[johannskaria]

Ownership so far

The Ford EcoSport TDCi first intended as a personal car have served family duties as well due to it’s all rounded nature. Gripping hard, keeping us safe, drinking frugally and moving us miles since 2013. The 4 years of ownership proved us one important thing. Fords are easy on pocket to maintain. Most of the times even lesser than the comparative product of so called manufacturer who sells one out of every two cars in India. Additionally, two other things surprised us. One is the fact that how gracefully it has aged. The vehicle still looks good on the Indian roads. And this contributes to the second surprising factor which is the best resale value for a Ford vehicle. In fact this was one of the apprehensions we had when we bought the vehicle. But the collective efforts of Ford to make an excellent vehicle resulted in an unexpected result in the form of thumbs up from the resale market. All in all, it has proved that’s its worth every penny spent.


The sudden brake

Flew down from Mumbai to my hometown and the EcoSport was designated to serve me for the vacation. Driving home, I felt the diesel clatter was a little higher than usual.
Checked whether sound insulation was proper by pulling up on the window buttons, but the sound still remained. I felt something was off with the engine power delivery as well. Checked the dashboard for any Christmas lights , only the service light was on for reminding about the 40k schedule. The car has been strictly adhering to the scheduled services at Kairali Ford service center and we always stick to the good folks there. This is in spite of not renewing the extended warranty on the car.

The whole situation took the turn for the worse at 6am as the low oil light came on. Gradually reduced from the speed limit and turned on the indicator. As I was parking the vehicle to the left side of the road the oil light just went off. Tired from the red eye flight and home being just couple of kms away, decided to drive it under 2000rpm to the garage.
Crashed on bed for few hours before I was woken up for family duties. Instead of having a peaceful breakfast ran to the vehicle to check the oil levels as it would’ve settled over the past 3 hours. A 200 km family duty was scheduled for the day and I did not want to get stranded with my ageing grandmother. But to my surprise the dipstick barely had a drop of engine oil on it, barely close to 5% of the required minimum levels.


The aftermath

Cleaned up our old Lancer for the day duties even though I completely lost the peace of mind thinking about the EcoSport. Had a long talk with dad and discovered that our family friend who bought an EcoSport TDCI around the same time as us had the same issue. In fact his car refused to start one fine morning. Initially diagnosing as a battery issue, the car was then towed to dealership only to find out that the engine oil had been burnt and the engine had seized. The whole engine was replaced by Ford under warranty at Kairali Ford.

In the mean time I contacted Kairali ford and explained them the issue. They instructed to drive it to the service center without using the power band as the low oil light was no more on. I thanked God for this not happening on the road with my aged folks. Drove slowly with Air Conditioning off to the nearest Kairali Service center. The technician ‘observed’ that the oil levels were below the prescribed limit and the oil pump failure might cause this (Which was not the case!). He continued by saying this will have to be shifted to the main dealership workshop for further investigation. Instructed them to also do the regular 40k servicing along with it.

The day went on with various back and forth calls with the dealership and by evening got a concluding call that they discovered TDCi engine in the vehicle had seized/on the verge of seizure. Alas my vacation got ruined the first day itself. They said that they will be preparing an investigative report to Ford and would let me know of the solution they arrive at. I requested that I wanted to see the engine opened as and when they get around to it.

Accordingly to a fixed schedule landed up at the service center only to find my EcoSport without its heart. A sad view indeed. They were already assembling a TDCi engine from the crate at the premises even transferring the engine number. I casually enquired about the loaner car facility for such repairs. Unfortunately, both of their cars were with customers, with one being used by an EcoSport owner who came in with the same problem and whose engine I just saw being assembled. They said owner too owned a 2013 model TDCi model. And I was strictly prohibited from taking any photographs even of my own car! My queries on the number of cases with the same issue went unanswered. But the staff was very courteous to me and explained me the whole procedure patiently.

The Piston had cracked in my engine and thereby burning the engine oil. After the preparation of investigative report by the dealership, Ford approved a new TDCI engine for the EcoSport. And the engine crate arrived in two weeks. A relief at last. The car completed the 40k service and was delivered with new engine. Dad called up to say he is very happy with the car now with good miles under the belt and says it feels good as new. But I was unable to verify whether the new engine tune is different from the earlier one.


Conclusion

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.

[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by johannskaria

...........
The Piston had cracked in my engine and thereby burning the engine oil. After the preparation of investigative report by the dealership, Ford approved a new TDCI engine for the EcoSport. And the engine crate arrived in two weeks. A relief at last. The car completed the 40k service and was delivered with new engine.

What caused this oil pump failure? What is the expected life? Was a particular batch of EcoSports anticipated to have this failure?

Replacing the engine without cost on a vehicle that is out of warranty (isn't it?) is no mean task.

While this is certainly very good service from Ford, I'm just surprised at how uneventful this episode has been.

[johannskaria]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

What caused this oil pump failure? What is the expected life? Was a particular batch of EcoSports anticipated to have this failure?

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.

Originally Posted by libranof1987

Replacing the engine without cost on a vehicle that is out of warranty (isn't it?) is no mean task.

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

[libranof1987]

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.

Wow, I admire how effortless you make it sound! All 3 out of 5 EcoSport bought in 2013 that you know of have had their engine replaced?

Sounds like a manufacturing defect/something other owners of this vintage would want to be aware of.

[Jaggu]

Originally Posted by johannskaria

The Piston had cracked in my engine and thereby burning the engine oil. After the preparation of investigative report by the dealership, Ford approved a new TDCI engine for the EcoSport. And the engine crate arrived in two weeks. A relief at last.

WOW! This is some brilliant customer service.

Do you have any idea if the whole Engine assembly was replaced in whole or was it the half engine? Half engine = cylinder, pistons rings etc.. Asking since the engine assembly is mentioned as 60k INR, which seems very less?

[GTO]

Thanks for sharing, Johannskaria! Moving your experience to an independent thread.

[Dr.Naren]

This is a known issue and few cars from 2013 batch(July-September??) were affected. Ford was changing the entire engine assembly initially, later they started changing only few parts. I do not know the exact cause but I have heard from few owners who have got the engine changed under warranty.

[IshaanIan]

Great to see that Ford took care of it, but this is why I refrain from buying cars from the initial batch of manufacturing. Usually wait a year for the product to be out and the company to be aware of and iron out all the issues, before buying. With such laxed consumer protection laws here in India, many times manufacturers and dealers get away with such stuff and unless you have taken the time out to do research and educate yourself as to what are the problems that tend to arise with your model, they don't bother to replace items under warranty and before you know it you are out of their ridiculously small warranty periods.

One really does need to be extra cautious about everything in this country.

[sansvk]

Wow thats scary to say the least. Mine is a Oct 2013 1.5tdci and have a long trip coming up in 2 days. This is the first time I have heard of this issue. Good to know your engine was replaced.

[johannskaria]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

WOW! This is some brilliant customer service.

Do you have any idea if the whole Engine assembly was replaced in whole or was it the half engine? Half engine = cylinder, pistons rings etc.. Asking since the engine assembly is mentioned as 60k INR, which seems very less?

Even i had the same doubt, but i was told that the whole engine was replaced and they had to do engine number transfer done to the new block.

Originally Posted by IshaanIan

Great to see that Ford took care of it, but this is why I refrain from buying cars from the initial batch of manufacturing.

But not the whole initial batch, there are 3 other EcoSport TDCi which belong to various people we know from the same time of delivery running without any issues.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by IshaanIan

but this is why I refrain from buying cars from the initial batch of manufacturing.

I would agree with that, no matter who the manufacturer is. We've seen niggles from the best of them (including the Innova Crysta & Honda City). Manufacturers can test pre-production prototypes all they want, but there's nothing quite like long-term usage by actual owners that brings out loose ends.

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

Originally Posted by sansvk

Wow thats scary to say the least. Mine is a Oct 2013 1.5tdci and have a long trip coming up in 2 days.

Relax man. If your car has been otherwise performing well, don't worry. Have a safe, enjoyable trip!

Originally Posted by Jaggu

Asking since the engine assembly is mentioned as 60k INR, which seems very less?

Could be to play down warranty costs on the company's balance sheet.

[Jaggu]

Originally Posted by johannskaria

Even i had the same doubt, but i was told that the whole engine was replaced and they had to do engine number transfer done to the new block.

Even if its block replacement they would have to print new the numbers, since the block has the number on it.

Originally Posted by GTO

Could be to play down warranty costs on the company's balance sheet.

Nope not likely, i think it is just engine block, pistons etc

[Col Mehta]

Wow! Some customer experience it was for you! Really glad that it all ended in good notes. One of my friends had bought the same car in 2013 and he too had the same issue (in 2014, I guess). Ford India gave him some real hard time before he decided to move to consumer court and then the magic happened - the moment he filed his case and Ford came to know about it, they immediately agreed to replace the entire engine as a "goodwill gesture" . He sold his car right after this incident since he couldn't trust the car/Ford anymore. Different experience..

[hemanth.anand]

Good that the whole exercise at the dealer went so smoothly (Although I feel sad that your holiday was spoilt).

Out of warranty vehicle and Engine replacement-unheard of in our country. Although it feels nice, thinking over it, I would be questioning "Why did they agree to do that so easily? Similarly what other things might go wrong with the car? if it was a known issue, why wasn't it recalled?" 3 of 6 cars purchased in the same year having a problem with the Engine That's a remarkably high percentage. Call me a negative person, but If I were in your place, I would really think twice before buying a Ford again. It'll be riding your luck too far IMO.

As Jaggu wrote, Even I feel that it's also because it is from the initial batch. Manufacturers these days are always in a hurry

Anyway feels good to read positive posts from owners about a dealer-they are really rare.

[abhishek46]

Originally Posted by Col Mehta

Ford India gave him some real hard time before he decided to move to consumer court and then the magic happened - the moment he filed his case and Ford came to know about it, they immediately agreed to replace the entire engine as a "goodwill gesture" . He sold his car right after this incident since he couldn't trust the car/Ford anymore. Different experience..

Could you post few more details on the said episode?

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

3 of 6 cars purchased in the same year having a problem with the Engine That's a remarkably high percentage. Call me a negative person, but If I were in your place, I would really think twice before buying a Ford again. It'll be riding your luck too far IMO.

Well, this can happen for any manufacturer. As a person, I am equally nervous as you and prefer to buy products which are "well settled" in the production line and "well tested" by the common man.

Off late, we have been hearing quite a few 1.5 TDCi failures.
I sincerely hope that the 1.5 TDCi does not end up in the same "unreliable" category as that of the VW DSG.