[NiInJa]

Good that Ford replaced the engine without much fuss, but if it were any other developed country, Ford would have had a massive headache explaining authorities about not acting on a known issue proactively. Such defective engines put occupants and surrounding people at risk. Ford knows how serious the issue is but is waiting for customers to come to them with this known issue. The least they can do is send an advisory to people who bought cars in this batch and ask them to get the car checked at the slightest doubt.

Good that we have such forums and active members who care to write their experiences. If something similar were to happen to me, I would have shot a mail to Ford's senior management asking about the secrecy behind such engine replacement, after all, it is me and my family's life at stake and I think I am entitled to know what can cause them harm !

On a humorous note, their tagline: "Feels like family for a change" should be changed to "Feels like girl-friend for a change". Because you see, one does not keep secrets in a family :P

[Nilesh5417]

Originally Posted by johannskaria

Ownership so far
Will I buy a Ford again?
Yes I absolutely will. In fact our extended family has added Figos and Endeavours after hearing about this. Even for our next garage addition we are strongly considering Ford, a bigger one.
Though the new Figo TDCi remains closer to my heart .


The whole way Ford refunded my good friend/BHPian Sauvik his tow fees during the last Mumbai deluge due to unavailability of flatbed tow trucks with them, the way new Figo’s airbags saved my grandparents during crash and its aftermath and now this being resolved beautifully just shows how a company takes care of its customer. If not I would’ve had a different story to write.

Thank you for sharing it with us and in such detail. When we get short changed by manufacturers, we write lengthy posts but don't do our bit with positive experiences which get just a couple of lines! Am glad Ford fixed the issue and gave you a permanent solution rather than some short term fixes that would have made you do 10 trips and given you endless heartburn. I have a 2013 TDCi, in fact one of the first ones in Pune and so far i've not had any complaints and am already at 62k kms. Hope this issue you faced was one off!

[sparky@home]

Wow, that’s super-duper on part of Ford to have replaced the engine without batting an eyelid. Very few companies would do that. It definitely increases ones faith in the company.

[johnjojo08]

There are near 22 such reported cases in Cochin itself. Can't reveal the source. Also can't imagine the total cases in overall India. I am also an Ecosport 2017 model owner. I am planning to add extended warranty.

[sandeepmohan]

Well done Ford.

A thread like usually ends up being no less than a dozen pages. Starting with the breakdown, the service center experience, interaction with the manufacturer, frustration and in most cases, a need to go to court to settle things.

This particular Tdci isn't one of those ultra modern diesels like the Multi Jet, which should naturally make it the more reliable one. I suppose there are some known issues at the manufacturing stages itself which is why Ford are replacing the engines without a fuss. Good on them.

VW India are more pro active these days on complaints from folks who own cars equipped with dsg gear boxes. I recall a buddys Vento Tsi in the garage for a couple of days when they were trying different gearbox maps, sending log data to the factory for analysis.

The trend is changing in terms of the manufacturer supporting the customer.

[sharninder]

Originally Posted by johannskaria

Oil pump failure was not the issue. It seems the piston developed cracks and this caused the engine oil to burn in my case. I have no information to suggest this was the case with a batch of Ecosports. Though out of around 5 Ecosports we and our family friends bought in 2013 only two have developed this issue. The rest are in its peak health and is following its service schedules. The third case being the one i saw at the dealership and 2013 manufactured.



Yes our vehicle was a low run vehicle and out of warranty.

My car, also 2013 Aug make, also had this issue. In my case, I noticed the fans were running a bit too loud and when I opened the hood, noticed burning smell. Took the vehicle to the workshop (Gautam Budhha Ford, Noida) and we figured the coolant had become like a thick sludge. My car was in warranty and none of the engine check lights were on, so I don't think the engine was running that hot, either. After some to-fro with Ford, they decided to change my engine, saying although no damage has occurred but they don't want to take chances.

I was furious because the car had just run about 32k then. Still, I really had no choice. They changed the engine and I had the car back within a week. I fought with them to give me extended warranty and they gave me a 50% discount on +2 years extended warranty.

Thankfully, nothing eventful has happened since then and I do keep an eye on the coolant and oil levels every now and then.

I think there was a manufacturing defect in a certain batch, that Ford figured out and decided to hide or at least not go public with. It's a mechanical engine, so I do understand faults come and Ford has been good about changing engines. My car just finished extended warranty this month and has done little more than double the KMs and I'm happy with it so far.

[Sutripta]

Any pictures of the failed piston?

Regards
Sutripta

[iliketurtles]

Stellar customer service, two thumbs up to Ford. Most manufacturers can take a leaf out of their books. Glad to see they're taking their "Feels like family" tagline seriously. Bodes well for any future customers and goes a long way in building trust in the brand, especially among gearheads like us. Enjoy the old new car!

[su1978]

What a great response and comeback from a company which was written off not long back. Goes to show their interest in Indian markets and their commitment to sustain and run their business in India. Good that they did not go and sit in the lap of some Chinese manufacturer and bring their 3rd class products to India. Considering the fact that we have numerous horror stories of Maruti engine replacement(S-Cross 1.6) this is in-fact good to hear that an american company is coming forward and taking the customer experience to the next level.

Anyways, Ford has always been a drivers car and this response and support from them re-assures our faith and confidence.

[sam_sant2005]

Engine block replaced, good thing. Who will pay for the lower resale value of this car now which has gone for a toss? No techy person would pay as much for a car whose engine is opened. For no fault of owners if such things happen, company should compensate.

As someone earlier rightly said, I am also a follower of not to buy any vehicle unless it is 1yr from launch. However even the ultra proven Ertiga (I own one since 2013) seems to have engine issues well inside 80k kms. I wonder if reliability is going missing generally.

[novicefreak]

Originally Posted by NiInJa

Good that Ford replaced the engine without much fuss, but if it were any other developed country, Ford would have had a massive headache explaining authorities about not acting on a known issue proactively. Such defective engines put occupants and surrounding people at risk. Ford knows how serious the issue is but is waiting for customers to come to them with this known issue. The least they can do is send an advisory to people who bought cars in this batch and ask them to get the car checked at the slightest doubt.

Perfectly summed up the entire story of FORD in India and abroad.
Good that FORD replaced with out much issues, but I believe this action from FORD is long pending, Just recall and replace.

As to the original post, glad you were safe and happy it turned out to be a fuss-free dealing with FORD et al. Thanks for sharing and starting this thread.

enjoy TDCing.

[BPS_93]

Wow! Unbelievable customer service!
Perhaps Maruti Suzuki should learn something from it. I remember some time ago a fellow BHPian’s S Cross seized up and the owner had to go through months of hassle as well as had to pay for the parts and services.

[royfernandez]

I don't think I've ever bought a car from the first year of production. The later, the better for me.

I own a 2013 Ecosport 1.5 AT the 3rd car in Chennai delivered on 5-Aug-2013. I am probably lucky but I have had no major issues till date, so while I tend to agree with GTO's logic not to buy a car in the 1st year of production, I think it also depends on the manufacturer.

[peterjim13]

Originally Posted by johannskaria

The whole engine was replaced by Ford under warranty at Kairali Ford.

Hi Johann, your thread and support was quite helpful, now I think for the benefit of the readers I am sharing my experience as well with the Ecosport - given that both our cars fall into the same batch of 2013.

Now running on 58K, the ownership so far has been fuss free. Back during the summers this year - and since my XUV5OO had engine compression issues, I started tracking the dipstick quite regularly and one fine day I noticed that the oil levels are not so great. My last service was on August 2017, and I took my car right to the Kairali Ford Quicklane service center to top up the engine oil. The SA confirmed that the oil levels are pretty low and have nothing to fear - even though I had to top it by about 2 Litres.

After about another 300 KM I could not notice any variation but took my car to the Kairali Ford main service center at Cheranellore, Kochi where I know the Service Head and has been taking care of my car so far. Since I had topped up recently they could not find any external leaks / issues and had by 60K service done with changing Oil Filter / Air Filter etc This was in May this year.

Soon after my service I upgraded my GY Assurance (GY has been terrible tyres to ride on so far) to Yokohama Earth 1s (Link )

I had to travel out of country for about 3 weeks in June and when I got back, I though I would just check the fuel levels on the dipstick again as I had a lot fo drives - short and long before the trip and I could not get time to check the dipstick in between.

Almost half the dipstick had gone down, and my brother-in-law notified me of blue smoke one day. Quickly took it to the Service Center again and the SH told me what he suspects - my car being the one among 2013 batch he said he would need my car dropped down here for a detailed diagnostics to confirm. As the rains here are super heavy now the service center had more than 10-12 flood damaged Figo / Aspire waiting engine work - he asked me to wait for a week to drop the car here.

Meanwhile, just to test the decarbonising I experimented that as well. My post on that as well Link 2

I dropped my car at the service center last Monday 23rd July, and waited for the team to do the diagnostics. Meanwhile, I got in touch with johannskaria through this link to learn more about his experience, his confidence and support and of course the assurances from the SH to help me get some goodwill assistance made me leave the car to the disposal of Kairali and gain some patience to get things sorted.

Engine Compression

After settling some of the engine replacements I had their best techs (according to the SH) work on my car. They had in mind that the culprit would be the pistons / rings and they checked for any other symptoms on turbo, EGR etc and started with the compression tests. I was also there when they did both the Wet and Dry tests and the readings of Cylinder 2 and Cylinder 3 on dry runs were tad too low below athe accepted level of 14. They were 11 and 12 respectively.

As advised by the SH, I gave the consent to go ahead with opening the head to narrow down the issue at the block / pistons / bore.

Bore / Piston / Piston Rings

In two days they starting checking the readings of Rings and Bore at the shoulders and middle and especially on cylinder two the bore on the shoulder was out of the company spec recommended level. The rings on both the cylinder is also out of the recommended specification.

I had given a fee hand to the SH and I know his expertise in handling the issue, he even recollected reading johannskaria's thread on tbhp on the same issue and he told be about the issue with 2013 engines.

Whats with 2013 TDCi engines of the Ecosport?

Even though the SH did not disclose any particular detail on the same, he told me that Ford had shared a list of suspected VIN numbers to each dealer based on the seller of those VIN numbers. They had been advised to notify when these cars are at the SS and like johannskaria here - they would replace the engines with some logic behind. I think the logic depends on the KMs on the Odo - so it would be less the km on the ODO with the damage more likely are they to get replaced, unlike me. They still need to diagnose and may not get the whole thing for free.

So with Ford they had a good number of cars in the suspect list and others in the same year of manufacture were being watched on. The SH felt that I will get some goodwill given that I fall in the same year.

2013 Ecosport's had some issue with the engine and were more likely to show premature damage on the engine - this is my inference (no science)

Solution

I was advised that the solution is the replacement of Short Block Assembly, unlike Mahindra who told me it would be an overhaul.

They placed the order for the Short Block assembly with all mandatory replacements the very next day. It takes about 3-4 days for these items to reach Cochin, from Chennai - including the payments / approvals etc.

From what I learned from the SH they would then submit this as a detailed report with reading, photographs, diagnostics, service history etc right across to Ford for claiming goodwill assistance.

All this was two days back 30th August.

Replacement Car for temporary use

Kairali Ford has now provided me with a replacement car - Ford Aspire Titanium (ex test drive for sure) till I get my car back.

Good News

Even though the whole process is a bit tense and is sure to give you sleepless nights - coz its your car lying there at the garage awaiting a heart surgery, I got a call - some hours back from the SH about the response from Ford.

Ford has assured to provide goodwill assistance for the whole process, and they shall provide the Short Block Assembly - which would roughly be about Rs. 42,000 /- free of cost. Which means I may only have to pay for the other consumable and labour - which according to the SH should fall within 20-25 K. Yeah, a bit relaxed now - and sure that this would help my plans of owning the car for longer.

Based on the recommendation by the SH, I am also getting my clutch replaced with the exercise as it would save some labor cost here. It seems, the upgraded Ecosport right after my 2013 came with softer ones on par with the Aspire I drive now.

Shall update on the progress.

Thanks so much Johann - once again.

[sansvk]

Originally Posted by peterjim13

Shall update on the progress.

Thanks so much Johann - once again.

Any further updates?

I have been following this thread religiously and as a result have been monitoring the oil and coolant levels every week. Last week the oil dipstick showed full oil level, but this evening it was just about 3/4th.
The car is a tdci model from the Sep or Oct batch delivered in Oct 2013.
This drop over a week's time and just 100kms running is surprising. This is also the first drop in oil levels since buying. The previous oil change was done in April 2018 with 47k on the Odo and the current reading stands at 51k.
I shall be checking the oil level again tomorrow morning and shall be taking it to the service center.