Team-BHP - Ford EcoSport : Official Review

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Originally Posted by peterjim13 (Post 3725482)

They look like brand new ones, do you think they have been painted by the dealer or does Ford give these yellow colored ones for training. But the color looked nice to me as they were different. But I don't think they might sell well here.

Ford sells these Yellow Ecosports in Australia and I'm not sure if they are being shipped from India or Thailand. May be one such vehicle is sent for the Regional Training center as Australian vehicles carry RHD configurations similar to Indian ones. Australian citizens are indeed blessed with more color options like Golden Bronze on the Ecosport.

http://www.ford.com.au/suvs/ecosport/colours-trims

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Originally Posted by naveen.raju (Post 3725956)

It's been there for quite some time now. I saw these when I went for service. It's there for training purpose. It's from the factory and they do try new colors to these vehicles.

Wow. They do stand out in that color and it really looks good on the ecosport to me. !!

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Originally Posted by Amarkarthi (Post 3726316)

Wow, great to see those options. As always in India I think most of these colors don't sell. We always have a tendency to go behind White/Black/Metallic Colors. So these colors usually would never see Indian road.

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Originally Posted by peterjim13 (Post 3726365)

Wow. They do stand out in that color and it really looks good on the ecosport to me. !!

Now we get dazzled by the car itself, without any headlight, let alone main-beam! :eek:

Only joking. I don't think it would be my personal choice, but yes, it looks very nice.

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Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom (Post 3726602)

Now we get dazzled by the car itself, without any headlight, let alone main-beam! :eek:

Only joking. I don't think it would be my personal choice, but yes, it looks very nice.

That was my point. It's nice to see Ecosport in that color. But I would never buy one in that color. :)

Hi I need advice,

On general inspection I have noticed that from past couple of weeks my coolant fluid is just touching the minimum mark just below the minimum mark to be precise could not attend to it due to tight schedule, there are no coolant leaks as the fluid level remains same from last 15 to 20 days I thought of topping it up myself as it's been never topped up in around 18 months during service visits as the fluid was within prescribed limits today I visited Ford service centre they sell only 5 litre cans priced at 1900 Rupees, I guess my requirement is just around 250 ML my next service is due in September 2015. I could not find the Golden yellow colour coolant anywhere but found Red, Ink blue or Dark green coolants. I don't want to mix it to my existing coolant as I'm scared it would mess things up. Will using a different brand or colour of a reputed brand of coolant void warranty or should I top it up with required amount of distilled water which would be around 150 to 250 ML max. I was told by a mechanic to top up with distilled water he said it would be just fine.

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Originally Posted by KarNut (Post 3726715)

I was told by a mechanic to top up with distilled water he said it would be just fine.

Yes, the Ford ASC used distilled water to top up my coolant during the first servicing last month. I questioned them specifically on this and was told that the coolant is water based. Apparently, they change the coolant after every 50,000 kms (or was it 100,000 kms?)

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Originally Posted by hemant.kamat (Post 3726812)

I guess it's 100K KMS, but in my case the coolant levels in my Ecosport never were below Maximum in the last 11000 KMS I have driven. The ASC didn't have to bother as the level was always above Maximum, Wonder why the level suddenly came down after almost 18 Months of ownership. I have already added Distilled water to top up the fluid levels, Seems fine. But the question is whether there will be any void of warranty if we use any reputed brand of coolant instead of the Motorcraft/Ford Coolant, Is there any difference in the coolant type / Variant based on the different colours of coolant available, I guess Ford uses Antifreeze coolant which is available in various brands and colors, Some one with indepth knowledge about radiators or coolants might be able to solve this mystery please:

I had a scary experience today. Last night when I parked the car and came out, I could smell something foul. It was late at night so I didn't give it a thought and left. In the morning, I opened the hood and checked the coolant container and found that it has almost no coolant left, and instead had a gray color thick sludge. I checked the engine oil level and that too was almost at the end of the dipstick. The smell that I got at night must have been the coolant/oil burning.

I took the car to the service center and they're doing the usual tests and I have my fingers crossed but I'm surprised this happened.

I never got any overheating indications from the engine and the coolant temp light also never switched on. Anyone knows what could have gone wrong? The car is still under warranty and I'll see if that helps.

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Originally Posted by sharninder (Post 3726940)

I took the car to the service center and they're doing the usual tests and I have my fingers crossed but I'm surprised this happened.

I never got any overheating indications from the engine and the coolant temp light also never switched on. Anyone knows what could have gone wrong? The car is still under warranty and I'll see if that helps.

How was the car taken to the ASC?

Any underbody hit? How are pipes looking? Are they dislodged or sheared?

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Originally Posted by sharninder (Post 3726940)

I could smell something foul. It was late at night so I didn't give it a thought and left. In the morning, I opened the hood and checked the coolant container and found that it has almost no coolant left, and instead had a gray color thick sludge.

Looks like a blown head-gasket to me. That alone can explain oil and coolant mixing up. This is unexpected for a relatively newer car. I mean, how old is Eco Sport after all. To early to experience head-gasket blow ups(if it's the case).

Or maybe the radiator fan malfunctioned hence causing overheating. Either ways absence of any indication is weird. Only may be possible if there is an internal leak other than the gasket, between the oil and coolant spaces.....

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Originally Posted by peterjim13 (Post 3726655)

That was my point. It's nice to see Ecosport in that color. But I would never buy one in that color. :)

That was the plain truth. Figo in the same bright yellow met with the same fate in India. I can recollect my SA telling even commercial operators in Chennai aren't inclined towards the yellow colour during Sep 2013 when I bought my Figo. We, Indians have a great attachment to lighter shades like Silver and White..

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Originally Posted by a4anurag (Post 3726946)

How was the car taken to the ASC?

Any underbody hit? How are pipes looking? Are they dislodged or sheared?

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Originally Posted by pixantz (Post 3727014)

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Originally Posted by ramzsys (Post 3727164)

Did you experience any symptoms like AC not cooling enough? Was the driving all in heavy traffic?

No symptoms at all. The AC was working absolutely fine as always. No underbody hit and the car was driven in regular delhi traffic which wasn't too bad this weekend and I could hear the fans working too. My only worry right now is the head and find out the reason why the over heating sensors didn't work.

The car is a little more than 1.5 years old so still under warranty. Looking under the hood I don't see any dislodged or broken pipes. There is some leakage next to the coolant box but I think that happened after the leak and subsequent pressure build up.

Not really sure how to take this forward now. I had to drive the car to the ASC since I had no other way and it wasn't that far away.

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Originally Posted by sharninder (Post 3727214)

My only worry right now is the head and find out the reason why the over heating sensors didn't work.

Assuming that the over heating sensors worked, it means the temperature didn't get too high(usually ~104 C will trigger the dashboard warning light, i suppose) then the suspect maybe material defect of the gasket. Maybe we need a black box to deduce these failures logically than to rely on the 'flown from Chennai' ford folks.

For a fact, I didn't see the temperature cross 96 C even when climbing ghats with decent load along with AC.

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Originally Posted by ramzsys (Post 3727265)

The SA is telling me since the car is still in warranty so they're in touch with Ford on this issue and his first suspect is the oil cooler so he wants to change that and check if Ford allows him to. Fingers crossed still.

Mods: Is this thread fine for discussing my issue or should I take this elsewhere?