"Genuine Ford" part= trash. A rant

RedVenom48

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Have a BIG issue with Ford Genuine parts. 2001 Excursion V10, 145K miles. During an oil change in April, I found the original coolant overflow tank (degas bottle) had a hairline crack in the top. Wanting to take care of it before the Phoenix heat hit, I did a flush and replaced the tank, cap and t-stat with Ford Genuine parts.

About 3 weeks after I installed the new tank, I started to notice that I had a coolant smell coming from the engine after driving. Didnt see any fresh coolant. Topped off and went about my life. Occasionally had to top off after that.

A month ago I was towing a trailer to pickup my ill fated 69 Nova. I stopped at a gas station for a snack and drink. Coming back to my Excursion I saw coolant pissing from under my engine compartment. I popped the hood and no shit saw a STREAM of hot coolant leaking under pressure from the seam that joined the 2 halves of the NEW "Genuine Ford" coolant tank. Needless to say it was a miserable experience driving back in 110 degree heat with the damn heaters turn on full blast....

I removed the failed tank and took it back to the Ford dealer I bought it from. They couldnt just refund me my money due to time. They had to file the paper work with Ford and wait for them to authorize the refund. Still waiting for that by the way. I bought a new Genuine Ford tank to get my Excursion back on the road. Installed it, topped off coolant.

Today I had to replace a failed no-name reman alternator that had died and killed off my new Motorcraft battery (thanks prior owner). After starting the engine and monitoring charging voltage, I glanced at the low coolant level in the tank see at the same spot as last time BUBBLES and ****ing coolant leaking out of the tank seam..... This was just idling. Not towing, not hauling just sitting in my ****ing driveway watching to make sure the new alternator was doing its job.

Im ****ing livid at Ford... I bought Genuine parts to avoid stupidity like this. Two brand new parts critical to cooling my truck BOTH were junk less than a few weeks after installation.

If this were somewhere back east, it might not be a big deal. But our daily ambient temps are 105+ degrees. Typically in Phoenix its like 110 cause of the concrete and asphalt. I MUST be able to rely on genuine parts to continue to keep a my older truck on the road. These idiots at FoMoCo cant even make their part suppliers supply a cooling tank that is completely sealed? WTF. I may as well buy ****ing Dorman shitbag parts. At least when they fail I wont be disappointed that I paid the most for the part to fail a month later.

Honestly once we get my wifes Mustang Vert paid off, we're going to look at Suburban 2500's or some Cadillac Escalade ESVs. There's other stuff wrong too. The Blue Box Ford brake pads are noisy as shit, the Motorcraft front rotors I just put on 5k miles ago are warped... I have a brake pull still thats probably due to a worn steering box... OK, the brake pull isnt from new Ford parts failing.. thats just an annoying bug Ive been dealing with.

Yeah I think Im over this thing.

End rant.
 

me32

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Sounds like owning a used vehicle is not for you. Its 20/21years old. Things are going to happen. You sure it wasnt over heating causing the tank to leak? 110f outside i wouldn't be surprised if your coolant was 230f or above.

On the flip side used vehicles are at all time high to sell it.
 

RedVenom48

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Sounds like owning a used vehicle is not for you. Its 20/21years old. Things are going to happen. You sure it wasnt over heating causing the tank to leak? 110f outside i wouldn't be surprised if your coolant was 230f or above.

On the flip side used vehicles are at all time high to sell it.
Im fine owning a used vehicle. 15 years as a dealer technician, trust me turning a wrench isnt the issue.

My issue with this particular circumstance is that Ford's quality for their replacement parts is shit. The degas bottle (coolant reservoir) is a part of the pressurized cooling system known as a closed system. Most of Ford's cooling systems are closed. This particular system is not new to Ford, nor its cooling system parts suppliers.

Id expect this quality from a no name Rock Auto or Amazon part, or Dorman. Not a full price retail "Genuine" part from a dealership.

No one makes 100% perfect parts every time. But 2 different times from 2 (allegedly) different batches... nah its just a bad part vendor for Ford. But, they wear Ford's badge and ultimately the buck stops with them.

If it was an over pressure issue, maybe. But its a brand new pressure cap on there from Ford. Two actually, as I got a new cap when I got the replacement degas bottle. If it looses pressure (cause its got a poor seam) then the temp WILL rise and it wont be able to get the heat out fast enough from the radiator given my ambient air temp.
 

ShelbyGT5HUN

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I'd be just as mad as you! That's truly ****ing ridiculous! These failures could have cost you an engine!
 

lOOKnGO

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I'm not splitting hairs here, and also have shared in your frustrations with ford. However, wasn't the cap of Motorcraft? As mentioned the SUV being 20+ years old I know that suppliers change. OEM would be the smartest, easiest solution but the bean counters at Ford disagree. Ford replacement parts are expensive to boot. One would figure they could afford the extra .75 cents to have the OEM manufacturer make it the right way. BTW, if you have the box, was it assembled in India?
 

IronSnake

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I believe the OE supplier for that is MotoRad, which is what you can also get in the aftermarket off RA.

When/if the tank fails on my 00 GT, I am doing the upper Rad fill hose setup and a degas bottle instead. The plastic tanks, even when these cars were new, weren't always the most reliable/reasonable.
 

Relaxed Chaos

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My E46 BMW had the same issues. I have no idea why they put the overflow/degas tanks in the pressurized system and also make them so easy to fail. Been through a few poorly made OEM plastic radiators with various brands with seam splitting issues, too.

Squeezed out with help from the svtperformance.com mobile app
 

Detroit Iron

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Sorry to hear about your frustrations. Fox Body guys are currently going through this with ignition parts (TFI modules and PIP sensors). Motorcraft "still" sells their TFI module, they are Chinese junk that seem to fail as much as they work. Since there is little demand for these parts, they just go to the lowest bidder (Commie China Junk).

I've never owned a car with a pressurized overflow tank. One dumb question, I imagine there is a pressure cap of some sort that regulates pressure. Could that be the problem if the cap can't bleed off pressure? The seems in the plastic overflow tank are now your pressure relief. Just rambling...hope you get it squared away.
 

HellionGT

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2005 I read of a few others with this issue. Not very many just a few, with different vehicles. Guess they had theirs made on a Friday.


I believe the OE supplier for that is MotoRad, which is what you can also get in the aftermarket off RA.

When/if the tank fails on my 00 GT, I am doing the upper Rad fill hose setup and a degas bottle instead. The plastic tanks, even when these cars were new, weren't always the most reliable/reasonable.


I went the aluminum Canton for the tank on my 01 GT way back.
 

RedVenom48

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Head gasket?
I had though of that, but up until my alternator took a dump, I was driving it as my daily. I have a 24 mile round trip with a mix of street and freeway. Afternoons are especially rough as it's typically the hottest part of the day and I damn sure have my AC cranked lol. I didn't have any over heat experiences.

Now it's possible that towing is the culprit of course, BUT I experience a near overheat completely empty, no trailer cruising on the freeway.

A few weeks ago I bought my 73 Nova and of course trailered it home. Neither the trip to get the trailer, the ride home loaded with parts, my nephew and brother in law and the car, nor the trip back to the uhaul center did it over heat.

The times I get near an overheat is about after 30 mins of driving, cruising on the freeway, loaded, towing or empty. By that time I think the low pressure combined with time and heat soak causes the temp to soar.

Worth it to get a block test i suppose. Do I want to buy the tool or just have it done is the question. Also if I do have blown head gasket the question is did the overheat cause the failure?


It's possible the flush procedure stirred up some crap in the block and I might have a partially clogged radiator too.

But the leak from the seam twice is unacceptable.
 

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