profusely apologized (groveled) about the Mazda - not only had he never driven one, he'd never even been in one - he based everything on the reviews. He had to drive one from Reno to SFO early this year, and hated it.

It's so much easier to walk into the dealership, find the fleet mgr, hand Dad's card - no negotiations, no hassles, here's the fleet price and I hand them the phone number of the credit union rep (financing already set up) and once the paperwork is done, out the door.

Unfortunately last summer was the time of being screwed to the wall with the premiums, addons (no matter how many times I said no) and so on. Of course the advantage of the knowing the business - addons are refunded after complaint to the dealer's parent company about the tactics.

I really hate the multi-model corporate ownership that's happened in the business. I couldn't find a single-owner dealership anywhere within reasonable distance. But that really doesn't matter - the dealership never saw and will never see me again. All the work will be done at the Lincoln dealer, one of the few independents around. I like the shop and they don't screw around.

In my case, it was the sports car type of seats in the SUVs. Great for younger, "smaller" drivers. Not so great for aging, growing-middle-waist populace. Found measurements - the Escape seats are 2 in. wider than the CX-3 (and I assume all the CX models). The Mazda sedans might be more comfortable, but I was looking at the SUVs.

Yes, I'm bored. Finally got the BFR done yesterday (5 weeks late due to schedules and my knee surgery) but it's too hot right now to go flying right now. Later in the week when it we get back to monsoon season.
 
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