NHTSA Complaint #10605378 — 2013 FORD ESCAPE

1.6L ECOBOOST: SERVICE ENGINE INDICATOR COMES ON. DEALER HAS DETERMINED SEVERAL INSTANCES OF ENGINE MISFIRE. INITIALLY TOO, A MORE URGENT INDICATOR LIGHT CAME ON (AMBER) INDICATING THAT THE COOLANT LEVEL IS LOW. A YET MORE URGENT INDICATOR LIGHT COMES ON (RED) INDICATING THE ENGINE IS OVERHEATING AND THE ENGINE IS REDUCED TO RUNNING ON TWO CYLINDERS. HOWEVER, THIS INDICATION APPEARED ONLY SHORTLY AFTER THE ENGINE WAS STARTED, AND SURELY AT THAT POINT, THE ENGINE WAS FAR FROM OVERHEATING. ON OTHER AND SUBSEQUENT INCIDENCES, ENGINE MISFIRES DURING THE FIRST SECONDS FOLLOWING START-UP. AFTER 3 TO 5 SECONDS, ENGINE USUALLY STOPS MISFIRING. ON A COUPLE OF OCCASIONS, THIS MISFIRE-AT-START-UP EVENT HAS BEEN ACCOMPANIED BY A FAINT ODOR OF ANTIFREEZE. THE MOST RECENT MISFIRE-AT-START-UP EVENT INCLUDED A FAINT SMELL OF SOMETHING/NOT FUEL OR OIL, AND GRAY SMOKE FROM THE EXHAUST. BECAUSE DEALER HAS TESTED THE COOLING SYSTEM (OKAY) AND NO HINT OF COOLANT HAS BEEN FOUND ON THE GROUND OR ENGINE COMPARTMENT, I'M NOW ASSUMING THAT COOLANT IS GETTING INTO ONE OR MORE OF CYLINDERS, EITHER FROM THE ENGINE HEAD OR FROM THE TURBO CHARGER (IT IS WATER-COOLED, I'M TOLD) AND IS THEN COMING OUT OF THE EXHAUST. BOTH TAIL PIPES ARE CARBONED UP. MENTION OF IS MADE ON SEVERAL WEB POSTS AND IS APPARENTLY A COMMON OCCURRENCE WITH ECOBOOST ENGINES?? BASED ON MY VAST (HIGH SCHOOL) KNOWLEDGE OF CHEMISTRY AND THE OXIDATION PROCESS, THAT JUST AIN'T RIGHT. I HAVE ASKED FMC TO REPLACE THE VEHICLE. THEY HAVE THUS FAR DECLINED TO DO SO. *TR