My dad has a 2019 with the 2.7 EB which developed a coolant leak recently. The truck only has 65k on the clock, so a coolant leak was really a puzzle to me. We had it scheduled to take to a dealership for work, due primarily to his preference to use them vs. a local shop. I don't have a lot of faith in the integrity of dealerships in general, and in this one specifically, so I decided to get under it and see if I could find anything. I believe it helps avoid unnecessary work if you already have an idea of what might be wrong. What I found was the locking spring clamp on the coolant hose to the transmission cooler was in the "locked open" position and the hose was about to pop off the cooler (see picture below).



This is how I left it... no more leak, and I've cancelled the appointment at the dealership.


My concern (besides how BIG that second picture is) is whether this happened out of someone's incompetence on a previous job or if it was someone trying to take advantage of my dad (he's 89). He's had two shops work on it in the last year - the dealer did a cat converter replacement (he said it was a recall) and a drive-through lube shop did an oil change. Both of those jobs require removal of the splash shield to access the area. I'm just trying to figure out why either of those would result in someone touching that hose clamp. Most likely would be the cat converter job, but I'm not sure why you'd need to disconnect the cooling line from the transmission cooler.

Any thoughts?

 

my guess it has been that way possibly from new on the line ,time and travel expansion, made the clamp move down more off the bulge and start leaking , it's not a area where i feel anyone would waste time on to do a trick on anyone, main things shops do today are the old you need a new cabin and air filter showing you someone else's really dirty ones, OHH you due for a BG brake fluid change.flush at 20.000 miles, and your throttle body and injectors need cleaning

which both my wife and self dealt with just a week ago,

 

Hard to tell. I suspected a local 'upper end' shop doing shenanigans like that years ago, pulling off egr hose 95% of the way. Glad you found it!

 

My main question was whether anyone here knows what's involved with the cat replacement... it would've had to be driver's side to be anywhere near this coolant line, and if the hose was disconnected then that would've drained the system (or some portion of it). That seems way off base for a procedure involving the exhaust, but if it's gotta be moved for access or something then ... maybe? I considered whether it might have been left like that at the factory, but seven years to work its way loose? Another question someone asked was whether the lube shop does coolant checks and flushes, maybe started out thinking they were supposed to do one on his truck but found out that they weren't and forgot to go back and seat the spring clamp. We'll honestly never know the truth, but I'd like a better idea of whether it was malicious or just incompetence... I'm leaning to the latter.

 

incompetent malice I would say.

Take care of dad from now on either way.

BTW excellent find saving time and $$$$$.👍

 

I don't even have to guess that you hit this one on the head. It takes a small bit of effort to pop that clamp clip to speed production, but putting them back to that position is a PIA. I'm saying it was never popped from production.

And good catch to the OP. You saved yourself a lot of wasted time and $$$.

 

Many years ago, I started marking bolts in areas where work was to be done and I mark filters that should be replaced. I also ask for old parts if there is no core charge... After pointing out their "malice or incompetence" over the years, I have been asked to not return to several shops but I would not go back anyway.... Recently caught a dealer sending me a picture of a dirty cab filter telling me it had to be replaced or I would damage my HVAC system... 89.00 is all it would cost... I texted back and said to send me a picture of the front edge where I put my initials on it when I replaced it a few weeks earlier... a few minutes later, they apologized for sending me the wrong picture and my filter was good.... Unless it is a warranty issue, I do my own maintenance if I can.

 

100%. There are few shops I trust. That includes authorized Ford dealers.

 

I had a shop send me to a sister location to get an AC condenser replaced due to a leak. Their AC tech was at the sister shop so I said sure. Took it to the shop and I get a call back, "we've done a thorough check, and your going to need a new air filter, brake fluid flush and your alternator isn't charging so it needs to be replaced right away." Funny thing, it started right up and got me to their shop, a 25 mile trip, and I got no sign of an alternator problem. The total for these add-ons was going to be about $1200 above and beyond the AC condensor replacement. I was PO'd to say the least. This was on a Friday and they weren't going to get to it til the following Monday. Monday morning I was at the original shop when the manager got there. I related to him what I had been told and advised him that I was on my way to pick the truck up. Also, I carried an ohm meter with me to check on this non-functioning alternator. I get to the sister shop, collect my keys and head to my truck. It starts right up, I check the voltage at the battery and, low and behold, I'm getting a steady 14.1 volt reading. One of the techs comes out and tells me that the manager of this location wants to talk to me. The story is, the tech put the wrong notes on the wrong service folio. We're so sorry, he was just trying to get finished up before the end of the day and made an honest mistake, but we've put a double check in our system to be sure it doesn't happen again. Ok, so I let them do the AC condenser, I figure they'll be on their best behavior now, but I know I can't take anything else to them. They lost my trust completely. The really bad part is, the original shop is located near what amounts to a retirement community. I hate to think of how many older people that they have probably taken advantage of. Sad. Really sad.