My check engine light came on and I brought my 2018 Ford Escape to a mechanic. I then learned that coolant was leaking into the engine and causing the spark plugs to misfire. Ford had a bulletin on this issue but refused to perform any repairs on it (they recommended a full engine replacement). I contacted both Ford's customer service line and spoke to the service department at the dealership. Both said they could do nothing to help. I researched this issue and discovered that it is common in this make and model. I do not wish to pay the $10,000 it would cost to replace the engine on my own. I fear that this vehicle may overheat and fail for me on the highway with the loss of engine coolant or the misfire of the spark plugs.
2018 Ford Escape engine complaints
Page 37 of 50: complaints 1,061 to 1,090 of 1,458, newest first, as owners wrote them.
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle shuddered, and a burning odor was detected. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, who replaced the water pump and timing belt; however, the failure recurred. The vehicle was then taken to the dealer, where the spark plugs were replaced, but the failure persisted, and the vehicle hesitated to restart. The vehicle was towed to the dealer, where it was diagnosed that the failure was related to Customer Satisfaction Program: 21N12 (Short Block Replacement After Coolant Intrusion). The contact was referred to the manufacturer. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and a case was opened. The contact was informed that the VIN was included in Customer Satisfaction Program: 21N12 (Short Block Replacement After Coolant Intrusion); however, the vehicle exceeded the mileage limitations. The failure mileage was approximately 110,000.
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle was experiencing hard shifts and the transmission was slipping. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, who informed the contact that the failure was related to the transmission. The vehicle was taken to an unknown dealer, but the failure could not be duplicated. The vehicle was taken to another dealer, where it was diagnosed that an unknown transmission part had failed, but the vehicle was not repaired. The vehicle was taken to a transmission specialist, where the transmission fluid was flushed, and the failure ceased. The contact stated that the check engine warning light later illuminated. The vehicle was taken back to the transmission specialist, where it was diagnosed, and the contact was informed that the transmission fluid was abnormally dark. The transmission specialist replaced the valve control assembly, the solenoid valve blocks, the clutch drum 3-4-5. Additionally, the transmission fluid was flushed, and the transmission was reprogrammed. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and referred the contact to the dealer for repairs to reimbursed. The failure mileage was approximately 75,000.
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the check engine warning light was illuminated. Additionally, the vehicle stalled. The vehicle failed to restart and was towed to the dealer, where the radiator was repaired. The contact stated while driving 35-40 MPH, the vehicle jerked, and the check engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where it was diagnosed that there was coolant intrusion into the engine. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and informed the contact that they could not assist due to the mileage on the vehicle. The failure mileage was unknown.
Coolant leaking into engine
Car is experiencing coolant intrusion into cylinder of engine. Ford dealership in Orlando Florida is saying engine needs to be replaced. I'm reading that this issue is very common with this car. It was a safety hazzard for us because the car was running rough on a very busy highway. Had it towed to dealership.
The flex plate cracked in four places. I have images showing the cracks on the flex plate. The problem was confirmed by an independent service center. There were no warning lamps or messages, only a percussive tapping sound caused by the cracked flex plate. This issue could cause loss of control of the vehicle leading to an accident.
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Escape. The contact stated that the vehicle had experienced rough idling, with white smoke coming from the exhaust. The check engine warning light remained illuminated while driving. The vehicle was examined by the local mechanic who determined there was coolant inside the cylinder #3, which caused severe engine damage. The contact was informed that the engine needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not yet repaired. The manufacturer and the local dealer were notified of the failure, but no assistance was provided. The approximate failure mileage was 100,000.
I have ford escape 2018 S and I bought the car from koons ford silver spring MD. It is unfortunate whenever I drive the car for long hours ; suddenly the acceleration declines and the vehicle loose its power. And a strange click sound comes up and the check engine light on. Once I parked the car and the car cool down --the warning system disappear. I tried to contact the dealership and I was told my vehicle is not on recall list despite my vehicle have the same symptom--I bought this car very expensive and handle it with care and the car has only 5900 miles on it. Appreciate if you guys could investigate the case .
COOLANT LEAKING INTO ENGINE - I've owned this car for exactly 6 years tomorrow (2/20/24). It has 106k on the odometer. It's almost paid off and Ford tells me the coolant issue will be $10k to repair which is more than the car is worth, more than I owe on the car. They'll give me $500 to salvage it. Ford knows about this issue but won't cover it because my car is over 80k. Ridiculous. I will never buy another Ford product again.
this car had an engine light go off and there was a cylinder 2 misfire. When I brought it into the dealership they said that there is a known issue that the coolant is intruding into the motor. Ford knows about this as a problem and has a faulty design and avoided telling people about it. I only realized the thousands of people who are being put at risk of the engine blowing while driving it down the road. My car was not the only one at the dealership with the same exact problem. These cars need to be recalled and corrected
Prior to this, my had no issues and I had been driving it all day. When coming home from some errands, the engine light suddenly came on and and then my car began shutting off on the highway. We were in the middle lane with cars going 70 miles a hour with no power in our own car, putting us in extreme danger. We were able to get it to the side of the highway and go through a series of starting it, having it run for a mile or so, and then having the engine shut down again. We were able to get it to a Ford dealership and it was inspected. Our garage immediately knew to look at the coolant cylinder to see if it was cracked and leaking as they have seen this issue multiple times. It was, in fact, cracked and coolant was leaking into our engine. Both a Ford representative and the dealership confirmed this is an issue with multiple of these engines but no recall has been enacted. They suggested we write a complaint to the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration.
Coolant intrusion into motor. Coolant leak causing multiple misfires and my vehicle to lose power while driving and not to over 30mph. I have had the spark plugs, injectors, and coil packs all changed and problem persisted. Taking my car back to mechanic a test was done and there is coolant in the pistons.
Coolant has leaked into my engine block causing damage to the engine. I have brought my car into the dealership on 3 different occasions with the same issue only to be told that something else was wrong with my vehicle. The first time I brought my vehicle in, it was covered (unknown to me) by a special service bulletin. I believe that I was intentionally misled so that the repair would not have to be covered. The first incident was on or around 2/1/23, the second incident was on or around 5/1/23, the third around 10/1/23 and most recently on 2/13/24
I bought this car 8 months ago and one day it just wouldn’t start. the coolant leak has caused my engine to quit. I cannot afford to replace the engine, especially when ford knows this is an issue. My extended warranty also won’t cover it, the dealership said this is fords issue and they need to cover it. Ford has not issued a recall even though there is a service bulletin about it.
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the temperature gauge began to indicate that the engine was overheating, after which the vehicle inadvertently lost motive power. The contact was able to coast to the shoulder of the roadway, where the vehicle failed to restart. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, who diagnosed a failure with the cylinder water jacket, resulting in damage to the engine. The contact was informed that the engine needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 69,000.
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving 40 MPH, the check engine warning light started flickering and the vehicle vibrated and lost motive power upon depression of the accelerator pedal. The contact inspected the engine and discovered white rust on the spark plugs. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where a diagnostic machine showed an engine misfire in engine cylinders #3 and #4. Upon further inspection, the mechanic discovered coolant intrusion into engine cylinders #3 and #4. The dealer was notified of the failure and the contact was informed that there were no recalls on the vehicle. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 100,000.
While driving on the highway on [XXX] at normal highway speed, the instrumental panel suddenly displayed a warning to pull over and shut-off the engine. There were no prior indications of a malfunction. My daughter was alone on the highway shoulder with a car that instructed her to pull over and shut off the engine. After about 15 minutes, the car was restarted and driven to a near-by tire store. They noticed the coolant system was very low on coolant and topped it off. The next day, it was driven to Bob Maxey Ford in Howell, MI, where the codes P0217 (coolant over temp), P0303 (#3 misfire), P0316 (misfire on start), P1285 (cylinder over temp), P1299 (protection activated), P2601 (coolant pump A control circuit) were retrieved. The car has about 51K miles on it. That info was conveyed to Ford and authorization was quickly given by them to perform the engine block and head replacement process under the extended powertrain warranty I purchased when I bought the car. This is my 2nd occurrence with this failure mode with Escapes. The first occurred on a 2013 1.6 liter Escape in 2021 [XXX] ) with about 56K miles on it. I did not have warranty coverage and scrapped the car for $2700 (with good engine worth about $8K) since the remedy was more money that the car's worth. I think Ford should extend powertrain warranty coverage at no cost for all potentially affected Escape owners and refund the money paid by consumers to buy the extended coverage on potentially affected vehicles. Ford knew of this potential defect and its effects and was slow to fix it and by doing so exposed thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, of people like me to deal with the mess they created and allowed to continue. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
We purchased our 2018 Ford Escape used with 88,000 miles. At around 96,000 miles the check engine light came on and it threw the P0302 code for a misfire on cylinder 2. We took the car in to Greene Ford Co. in Gainesville, GA. They replaced the coil pack and sparkplug and the car ran well for ~10,000 miles before the check engine light came back on and the car started to sputter and run rough. Took it back to the Ford dealer and they informed us the cylinders were full of coolant and there was a leak allowing coolant to flood the engine block. They said the block was damaged and we would need to purchase a whole new engine. They also told us this was a very common complaint with certain Ford SUVs made in the late 2010s. Our car is completely unsafe to drive now and it almost left my wife stranded on the side of the road (luckily she was able to coast into the Ford dealership). Ford has known this is a problem for almost two years and has refused to do anything about it. This is dangerous and Ford should be required to pay for the repairs to a faulty engine they have install in thousands of cars.
Cylinder 3 cracked, needs a new long block. Car is at 100k miles. Needs a new engine.
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving 65 MPH, the temperature gauge began to indicate that the engine was overheating and was unable to accelerate above 30 MPH. There was a message to “Engine Overheating - Shut off Vehicle” displayed. The contact was able to pull over to the shoulder of the roadway to contact Roadside Assistance. Roadside Assistance arrived, and after a visual inspection of the engine compartment, observed a mixture of oil and coolant covering the engine. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic, who determined that coolant intrusion had damaged the engine, resulting in a cracked long block, and that the long block needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. After investigating the failure, the contact related the failure to Customer Satisfaction Program: 21N12. The VIN was included but the vehicle had already been repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure but referred the contact to the federal safety agency Hotline for assistance. The failure mileage was 82,000.
High engine temp notification came on, car would not accelerate. I pulled over and had it towed to the dealer. The dealer said the engine had a coolant intrusion so a new short block is needed. My warranty company denied my claim for the short block claiming this was a recall with ford [XXX] ) . Ford confirmed this was a VIN specific customer satisfaction program, and confirmed my VIN was not issued [XXX] and it is not included on my VIN. The warranty company refuses to pay since all 2018 ford escapes should be under [XXX] . Now I have a 10,000 engine repair estimate and ford or the warranty company will not replace my engine. I want to know why my VIN was left off [XXX] since it’s the same year and same manufacturer. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
On Dec 27, I was told my water pump was leaking after an oil change. I brought my car to the dealership for extended warranty repairs on January 18. After an expection it was confirmed the water pump was leaking but also there were other possible leaks of the coolant into the cylindars. And the entire motor would need replacing. There were no service lights / check engine lights on before this happened.
My engine threw a check engine light for code P0302, Misfire on Cylinder 2. Took it to two mechanics and had work done (Coilpack, Plugs, Wires, then Camshaft and Crankshaft sensors) before it was noted that there was coolant intrusion. Was alerted to Technical Service Bulletin 22-2134/Customer Satisfaction Program 21N12 for "Certain 2017 - 2019 Model Year Fusion and Escape Vehicles Equipped with a 1.5L GTDI Engine-Short Block Replacement After Coolant Intrusion. I took it to the dealer and the technician diagnosed it the same: coolant intrusion in cylinder #2. This is a common issue in EcoBoost (GTDI) engines that Ford has not issued a recall on, but did send out Customer Satisfaction Program. Did not receive notice for this. I have contacted Ford about compensating me for a new engine on a 6-year old car at 75,000 miles. Both meet the above CSP/TSB as less than 7 years/84,000 miles. Stated that US DOT/the federal safety agency did not include my VIN in the recall, so they won't offer no-cost replacement. I would like to request that the federal safety agency add my VIN to this recall so that I can have the engine replaced.
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving 62 MPH, the service engine light illuminated. While driving, the engine light started to flash, and the vehicle was running rough. The contact pulled off the roadway. The vehicle was taken to a tire center, but no assistance was provided. The vehicle was towed to the local dealer, where it was diagnosed that the head gasket had failed, and coolant had intruded into the engine. There was a misfire. The dealer recommended an engine replacement. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact called the manufacturer who opened a case and referred him to the federal safety agency Hotline. The contact stated that the failure was related to Customer Satisfaction Program: 21N12. The failure mileage was approximately 129,000.
My engine gave a warning, check engine light went on. I took it to the dealer and the mechanic said the engine failed due to coolant intrusion. Upon searching the issue, this is apparently a common issue in these ecoBoost engine cars that Ford has not issued a recall on, but did send out some satisfaction notice. I never received this notice for some reason. The notice indicates the need to monitor coolant leak, but I never noticed any and wasn't looking for it since I never received the notice. I have contacted Ford about compensating me for a new engine on a 5 year old car, to which they said no because my car is over 84,000 miles (it is as 85,487). I need Ford to recall this issue and frankly it should be criminal not to actively pursue a fix for a known huge and expensive issue that I honestly cannot afford to repair.
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving 40 MPH, there was an abnormal sound coming from the engine compartment. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, and it was determined that coolant intrusion had damaged the engine. After investigating the failure, the contact related the failure to Customer Satisfaction Program: 21N12, but the VIN was not included. The manufacturer was notified of the failure but referred the contact to the federal safety agency Hotline for assistance. The failure mileage was 72,000.
Coolant leaked into one of the Cylinders which is requiring major engine block repairs. It only has 80K miles on the car and is in great condition. No warnings happened before it almost overheated and threw a error code.
While driving this vehicle (~88,000 miles) on a route of ~100 miles, the car started shuddering / shaking at highway speed for 30 - 90 seconds every 10 - 15 minutes. I was 50 miles in to the drive when the shaking began. The shaking was startling and distracting. I drove the car to the dealer that night. While driving to the dealer, the car continued to shudder / shake for even longer durations at greater frequency. Additionally, the car had weak acceleration when the gas pedal was compressed. This created significant challenges when trying to navigate traffic (merging on to highway, accelerating car from stop, etc.). I have a video of the dash which shows the car exceeding 4000 RPM and not exceeding 25mph. I can share this video over e-mail, but could not attach to this form. - The dealer believes this is a malfunction of the powertrain (transmission). It is available for inspection at the time of this writing. However, I am working with Ford and the dealer on a repair solution as this is my primary car. - My safety was at risk because the car shaking was distracting and the lack of acceleration presented challenges with merging, passing cars, accelerating from stop, etc. - Vehicle is currently with dealer beginning inspection - initial suspicion is transmission issue. - No warning lights came on as I was experiencing this issue.
While driving this vehicle (~87,000 miles), the engine began to overheat. The engine light had come on the day before (Saturday). The engine began to overheat the next day (Sunday) while driving on the highway. I quickly pulled off the highway and drove the vehicle back home while staying at a low speed. If I had not taken this action, the engine overheating could have posed a safety risk. Upon receiving repairs at a Ford dealer, I later learned that this engine overheating is a known issue by Ford. It is caused by coolant intrusion to the engine. Two customer satisfaction programs have been issued for this problem: 19B37, 21N12. However, given the safety issue (engine overheating), I was surprised this repair was not fully covered. This issue happened in my vehicle after the extended warranty period of 84,000 miles.
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