FORD is exactly what it stands for F-found, O-on, R-road, D-dead!!!!! which exactly what happened to me. I was on my way to church, with no signs that anything was wrong the temp. gauge went automatically too hot and the car shut off. Now I am told the water pump is bad and has blown my engine. Looking at over $5K to fix it. I see a class action law suit, but what good does this do when we need a car to drive? Ford knows this has been a a problem and has done nothing. I will never buy another FORD vehicle and I will tell everyone else not to as well. This is ridiculous that I have a nice vehicle, which I have kept up very well and have to send it to the dump because of this issue FORD knew about. So to say I am Pissed off is an understatement.

I have another Ford, 2003 Explorer XLT, it has 206K miles but never have a problem with water pump.

My wife and I were attached with Ford not until yesterday, 07/02/2020, when we started hearing a grinding noise, with our 2010 Ford Edge while driving on 880 Freeway, I was able to drive the car to the nearest exit until we got stalled at the entrance of Lucky's Store at Dyer St. I checked the engine, but I noticed the coolant reservoir is empty, but I don't see leak anywhere at the bottom of the engine and at the pavement.

I called my auto insurance, and have my car towed. Right now, our budget is very tight.

I checked our local auto mechanic here in Hayward, initially the estimate cost of repair is $1,300.00.

I will try to google how to repair this issue, and I hope I can make it.

Water pump failure contaminates oil leading to a catastrophic failure of the engine:

My Ford Edge has been taken good care of for the entirety of its life. Engine oil was changed on time, fluid levels were properly maintained to spec. The car has not experienced any overheating or freezing during its lifetime. Generally, it was gently driven. Ford had the vehicle a month ago for a recall issue and replaced the plugs, inspected the engine, and double checked the fluids along with replacing the recalled airbag. No alarms or suggestions were had beyond this work.

Last Sunday while driving on a residential road within 2 minutes after leaving the marina, the check engine light came on, followed shortly by the check oil light, and then immediately by a loss in power. No raise in engine temperature was indicated, there was no smell or creaking that's usually associated with an overheat, and the engine did not seize. I immediately pulled over and inspected the engine for leaks, fluids, and any smell. The only alarming issue was less water in the coolant tank along with slightly "milky" oil. I had the car towed.

Ford informed me that they had seen the issue repeatedly. The water pump had failed internally, causing coolant to be injected into the oil, leading to a catastrophic failure of the engine. I was quoted $7900 to replace the engine by Ford. The blue book is 8-10k on this car right now, so it is possibly a total loss. It seems that Ford treats the engine and water pump as a singular unit from an engineering perspective. When these pumps fail, they often mix water into the oil instead of failing independently and allowing for an engine heat climb to prompt the driver to pull over before a catastrophic failure.

I cannot afford a new car or payment at this point. I cannot afford to replace the engine at Ford's price. Insurance will not cover it, as it is considered a mechanical failure due to wear and tear. The car is beyond warranty (10 years old). This should not have happened. At very least, a water pump failure should not contaminate the oil resulting in catastrophic failure without an overheat or adequate warning. The pump should fail, cause the beginning of an overheat, prompting the driver to pull over and save the engine. At very least, Ford should recommend or insist that these pumps be serviced/replaced at a reasonable mileage such as 100k to prevent a catastrophic loss.

My 2010 Ford Edge was fine, until it wasn't. I saw the oil light come on twice in 2 weeks, within a week of the last time I saw the warning light my car began making a weird noise as we drove locally one night. As it was a cool night and my car had been sitting for at least 3 hours I didn't even consider it might be overheating. I made it about a mile and a half before the smell of burnt syrup became overwhelming to myself and my two kids, the sounds became more ominous and a minute later we shuddered, smoking, to the side of the road where it died. By now I had seen the temp pinned to "OH CRAP" on the gauge and knew we were done; after it cooled we put quite a few gallons (it seemed) in and I drove it back, where it shuddered to a stop BONE DRY half way up my driveway. HOW can you overheat a modern car without A SINGLE WARNING?? All of my fluids were a horrific sludgy mix, coolant and oil having been mixing for "A WHILE NOW" says the gleeful mechanic, who is very willing to replace my engine for $7K and change. I have a mind numbing list from him of what ultimately amounts to almost $10K to get that car running. Water pump was leaking for a "VERY LONG TIME". NO WARNING - not a single light came on and the damn thing was LEAKING so badly it killed my Edge!

January, 2016

2010 Ford Edge Limited - 88,000 miles - out of warranty - need to replace water pump & engine.

I bought this car certified pre-owned from the same well respected Ford Dealership where the original owner had purchased it and then traded it in on a new car. Records show it was meticulously maintained by that previous owner and I have done the same.

I am devastated, both emotionally and financially, especially because I love this car so much and it all happened with absolutely no warning. I estimated this car had a life span of at least 10 years-that I would get at least 3 to 5 years out of it....and now my confidence and my budget are shattered.

Headed out for work in the morning. A few miles from home, the check engine light came on for the first time ever. I immediately paid attention. Car sounded fine, no sign of trouble, figured I would take it in to dealer after work.... and at about that point, the temperature gauge started to climb.

As soon as I saw the temperature heading for the red zone, I pulled over, turned if off and called the tow truck to take it to the dealership where I bought it. I understood the danger to the engine if I drove it overheated. Even though it is winter here and outside temperature was below zero, this gauge was climbing pretty fast.

I expected a faulty thermostat or maybe the cooling fan didn't kick in... nothing serious. BUT, I was informed later that day that the vehicle had just experienced catastrophic engine failure due to water pump leaked and contaminated the engine oil with coolant and oh... by the way, it was overheating because of the drop in coolant levels.

The coolant leak is entirely internal - no external visibility of any problem, so normal service checks and even a daily visual check will not find this problem until it is too late, and there is no sensor that will recognize that it is happening until it is too late..

The dealership quoted $3200 to replace water pump only, but told me I really need to replace engine too as bearings may be damaged ... total $7500. After I indicated this was unacceptable, the dealership has offered to swap in a used engine/water pump (has 64,000 miles on it) for $4300. Basically, they seem to be treating these engine/water pump assemblies as a single unit.

We know that the water pump doesn't have the same life span as the engine. Now we have also learned that this system has been engineered with the potential for the engine to be ruined when that water pump fails.

Spoke to Ford Customer Service... they say it is not a design flaw and there is nothing on record about this problem. The dealership also accepts no responsibility because my 3 month pre-owned warranty is also expired. Again, the consumer picks up the tab.

I have the original manufacturers invoice for this car, and the original owner paid $41,000 to take delivery of this vehicle. I am just glad that I didn't pay that price for it. I have found a few reports where the failure occurred while the vehicle was under warranty and a few more after the warranty expired (mostly around 80K to 90K miles). But I expect there will be many more 'out of warranty' very expensive incidents as these vehicles age.

I am reading everywhere that vehicles are more reliable and last longer than ever..... but I don't see it. The way they are designing & building these vehicles so that the cost of even minor repairs like replacing a water pump is up between $2,000 & $3,000 - NOT acceptable. And if it takes the engine out along with it!!!!

Special Note: This Duratec 35 engine/water pump system is on the 2007-2014 Ford Edge, 2007-2010 Lincoln MKX, 2007-2014 Lincoln MKZ, 2008-2014 Ford Taurus, 2008-2009 Ford Taurus X, 2008-2009 Mercury Sable, 2009-2004 Ford Flex, 2012-2012 Ford Fusion Sport, and 2011-2014 Ford Explorer.

You need to search ALL of these forums to locate others with this problem. I finally just searched for 'Duratech 35 problems' and 'Ford Water Pump'.

This legal firm is collecting information to launch a class action suit: http://www.consumer-action.org/index...these_products but that isn't going to help me now.

I still don't know what I am going to do. I have my family mechanic looking into it now. I will report back once this resolved. I love the EDGE... I am heartbroken.

Update from Feb 12, 2016: February, 2016 - Well, the Service Manager at the Ford Dealership finally got back to us (after about 12 days), and he did offer a better deal than the initial quote.

He offered to replace the engine with a used one that had about 40K miles, would install a new water pump before installing that engine and added in the use of a loaner car while we were waiting for the repair (no charge).... quoted price after tax etc.. $5300 (compared to original quote of $5000 for used engine 60K miles without replacing the water pump). Both options were offered with a 1 year 'limited' warranty.

His final quote was a better deal as my main concern was that the used engine was going to have its original water pump, maybe setting us up for this to happen again. My faith in the good will of the dealership has been restored, but we did not go with that solution, because by the time he got back to us with that offer, we had found what we decided was a better solution.

We contacted several engine rebuilders by email requesting quotes... and we decided to go with Aerohill Engine Rebuilders. They have an excellent reputation and they gave us a detailed quote in writing....$6200 (after tax) to have the engine entirely rebuilt and new water pump installed, etc, with a 1 year, unlimited warranty. This service includes returning the car after 1200 miles and they will do an oil change and check everything at no charge.

When we sent an email asking if he used Ford replacement parts - we got this response in an email.

"We are going in with the understanding that we will be completely rebuilding the entire long block and long block will be receiving all new internal components. We use a mix of certain OEM specific and OEM equivalent components during the rebuilding process. It should be mentioned that we purchase the internal components from the same companies that Ford sources their internal parts from. Ford does not manufacture their own gaskets and pistons, they source it from companies such as Mahle and Federal-Mogul. One of which is currently the largest piston manufacturer in the world and the other is listed on the NASDAQ. "

No other engine rebuilder put their quote in writing... everything was verbal, 'over the phone', even when my original inquiry was made by email.

The work was done in the quoted time (5 days). We got our vehicle back this week. The service from this fellow (Mike) has been excellent, and we have the good feeling that we will continue to receive excellent service from this company throughout our warranty period, and probably after that as well.

Special note: We really wanted to have that engine opened up so that we would know if it really needed to be replaced/rebuilt. This solution gave us that satisfaction. Mike tells us that the bearings were showing some signs of wear, and there was some sludge in the oil pan, but there was no evidence of damage from overheating (aluminum heads, gaskets etc showed no heat damage). He says we probably could have just replaced the water pump ($3000), flushed the engine,etc and driven it for another year? or two?, but the life of the engine was definitely compromised by the contamination from coolant.

So, we are still hurting financially, and deeply disappointed by this failure.... but we feel that we made the right decision to have our engine rebuilt (instead of replacing it with a used one).

We had considered getting rid of this vehicle, but now we have of course made the decision to keep it (we love the Edge). But we will be watching for complaints of this nature as these vehicles age. Still can't feel comfortable with a design that lets a leaking water pump take out the engine.

Luckily I was not on the freeway when my car started making a loud clicking sound. I was a block away from my destination. I parked my car and came back out after my meeting and my car would not start. It was trying to turn over but wouldn't. I called a mechanic and he came to check out my car. My battery was fine and my engine had spark.

Once the mechanic got a better look he determined that my engine had no compression at all. He also believed that the timing chain caused part of the problem. Timing chain problems on a car with 88,000 should not be happening. I went ahead and replaced the engine not wanting to take the chance of something else going wrong with the engine and needing my vehicle back as soon as possible.

NO CHECK ENGINE LIGHT EVER CAME ON TO WARN ME OF ANY PROBLEMS!