Coolant

[Burgundy17]

The owner's manual for 2017 Ford Edge says this under scheduled maintenance for coolant -

Initial replacement at 6 years or 100,000 miles, then 3 years or 5000 miles

 

All Edge's are lumped together into the same bucket. There is no distinction between those with external water pumps which are the eco boost engines and those with internal water pumps which are the 3.5 or 3.7 NA (naturally aspirated) engines. Do external and internal water pumps have the same failure rates? It seems like they would have different failure rates due to their placement and therefore need different schedules.

 

For increased compliance reasons I can see Ford only recommending one schedule to keep things simple. By accommodating the needs of the more problematic water pump it takes care of the other one too. Is that what is happening here?

 

I understand coolant becomes more acidic with time and use. Acid can attack seals and cause loss of coolant. I can understand the first part, change at 6 years or 100,000 miles. It is the second part that is hard to understand. 99% of people will drive more than 5000 miles before 3 years are up. If you use a conservative figure of 10,000 miles / year that means after the initial change the owner has to change the coolant twice a year. For a higher use driver of 15,000 miles that means three times a year.

 

So for 6 years no coolant change and then afterwards change the coolant 2 or 3 times a year no matter what engine you have.

Have I got that right? The car has become so acidic from deterioration of parts after 6 years the coolant must be changed 2 or 3 times a year. Excuse me but as a manufacturer I would think that is a big problem. But as a business strategist I would think great idea! We sell more cars.

 

Maybe the published scheduled maintenance guidelines are totally off base and do not reflect the real world. But 3.5 engine Edge owners need some reliable help here. I have been reading a lot of stories about catastrophic engine failure due to leaking water pumps on 3.5 engines. Are Ford's official guidelines the best advice out there? Are the unofficial guidelines I got from my Ford service department of changing the fluid every 30,000 miles just leading me down the garden path? At 130,000 miles or 150,000 miles I may experience engine failure due to the water pump anyway?

 

Before I purchased my Edge I worried the 2.0 engine would not hold up and it would fail around the 150,000 mile mark.

Maybe my fears were misplaced and both engines will fail around the same time.

[WWWPerfA_ZN0W]

havent heard of any failures on the edge 2.0 WPs so far, either gen 1.5 or gen 2. most failures have been on gen 1's so far, and that means the 3.5 engine. some failures on the 3.5EB transverse engine also.

 

but yeah, i just don't understand that first change interval either. go with the 3/50 from the start, and the water pump should be pretty happy. Maybe flush it every time. Would even go so far as to say a yearly drain/fill wouldn't hurt, but may be excessive for most people.

[akirby]

The actual failure rate is pretty low from a percentage standpoint - probably not enough to make a separate maintenance recommendation.

 

I suspect it's a combination of factors that have to line up to cause the premature failure so it's only really necessary to do more frequent changes if you're in that small group. But since we don't know what puts you in that small group it's just better to be safe and change it sooner.