Thanks.
I’ll check that out.
I’m trying to stay away from the Ford dealer, but might have to suck it up and go.
I’ll do a good visual first.
Hey!
Just seeing this thread. It might be tangentially related but figured it might be helpful to others so please be patient:
TL/DR: coolant hose leak at T (tee) at high RPM only - replaced T after cutting/removing the plastic part and replacing it with 3/4" tee from Lowes/home depot for 5 bucks and secured it with original tubing with 3 hose clamps ($2 each). Done! Pic attached.
Long story:
- Bought 2013 Expi EL XLT with 200k in June 2021 from a used car dealer (Neptune Auto Sales, Virginia Beach, VA - KUDOS to them for working with me!)
- Blinking engine sign within a month, stalled at freeway, dealers were booked for weeks, to towed it home and plugged in OBD2 scanner and learned that it was engine misfire (P0302)
- Local mechanic shop said that piston 2 was damaged by the spring from one of the valves that snapped and went in the chamber and made hole in the piston 2. This would basically need serious repairs/engine replacement (~6k total)
- Luckily found an engine (65k miles) in a nearby town from Lincoln Navigator 2014 that had its left head damaged by the rest of the engine looked fine, bought it and replaced it with my damaged engine, keeping the left head (cylinders 5-8) from the old engine. While at the shop, also changed tranni fluid and also rear differential oil and now the car is driving like a new one!!! (total expenses were below 4k, of which 2k were chipped in by Neptune Auto Sales exclusively out of goodwill for the car that was sold "as is" and I can't be thankful enough!!!)
- After a few weeks, the engine heated up (shown on indicator), car slowed down and came to a stop, with coolant leaking on the road. Turns out, there was a loose connection of hose with the radiator. A strong push on the hose by holding it in hand and jabbing it towards radiator gave click sound, and the coolant is not leaking any more (in the hind sight, the mechanic must've not pushed it hard enough after putting the radiator back on after engine replacement)
- After a few weeks, the dreaded blinking engine sign came back on, immediately after high RPM (on the freeway, Expi was on cruise control, and tried to get back to set speed after a slow car in front changed the lane, leading the tachometer show the engine going up from 1 krpm to 5 krpm!), and soon the sign disappeared, P0304 displayed on OBD, and coolant was visibly lower level on the reservoir.
- Brought Expi back to the mechanic, he opened the hood while the engine running, asked me to press gas pedal hard, and as the rpm increased, there was a leak spray from the T (tee) junction of the hose - this spray was basically drenching the passenger side head (pistons 1-4)
- Removed the plastic T (tee) by cutting it with dremel, making sure not to cut the hose, and replaced it with a brass 3/4" T from Lowes (see pic). No more leaks!
- Blinking engine sign kept coming at multiple instances after high RMP (>4 krpm) with P0304 on OBD - so replaced the spark plug and the coil (for free, from the extra coils and spark plugs salvaged from the older engine, remember?), and now car doesn't have any issues after months of driving! (so far...)
- In the hind sight, the leaking of coolant on the engine might have been happening for a while, and has water damaged/shorted the coil (P0304) and leaked to the spark plug (seals of the coil are not perfect) and might have caused differential temperatures on the engine leading to valve malfunction and the spring of the valve shotting in the combustion chamber and damaging piston (P0302)
- The plastic T (tee) and Y (yee) connections, and any plastic parts on the coolant piping should be replaced with metal, as plastic might eventually give up (oxidized, brittled, and eventually leaked or a full-blown crack). I saw a lot of black residue on my coolant reservoir, which felt like gooey stuff from molten plastic, and am pretty sure it came from the T (tee) that failed and was leaking - basically it seemed that the hot coolant was melting this aged piece of plastic!
Hope this helps someone
Best wishes,
Pratik
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