If you’re reading this, you’re probably considering purchasing (or currently own) a Ford Motor Company vehicle with the 1.5, 1.6, 2.0, or 2.3-liter EcoBoost engine. If you want to learn more about identical head gasket problems these engines can have with each other, keep reading. I will specifically focus on the 2nd-generation twin-scroll 2.0L EcoBoost affected by this issue as I have a lot of personal experience with it. What is the 2.0L EcoBoost I-4 engine? The 2.0L EcoBoost is a turbocharged inline-four-cylinder engine found in many Ford vehicles, including other automakers having a previous partnership with Ford, comprising Volvo, Land Rover, and Jaguar. The 2.0L’s roots can be traced back to 2010 when it debuted in the Ford S-Max, Galaxy, Mondeo, and the Volvo S60, V60, and V70. To avoid confusion, there are two variants of the 1.5L EcoBoost—a four-cylinder and a three-cylinder. The four-cylinder has the defective block/head gasket design, but the head gasket issues are absent for the three-cylinder because it’s an entirely different engine despite having the same overall displacement as the four-cylinder variant. There are two generations of the 2.0 EcoBoost. The first-gen 2.0 was built upon Mazda’s L-series engine, which Ford tweaked in the form of a different head, fuel injection system, and variable valve timing design. When Mazda’s partnership ended, Ford redesigned the 2.0 nearly from scratch to form the second-gen 2.0. Noteworthy changes in the second gen include a new aluminum block, redesigned cylinder heads, and an increased compression ratio. What is the issue? Despite its known flaws, the first-gen 2.0L EcoBoost has proven to be a reasonably reliable engine. When visiting any used car site, you will find countless examples of vehicles such as Ford Fusions with over 100,000 miles. Recently, I found a 2015 Fusion with the first-gen 2.0L with just under 220,000 miles and a 2015 Lincoln MKC with 175,000 miles. Upon examination of the CarFax, I saw no records indicating the engine had been replaced. Last year my friend bought a 2016 Fusion with 93,000 miles and currently has more than 120,000 miles. He's experienced no issues with his 2.0L thus far. If anything, this engine's biggest issue is the quick accumulation of carbon build-up because of the use of direct injection rather than port injection. When looking at any 2.0, you'll notice the exhaust tips are blackened from soot, like with many direct-injected engines. Though the first gen can be reliable, the same can’t be said about the second-gen due to head gasket failure resulting in coolant leaking into the combustion chamber, ultimately requiring replacing the engine. The head gasket failure can occur at astonishingly low mileage, making this issue more frustrating for owners. Specifically, the issue involves the engine’s open-deck long block design. Part of the cooling jackets, designed as a large, narrow slit lying between the cylinder walls, can allow coolant to leak into the combustion chamber and be burned because there's inadequate surface area for the head gasket to affix to. Beginning around mid-2019, Ford claimed to stop using this open-deck design between the cylinders and now uses a block design with where the slits are the size of a pinhole directed through the cooling jacket. Rather than running coolant through an unnecessarily-wide opening, the coolant travels to a much smaller spot on the cylinder head, significantly reducing the risk of coolant penetrating the head gasket and leaking into the combustion chamber. When leaking does occur, it usually is in the middle of the engine between cylinders 2 and 3 but could affect cylinders 1 and 2. What should I do if I own or want to buy a vehicle that has this engine? Unfortunately, nothing can be done to prevent this problem because it stems from a design flaw that no amount of maintenance will overcome. Fortunately, an easy way to know if a vehicle has this problem is to simply remove the oil fill cap and inspect the inside of it. A sure sign that the engine's head gasket has been blown if it’s brown and watery (looking like chocolate milk). If the underside of the oil cap is clean, but the coolant is gradually disappearing without any physical leaks, it’s likely the coolant is still being burned but at a slow rate and, with time, burn progressively more, resulting in misfiring, causing the check engine light to illuminate. Another easy way to know if coolant burning is present is to look at the coolant reservoir tank level. If coolant is steadily decreasing over time with no physical leaks present, most likely coolant is being burned, and can also be characterized by thick, white smoke coming from the exhaust, as well as the check engine light throwing a misfire code. Thin, wispy smoke at startup, though, can be caused by harmless condensation during colder months. White exhaust with a blue tint indicates oil burning (and it smells horrible). The solution to permanently fix this problem is to install a new engine with the updated block design. If your vehicle requiring this repair is out of warranty, expect to come out of pocket anywhere from $4,000 to $8,000, assuming a dealership performs the repair. Fortunately, it’s claimed that Ford began using the updated block design after mid-2019, so four-cylinder EcoBoost engines that are a 2020 model year or newer should be immune to head gasket problems. However, only time will tell if Ford’s fix is an actual fix. Should I buy a vehicle with this engine? The short answer to this question is no. Before purchasing a 2018 Lincoln MKC with the 2.0L EcoBoost I-4 in December 2021, I was unaware of this problem. I knew about the head gasket issues involving the 1.6L engines but didn’t know the 2.0L was also affected. I bought my MKC with just over 30,000 miles and it blew a head gasket at just over 37,500 miles. Fortunately it had an extended warranty. If it wasn't under warranty, I'd be hit with a $8,000+ repair bill. Prior to the engine failure, since the day I bought it, I noticed the coolant reservoir tank level slowly decreased over time. In April 2023 I started the engine one morning and noticed it ran rough and the check engine light illuminated. My OBD2 scanner detected cylinder #1 was misfiring (P0301). Unlike others who've experienced the head gasket problem, the underside of the oil cap was clean and there was no white exhaust smoke. When my dealership diagnosed the problem they performed a pressure test of the cooling system, used a borescope to look at each cylinder, and confirmed coolant was leaking into cylinder #1's combustion chamber. Even though my story has a happy ending and I got a brand new engine for free with the updated block design that will (supposedly) prevent the engine from blowing a head gasket, I would not have purchased the vehicle had I known about this issue because the risk of the engine failing was not worth the reward of a beautiful car. One of the most unfortunate aspects of this problem is that it can occur at astonishingly low mileage—as low as 28,000 miles, according to one owner of a 2017 Ford Escape. At least two failures around 30,000 miles have also been reported at the time I'm writing this, being from a 2018 Ford Escape and a 2019 Ford Edge. Interestingly, some have experienced this issue at significantly higher mileage, such as 60,000 or 100,000 miles. I experienced it at 37,000 miles. At my former work, a gentleman came in saying his 2017 Ford Edge’s check engine light came on, and the car hesitated when he tried to accelerate. The OBD2 scanner showed P0302 for cylinder #2 and recommended replacing the spark plugs and ignition coils. Before he left, I asked him to open the hood. The coolant reservoir tank showed below the full mark, but not by a significant amount. After removing the oil cap, I was presented with a yucky mixture of engine oil and coolant. His head gasket was blown and likely had been blown for a while until the check engine light finally turned on because of so much coolant entering the combustion chamber. I regret to inform him that replacing the engine is the only way to stop this problem. He bought his Edge brand new and accumulated more than 63,000 miles before discovering this widespread problem Ford and Lincoln owners will eventually have to face. His vehicle was out of warranty, and unless Ford Corporate and the dealership is willing to work with him on paying for some of the cost, this poor man must shell out thousands of dollars to fix something that shouldn’t have happened to begin with. One of the strangest things about this head gasket problem is that, despite many EcoBoost and naturally-aspirated Ford engines sharing an identical-looking open-deck block design with the affected engines, only some variants suffer head gasket issues. Another EcoBoost that shares what looks to be the same or very similar open deck design with the 1.5L, 1.6L, 2.0L, and 2.3L is the 3.5L. The 3.5L EcoBoost is heavily built upon the 3.5L Duratec V6 and uses the same open deck engine block design. Despite the 3.5L utilizing this deck design, I have yet to see reports of head gasket failures occurring, like the 1.5L, 1.6L, 2.0L, and 2.3L engine experience. Interestingly, a closed-deck variant of the 3.5L exists for very high-performance applications. It’s also worth mentioning that open-deck engine block designs are not inherently wrong and have some benefits over closed-deck and semi-closed-deck designs. Generally, open deck block designs are used for lower horsepower, naturally aspirated engines and are cheaper to produce. Open deck designs provide the best cooling efficiency due to the coolant’s ability to make full contact with the surface area of the upper portion of the cylinder. This cooling efficiency also helps with fuel economy. However, there are drawbacks to this block design, primarily the usual lack of structural support around the top of the cylinder walls. This is where support is needed most, making open decks not the ideal design to be used in high-performance applications such as utilizing high compression, turbocharging, or nitrous. Despite this downside, many automakers create high-performance engines using open deck designs. Opinion Like with any engine problem, I consider the possibility of whether the automaker intentionally used a defective design just to generate more revenue from its service centers. Even though the deck design was changed to being open for the second-gen and now changed back to being closed as the first-gen was, I hope Ford did not use a lousy design intentionally, but if you do some research on the internet, former Ford technicians say the company has known about these problems for years but decided to mass-produce them still anyway. Given that the 3.5L EcoBoost uses the same design and doesn't suffer head gasket problems nearly to the same extent, this indicates that an open-deck design itself isn’t necessarily a design flaw. It just so happens to cause many issues on specific EcoBoost engines. Depending on the year and variant, if you are considering purchasing a Ford Motor Company vehicle with either the 1.5L, 1.6L, 2.0L, or 2.3L Engine before the 2020 model year, I recommend you look at buying a different car as it’s not a matter of if the head gasket will fail, but when, and the cost of repair is sky-high. However, if you still choose to buy a vehicle with the defective variant of these engines, I absolutely urge you to purchase an extended warranty. You'll be glad you did! Additional resources TSB 19-2346 Now you know the truth behind Ford’s 1.5L, 1.6L, 2.0L, and 2.3L EcoBoost I-4 engine and its head gasket problems. I hope you have found this information informative and helpful. Still have questions or comments about this issue? I'd love to help. Feel free to leave them in the comments section below.
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AuthorRyan Emery is an avid automotive enthusiast, researcher, and investigator specializing in defect analysis and recalls. |