The curious case of the disappearing coolant - 11/7/13 update...down again

[vi edit]

So I have a 2 month old 2013 Ford Focus with 2200 miles on it.

Last Thursday I was coming from work and notice the temp spike up. A couple seconds later the idiot lights come on warning about overheating.

I'm on a 2 lane road with no place to pull over well so I throw the fans on max, crank the heat and try to vent as much heat out as I can. I hobble down the road till I can get pulled over and the temp drops right back down to normal and the warning goes away. I'm a few miles from home and limp in without it getting too hot again.

Turn off the car, let it sit for a few hours and then pop the hood. Barely a drop of coolant in the reservoir. I spent about 30 minutes tearing the plastic cladding off the bottom of the car (there's a billion clips and screws holding those on) hoping to find some trace of a leak or blowout. Nothing. There's a faint hint of pancake syrup but no sticky puddles anywhere.

Google shows that Ford uses the "orange" coolant now for it's cars which is dex compatible and I had some of that in the garage. It takes almost half a gallon and just hit the min mark. Turned it over and let it prime the system and it was barely at the 1/4 full mark. Added what I had left and brought it about halfway to the min.

Got a chance to get it into the dealer today (no overheating issues going in) and had them inspect it.

They can't find a thing. Did a pressure check on the coolant system, no leaks or pressure issues. The overheating alert I had also didn't show up on the system logs. Their assessment - it shipped low and the dealer missed it on the delivery inspection.

Which I have a lot of issues with.

1) The dealer I brought it from drove it almost 200 miles in a dealer trade to get it to me it and it was almost 95 degrees that day. Would have thought that would have been a problem then.

2) I drove it another 2200+ miles and just now it shows up as totally empty and enough to cause problems?

I'm just having problems accepting that it shipped low from the factory and it lasted that long at that low of a level. At the very least I've got it logged with a dealer in case I need to build a lemon law case in the future. I'll be keeping an eye every couple days on the levels to see what it is doing.

I admit I never checked the levels on initial delivery, but I doubt many people do with the purchase of a new car. :\

 

[LTC8K6]

Strange. Was there a low coolant warning first?

I wonder if the system was not sealed and coolant boiled off? Loose cap?

 

[TridenT]

Drive around and wait for it to happen again. When it does happen, pull over and look in the engine bay to find the leak.

 

[vi edit]

No warning about the cooling levels, only a high temp warning. I don't think there was any leaks around the cap area as it wasn't tacky feeling.

Same thing with looking for leaks. There's a plastic wind screen that covers the entire bottom of the car. I pulled that and it would have caught any drips and puddled them up. Nothing on there that I could find either.

 

[kitatech]

I admit I never checked the levels on initial delivery, but I doubt many people do with the purchase of a new car. :\

When I got my 05 Camry last Oct. I had read on ToyotaNation of overheating from loss of coolant and loose rear bolts in the head...so I've kept an eye on coolant levels religiously (as in I say a little prayer) every week...

 

[mmntech]

I've seen this at least twice with VW Jettas. Coolant would disappear with no obvious leaks. It could be a very slow leak under the car or into the cylinders. One that would be too small to notice.

 

[vi edit]

My old B5 Passat would leak the hot pink coolant that VW uses, but it usually left a crusty puddle wherever it sat. You could also smell it burning off occasionally through the vents.

My fear is that it's getting into the cylinders and getting burned. I asked about that at the shop and if that would show up on the pressure test. They said no. I checked under the oil cap to see if there was any sludgy looking stuff, didn't see anything.

It's the first Ford vehicle I've owned in more than a decade and I've never worked with this dealer/service dept before. They strike me as miserably lazy though, so I may seek out another shop for a different opinion.

Maybe they are right and it did just ship low. But I question just how low it could have shipped and why it took 2000 miles for it to show up.

 

[pauldun170]

When I got my 05 Camry last Oct. I had read on ToyotaNation of overheating from loss of coolant and loose rear bolts in the head...so I've kept an eye on coolant levels religiously (as in I say a little prayer) every week...

Same here.
It's the Camry\Highlander\TC 2.4 lottery.

However according to the internet,
My CBR is supposed to excessively burn oil
My Zx-11 is supposed to throw 3rd rods every 20K
My Mazda is supposed to be rusting

Small samples of owners can cause a lot of paranoia.

 

[SearchMaster]

It's the first Ford vehicle I've owned in more than a decade and I've never worked with this dealer/service dept before. They strike me as miserably lazy though, so I may seek out another shop for a different opinion.

In reading the ST forums, dealership service seems to be the number one complaint. A friend of ours is the general manager so I'm not worried about that personally.

Your dilemma is definitely weird though. Obviously keep an eye on it for the next few thousand miles and see if it drops at all.

 

[boomerang]

It's being "burned". They can't find the leak because it's small and only occurs when the motor is warmed up would be my guess.

Had a similar situation a long time back although mine took about a year and a half to rear it's ugly head. '80 Skylark bought new. Driving home from work one day in the dead of winter and the temp gage is going crazy, pegging hot and swinging way cold. Get home, open hood, overflow reservoir is full. When car cools off, I take off radiator cap and the radiator is empty, I mean as far as I can see down it with a flashlight I'm seeing nothing empty.

Hmm, so why is the overflow reservoir still full? Because after removing the battery, I could see the hose behind it running from the reservoir to the radiator was kinked shut from the factory. Anyway, no coolant leak at all, no coolant leakage into the crankcase. Head gasket leak. Could be intake manifold leak too. I just filled it up and drove it another year or so before I sold it. Had it been a warranty job, I would have had it repaired.

I don't keep my cars very long.

 

[JCH13]

I've seen overheating issues like that traced to cracks in the expansion tank plumbing. Car would squirt coolant out into the overflow, then suck air back in. Check all your overflow plumbing very carefully.

 

[PhoKingGuy]

My 2005 Chevy Cobalt shipped from the factory with no r134 in the AC system if it makes you feel better.

 

[vi edit]

Tonight after I went back into the garage after being home for several hours and the garage smelled "burnt". That smell that something has been burning/hot. For kicks checked the coolant levels...it's below the minimum mark again. It's now got 4500 miles on the odometer.

Back into the shop it goes. I'll keep playing the game. At this point it'll be lemon lawed by 9000 miles if they can't find the leak.

 

[phucheneh]

A 2013 Focus does not have an overflow tank. A normal overflow (puke) tank can be disconnected with no immediate ill effects.

Disconnect that pressurized tank underneath your hood, however, and your're gonna have issues. It is part of the cooling system loop and should always have coolant flowing in/out of it while the car is running.

To be blunt, it sounds like your car shipped with a cooling system problem and your motor is now smoked. Good luck with that...sounds like the dealership is awful, and my experiences with Ford would lead me to believe that they probably won't give two shits about their error or the incompetence of your dealer. I would pursue a refund immediately. Hopefully via lemon law; if not, via civil court. You paid for a new car; not one that is being slowly destroyed by a problem that the manufacturer will not fix.

Have they done ANY diagnostic work? Like a compression test?

 

[vi edit]

They did what they described as a "pressure" test. Said they "hooked it up to the machine" and pressure came back fine. That was on the coolant system. When you say compression test are you asking about engine compression? I'm assuming that if there is some sort of leak that is allowing coolant to seep in then compression would be lower, no?

 

[LTC8K6]

Maybe a head gasket issue. Small head gasket leak?

 

[LTC8K6]

Does your Focus have those shutters for the radiator for fuel efficiency? Are they possibly sticking in the closed position?

 

[vi edit]

I don't have the "SFE" or whatever the trim package is. I've looked in front of the radiator and there are some kind of "fins" in front of it, but they are always in the "open" position when the car is off. I don't know if they are active on non-high economy trims.

 

[pcgeek11]

I agree with others here that think it is either a small leak into the cylinder head and the coolant is being burned and or blown out the exhaust.

Or Have you checked the oil? I have seen coolant leaks go into the oil. This will cause jelling of the oil and will also ruin the engine.

 

[LTC8K6]

I don't have the "SFE" or whatever the trim package is. I've looked in front of the radiator and there are some kind of "fins" in front of it, but they are always in the "open" position when the car is off. I don't know if they are active on non-high economy trims.

I think they are active on all trims. The brochure says active shutters are standard.

http://www.ford.com/services/assets/Brochure?make=Ford&model=Focus&year=2013&postalCode=92618

 

[vi edit]

And for what little it's worth, my gas milage has sucked too. My uncle has essentially the same exact year/model/trim/transmission car as me and drives like a maniac. He's averaging close to 40MPG on the highway with his. I did a 200 mile stretch on absolutely flat ground two weeks ago and could barely sniff 34MPG @ 70MPH.

I'm just really disappointed with the car. Milage is much lower than I expected...averaging 32MPG in about 90% highway driving @ 55MPH..then this problem.

 

[Pacfanweb]

Maybe a head gasket issue. Small head gasket leak?

That was my first thought.

The way to check that is, drive it until it's hot. Shut it off and let it sit. Remove the plugs...you'll see which one it is immediately if there is coolant getting into the cylinder.

It might have antifreeze sitting on it by morning, but if it's burning coolant, the plug out of the affected cylinder will be as clean as a baby's butt, and the others will be dirty.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

Having a brand new car need to be torn down and repaired sucks. I hope they RMA that one and give you a new car.

 

[LTC8K6]

That was my first thought.

The way to check that is, drive it until it's hot. Shut it off and let it sit. Remove the plugs...you'll see which one it is immediately if there is coolant getting into the cylinder.

It might have antifreeze sitting on it by morning, but if it's burning coolant, the plug out of the affected cylinder will be as clean as a baby's butt, and the others will be dirty.

Could also start it cold with the coolant cap off and look for air bubbles perhaps?

 

[slag]

I bet its old man Smithers taking your coolant at night.

...And he would have gotten away with it, too, if it wasn't for you meddling forum posters!