Ford Focus ecoboost - should I be concerned?

Mystery Man

at the start of the year I bought a Ford Focus ecoboost for my wife to run around in. It’s a 2015 plate and so far so good (touches wood). However I have found a group on Facebook along with some other websites complaining about the ecoboost engines not being reliable and many needing replaced. Key advice from these groups seems to change the car.

There was a recall/fix for some cars with these engines but that was prior to 2015. Now I am concerned whether or not I should change the car out of this possible issue or stick with it.

Grateful for any thoughts on Ford Focus and ecoboost engines. Particularly on the reliability of 2015 models. What’s the verdict, keep it or change?

woody10381

Which (bhp) variant of the engine do you have? There are 100, 125 and 140 bhp versions that I'm aware of.

There is some useful information in this thread: 1l ecoboost fiesta zetec st-line

I think that a lot of the reported issues are related to the coolant system and overheating. There was a recall to fit a coolant level sensor, you should be able to check that your vehicle needs / has had this done on the Ford ETIS website.

I have the 125 bhp variant in my 63 plate Fiesta with 80k miles, with no issues at all. Whether your engine is more susceptible to issues from being worked harder to propel a larger car, who knows? It is difficult to establish a true picture of reliability from online forums / groups who will generally only post when they have a problem, especially when you consider vast number of eco-boost engines that are out there.

Personally, I would check the recall status and then avoid worrying. Just keep checking your coolant levels (as you would for all your other fluids) and make sure that if you've been on a long run / good thrash, sit at idle for a minute before switching the engine off to let the turbo cool down.

The engines came out in ~2013 so with yours being a 2015, there is a possibility that any inherent failings in the early versions may have been addressed by the time your vehicle was manufactured. Obviously if mine does blow up in the next month or so, I'll be back on here telling everyone how awful they are.....

Mystery Man

Thanks for the reply. It’s the 1.0 engine I have. Car has been running fine but now I have seen this I was slightly concerned. It’s dofficult like you say to get a subjective overall picture of the percentage of cars suffering the problem.

I check the ETIS site and no recalls for my car. Will keep an eye on it for the time being thanks.

Any other ford ecoboost owners out there?