Shona Manigault was pulling out of a McDonalds when her 2011 Ford Explorer stalled and started to overheat. She took her car in for a routine repair involving her water pump. However, what should have been a relatively cheap repair ended up costing more than $8,100.
That’s due to the design of the Duratec engine, which has the water pump installed inside it.
Jim Strickland, consumer investigator at WSB-TV 2, reported that drivers of popular Ford cars such as the F-150, Explorer, Fusion and Taurus are experiencing similar problems.
“Are you angry,” Strickland asked Manigault.
“Angry is putting it lightly,” Manigault told Strickland. “I am past the moon with rage with what has happened to me with this vehicle.”
Most cars have the water pumps installed outside of the engine. When the water pumps break, anti-freeze leaks onto the ground.
However, when the pump inside the Duratec engine fails, anti-freeze leaks into the oil, creating a mixture that Strickland said resembles a chocolate milkshake.
Water pump repairs range within hundreds of dollars, depending on how easily the mechanics can access them. However, the difficulty of access and the damage caused by leaking water pumps inside the Duratec engines drive repair costs into the thousands.
Source: WSB-TV 2
