The 1.5 EcoBoost shares the open-deck design flaw that lets coolant seep into the cylinders — and the warranty extension that covered some of these has mostly run out. We diagnose and repair it at your home.
The 1.5 EcoBoost in the Escape and Fusion uses the same open-deck block construction as its EcoBoost siblings, and it fails the same way: heat cycling and boost pressure fatigue the deck area until coolant finds a path into a cylinder — through a cracked deck or a breached head gasket. Ford extended warranty coverage on a slice of these engines, but for most owners in 2026 that coverage has expired, leaving the bill on the kitchen table.
It starts subtle. The coolant bottle needs a top-up. Then another. There's no puddle on the driveway and no leak a quick look can find, because the coolant is leaving through the tailpipe as white vapour. Misfires follow as the spark plug in the wet cylinder fouls, and cabin heat goes weak in winter as the system runs low — a miserable combination in a GTA February.
Driven on, the intrusion washes lubrication off the cylinder wall and contaminates the oil. The correct repair depends on what testing reveals: head gasket on an intact deck, or a short block if the deck is cracked. Either way, the earlier it's confirmed, the more of the engine survives.
If your Ford is doing any of these, this is the likely cause:
Coolant intrusion never plateaus — the crack or breach only opens further with heat cycles. Meanwhile coolant dilutes the oil and scores the cylinder wall. The gap between 'repairable engine' and 'replacement engine' on these is usually a few hundred kilometres of driving on symptoms. If your Escape or Fusion is drinking coolant, park it and get it tested.
Yes. We do head gasket and engine-level repairs in driveways across the GTA with proper mobile equipment. Your car stays put — important when it's not safe to drive an overheating engine across the city — and we work on it where it sits. We come to you.
Ford's official fix for a cracked block is a replacement short block — big parts cost, days of book labour, dealer rates. That's the top of the range you see. The honest path is testing first: if your deck is intact, the repair is smaller. Either way we give you one flat, complete quote before work begins — no open-ended hourly billing.
Ford extended coverage on certain 1.5 EcoBoost vehicles for coolant intrusion, but it was limited by model year and time, and for most owners it has now lapsed. It's worth checking your VIN with Ford first — we'll tell you to do that before paying us if there's any chance you're covered. If you're outside it, we handle the repair at your home.
Possibly, and that's a much cheaper fix — which is why we pressure-test the whole cooling system before condemning the engine. If your coolant loss turns out to be an external leak, you pay for an external leak repair. We diagnose what's actually wrong, not what's most expensive.
Send it over for a free second opinion. I'll tell you straight what the job actually involves — and if their quote is fair, I'll tell you that too.
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