Block cracked after coolant flush

[Rochev]

I'm months into this issue, and stuck with a $4k bill for a new engine. Shop says its not their fault. I bought a '13 Taurus 3.5 from SoCal, shipped it up here. Never left spots on the garage floor. Heat worked fine. Coolant level remained normal. I DID sometimes hear gurgling/gushing from the heatercore area when the heat was turned on, sometimes when the motor was shut off.

I took it to a reputible shop for a coolant flush. When I got the car home the coolant level was a little below where it should be. The next two days the heat would work after 15 minutes of driving and only by turning up the temp all the way.

3rd day, my wife takes it to work after letting it warm up and calls me saying the heat isnt working and that its saying the coolant is over-temp. I had her stay on the phone as she said it went back down but then up again when she got to work.
I drove to her work and noticed there was no coolant. I filled it up and drove to Napa to get more. It drove fine, temp was normal but no heat. Coolant was gone again. Filled it back up and I saw it spewing out the bottom from in between the motor and trans. I had it towed back to the shop where they found a crack. I explained to them nothing was wrong before and I keep getting "the flush uses less force than the cars water pump" and I tell them "thats great, but someone either didnt put enough back in or left air in the system." Its gotten me nowhere and I need help to see if it sounds like their fault. Driving it overheated may have cracked it, but why did it happen right after they flushed it? It never left a drop on the ground. We're still without it and I've had enough with junk cars that I'm thinking of just giving them the money to get it back. The crack is next to the freeze plug in the photos.

 

[Snagglefoot]

No expert but I don't think that's a freeze plug. That looks like a drain plug for the block. Is the crack in the housing where they tighten the plug? ( I really can't tell. )
Also is that the front of the engine?

 

[ls1mike]

So is it leaking? I don't see the crack. How hot did get?

 

[ls1mike]

Originally Posted by Snagglefoot
No expert but I don't think that's a freeze plug. That looks like a drain plug for the block. Is the crack in the housing where they tighten the plug? ( I really can't tell. )

Right not a freeze plug, this plug screws in. I don't imagine they removed that to do a flush.

After it is full are you losing coolant?

 

[Rochev]

The crack is along the housing where the bolt is. I believe it got pretty hot since she drove it for a while without coolant in it. They told me the crack is next to the freeze plug, but it doesnt look like a freeze plug to me either.

 

[ls1mike]

I get the coolant wasn't full, but you always have to check after a shop or anyone does flush to ensure they got it full.

Why did she keep driving it? Did the temperature gage not register?

 

[Rochev]

Its inside the transmission housing. I cant draw on the pics on my phone but if you look at this, its along the large bolt on the upper end, inside of where the transmission attaches.

She doesnt know anything about cars, the gauge works and when it got too hot a message came up saying it was over temperature. She was actually irritated about it when she called me because the heat wasnt working.

 

[ls1mike]

That is going to be a tough one. So your engine is out of the car now and I am assuming that is how it was found?

 

[StevieC]

Sounds like they didn't burp it properly and a hot spot developed and cracked the block or they overtightened the block plug when it was out. I took this plug out on my Santa Fe when I changed the coolant because it was easier than taking the skid plate off on that vehicle and then just flushed water through the radiator to do it. When I put the plug back in I tightened it down just enough to be snug so as to not damage anything in the aluminum block.

 

[Trav]

That sucks big time. Its too late to do you any good but this is why vacuum filling is a good idea on any engine and mandatory on some especially late models.

 

[clinebarger]

I can't think of anything the shop could have done to crack your block.

This is going to be difficult for you to prove fault, For all you know....It had some sealant added to the cooling system before you bought the vehicle & the flush removed it?

It's a knee jerk reaction to blame to last person/repair facility that worked on your vehicle for any problems that arise afterwards, The force/pressure to crack a good/sound engine block is substantial. A hard freeze event could do it IF the coolant to water ratio was off.

 

[Nick1994]

Is it an auction car? Was probably why the previous owner got rid of it.

 

[Rochev]

LKQ took my old motor as a core charge but I may be able to track it and get a better look at it. I was thinking it may have had more water in it which caused it to freeze and thaw repeatedly, but having the heat not work right after a flush seems to me like it had air, or just not enough coolant. I think leaving air would be more likely than not putting enough coolant back in.

It was a personal car, not an auction.
Having sealant in it could be possible, but would a flush have removed it and caused a slow leak until it overheated? I was told several times about how their flush is gentler than my water pump.

 

[clinebarger]

Ford is one of the few manufactures to use a cylinder head temp sensor (Senses a NO-Coolant Overheat condition) & will force a engine protection mode that you would have noticed as extreme low power. Ford copied the GM Northstar overtemp protection strategy but made it actually work with the absence of coolant.

 

[Snagglefoot]

Originally Posted by StevieC
Sounds like they didn't burp it properly and a hot spot developed and cracked the block or they overtightened the block plug when it was out. I took this plug out on my Santa Fe when I changed the coolant because it was easier than taking the skid plate off on that vehicle and then just flushed water through the radiator to do it. When I put the plug back in I tightened it down just enough to be snug so as to not damage anything in the aluminum block.



The block plug the OP photographed would not have been accessible when the tranny was bolted up, correct?

 

[ls1mike]

Originally Posted by Snagglefoot
Originally Posted by StevieC
Sounds like they didn't burp it properly and a hot spot developed and cracked the block or they overtightened the block plug when it was out. I took this plug out on my Santa Fe when I changed the coolant because it was easier than taking the skid plate off on that vehicle and then just flushed water through the radiator to do it. When I put the plug back in I tightened it down just enough to be snug so as to not damage anything in the aluminum block.



The block plug the OP photographed would not have been accessible when the tranny was bolted up, correct?

That is how I understood it.

 

[das_peikko]

The shop that did the flush didn't get all the air out of the system; that's what caused it to overheat. Pretty obvious to me what happened because I do my own drain and fills. I run the engine at idle for an hour as I closely monitor the coolant level. When the engine burps, the coolant level will drop drastically. You've got to be there when that happens so that you can add coolant. It's pretty much critical. The shop that did the work on your car just filled it up with coolant and shut the hood.

 

[Chris142]

The flush removed the stop leak that someone put in it to stop the leak. Put more in it and drive it.

I have never heard of a block cracking from running too hot. Blow head gaskets or warp heads ya.

 

[Rochev]

The cause of the block cracking is a mystery. Im wondering if being from the desert, someone topped it off with straight water and not antifreeze. When it was here for a month starting in January, it could have started to freeze and then heat up for a few weeks which caused a crack. Its anywhere from -10 to +30 at that time, and it came from somehwere that doesnt get near freezing. But then, why would it have started leaking after the flush, soon after the heat stopped working? Its just been going in circles through my head for months. Even if stop leak was in it, it should have leaked from the crack before the flush. I dont think it got hot enough to crack because it drove perfect when I drove it to Napa.

Yes the crack was inside the bell housing and only visible with the tranny removed. Freeze plugs were fine. It was coming out at least a gallon a minute, which seems substantial for that little crack.

 

[Rochev]

For anyone just looking into this-I've made a condensed version of my rant.
I bought the car and drove it 800 miles, never lost coolant, never leaked anything. Got it flushed, then the heat didnt work, then a few days later it overheated and had no coolant. Filled it up and it dumped out from inbetween the transmission and block underneath, from a crack in the block.

Whether or not the shop is at fault is what I'm most concerned with. Even if they are, I dont think I could prove it. Im having a hard time forking over my hard earned $4k to them when the car was perfect before they touched it. Theres a lot of scenarios that COULD have happened, but I doubt the actual cause will be figured out.

Here's a pic of where it came out, after i shut it off. Not sure what the black rubber piece is but i could move it around. The tranny is on the left, block barely visible on the right. Black piece is in between them.