2024 XL (STX) 2.3L coolant intrusion

[Morningpride]

My 24 XL (31,500m) has been low on coolant several times. Each time, the dealer checks and can find nothing wrong. Welp, today three days before we are supposed to tow our camper 2,000 miles, I went for an oil change, and to have fluids checked. The found the leak, coolant in cyl#2. Not a lot, but a very small leak visible on a boriscope.

Needs an engine.

How’s your day going?

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[Flak]

My 24 XL (31,500m) has been low on coolant several times. Each time, the dealer checks and can find nothing wrong. Welp, today three days before we are supposed to tow our camper 2,000 miles, I went for an oil change, and to have fluids checked. The found the leak, coolant in cyl#2. Not a lot, but a very small leak visible on a boriscope.

Needs an engine.

How’s your day going?

I uhhh assume this is a warranty thing at least?

 

[Morningpride]

I uhhh assume this is a warranty thing at least?

Yes sir it is. However, it’s incredibly concerning. The service manager said this was the first 2.3 he had seen do this. They supposedly fixed this issue.

 

[MasterCylinder]

My 24 XL (31,500m) has been low on coolant several times. Each time, the dealer checks and can find nothing wrong. Welp, today three days before we are supposed to tow our camper 2,000 miles, I went for an oil change, and to have fluids checked. The found the leak, coolant in cyl#2. Not a lot, but a very small leak visible on a boriscope.

Needs an engine.

How’s your day going?

Originally the 4 cylinders including the 2.3l some had the wrong head gasket installed. In addition to that the blocks were redesigned because of a gap between the cylinders that were prone to leakage between the cylinders and into one of the adjacent cylinders or both. These engines are suppose to be built in Spain so this is concerning to say the least but many causes can be the culprit, such as head torqued incorrectly, head bolts stretched beyond design, bad head gasket from the get go etc..... I'm curious if that engine is going to get the proper inspection tear down to find out why it failed and get reported back to you!! That totally suks man!!

 

[pezdyspensr]

Wowow! No good. I’ll be following. I have the same exact vehicle, and was bummed to learn of the engine redesign for 2025 right after getting my 24. Hopefully yours is an outlier. Any sense whether they will replace with another 1st gen motor or the redesigned MPC?

 

[pezdyspensr]

Originally the 4 cylinders including the 2.3l some had the wrong head gasket installed. In addition to that the blocks were redesigned because of a gap between the cylinders that were prone to leakage between the cylinders and into one of the adjacent cylinders or both. These engines are suppose to be built in Spain so this is concerning to say the least but many causes can be the culprit, such as head torqued incorrectly, head bolts stretched beyond design, bad head gasket from the get go etc..... I'm curious if that engine is going to get the proper inspection tear down to find out why it failed and get reported back to you!! That totally suks man!!

When did Ford change the block design as seen in that second photo? These early failures were back in 2015 or so yes? Or is that photo from the 2025+ block?

 

[MasterCylinder]

When did Ford change the block design as seen in that second photo? These early failures were back in 2015 or so yes? Or is that photo from the 2025+ block?

That's the million dollar question! Yes, according to all the reports it was an early problem. I have seen the new design back to 2018. So I can only speculate in and around that time frame. Non gap block is a 2024 2.3l Eco. That's why to me, I'd want to know why the failure, as my mechanical curious side kicks in! We can just hope it's a one off or rare circumstantial thing from a bad initial assembly of some sort!

 

[MasterCylinder]

Wowow! No good. I’ll be following. I have the same exact vehicle, and was bummed to learn of the engine redesign for 2025 right after getting my 24. Hopefully yours is an outlier. Any sense whether they will replace with another 1st gen motor or the redesigned MPC?

You should have the redesigned 2.3l Ecoboost MPC. Does yours have the aluminum valve cover? If my coffee has kicked in. I think all the MPC engines were equipped with the aluminum one, that was an easily visible difference. Ranger on!

 

[Jason B]

When did Ford change the block design as seen in that second photo? These early failures were back in 2015 or so yes? Or is that photo from the 2025+ block?

IIRC, it was before Ranger returned to the US in 2019. So, no US Ranger should have that old style block.

 

[daytoncarter]

You should have the redesigned 2.3l Ecoboost MPC. Ranger on!

No, MPC started in MY 2025.

 

[daytoncarter]

My 24 XL (31,500m) has been low on coolant several times. Each time, the dealer checks and can find nothing wrong. Welp, today three days before we are supposed to tow our camper 2,000 miles, I went for an oil change, and to have fluids checked. The found the leak, coolant in cyl#2. Not a lot, but a very small leak visible on a boriscope.

Needs an engine.

How’s your day going?

It's entirely possible there was a block defect, head bolt torque issue, head gasket, who knows. Ford builds over 500,000 of these engines each year so it goes.

Just hope the warranty process goes smoothly and what's important is this isn't a design defect that would impact the whole engine range or a replacement engine.

 

[pezdyspensr]

You should have the redesigned 2.3l Ecoboost MPC. Does yours have the aluminum valve cover? If my coffee has kicked in. I think all the MPC engines were equipped with the aluminum one, that was an easily visible difference. Ranger on!

Plastic cover, older engine. Mine was manufactured 11/24, purchased early 25, learned about the engine redesign weeks later. Oh well!
Still curious if the warranty replacement means Ford will source an older style engine or find a way to put in the MPC.

 

[bigb]

Did any of the coolant show up in the oil?

 

[daytoncarter]

Plastic cover, older engine. Mine was manufactured 11/24, purchased early 25, learned about the engine redesign weeks later. Oh well!
Still curious if the warranty replacement means Ford will source an older style engine or find a way to put in the MPC.

It's going to be the same engine, retrofitting MPC isn't that simple since it has lots of different plumbing, different ECU programming, the two have the same displacement and that's about it.

Edit: I had a 2021 New Ranger with the "old" 2.3L it's not a bad engine at all. I wanted the new 2.3L MPC but I would have still bought the Ranger with the old 2.3L.

 

[MasterCylinder]

No, MPC started in MY 2025.

There are probably door or code build dates in 2024 with the MPC engines depends on Ford when they started the swap into what they classified as 24 or 25 year and they seem to vary it over the years to some degree. That's why I said the info the aluminum valve cover as a give away.

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