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Ford of Europe designer Stefan Lamm joins VW’s Seat brand
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Ford’s German production to raise as demand rebounds
January 20, 2015 By Sean
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Ford blames coolant system for 1.6-liter EcoBoost engine fires
Ford Motor says that it has pinpointed the cause of overheating in the 2013 Fusion sedans and Escape crossovers with a 1.6-liter EcoBoost engine, ending a mystery that began with a big recall last week. It says the issue can be fixed with a simple software update.
Starting next week, North American owners of the 89,153 vehicles recalled will be urged to go to a Ford dealer to have the car’s electronic controls “flashed” with new software aimed at ensuring the cooling system won’t allow the turbocharged engine to dangerously overheat.
Ford was forced to order the recall but could not immediately pinpoint a cause or say how it was going to fix it. In the recall announcement, owners were urged to contact Ford dealers to arrange for loaner cars until the problem could be fixed.
The problem, it turns out, was a combination of two issues, says Raj Nair, Ford’s vice president of global product development. “We had a sequence of events that caused the cooling system software to restrict coolant flow,” he says.
Most of the time, he says, that would not be a big deal. But if the car has another cooling system issue that could result in low pressure, such as a loose filler cap or a pinhole-size puncture in a hose, the coolant could boil. If the coolant boils over, the engine goes into extreme overheating, which can result in fluids leaking, coming into contact with the hot exhaust system and potentially causing a fire. Ford said it has seen 12 fires in Escapes and one in a Fusion.
Ford engineers found that in certain conditions, coolant was being directed into the radiator to be cooled, but briefly – such as for 15 seconds – was not flowing back into the engine.
That, too, normally is not a problem – the engine easily can handle the very short time without coolant return. But, again, if another issue has resulted in low pressure, the coolant level is insufficient.
The software flash will ensure that water is not directed into the radiator unless the thermostat is open. While cars have had heat issues since the dawn of the automotive age, the ability to fix them by sending new instructions to computers that control every facet of an engine’s operation shows how automakers are incorporating the latest technology.
Nair says the repair will take about half a day. Mechanics will check the car’s cooling system to make sure the car has not overheated already.
Nair says Ford has full faith in the 1.6-liter EcoBoost engine, which has been used in Europe since 2010. More than 80,000 have been made in Europe, where there have been no recalls but where the engine has a different cooling system.