Water pump leaking need urgent advise!

[Lucia]

Hi every one! I am a proud owner of 2014 ford edge sport. It is was a love from the first sight!

I keep my car in a tip top condition and never miss or skip a service. Was planing to keep her for wile. And here comes the water pump. Existing an well known problem for Edges. I caught the leak on time. I have 200 miles before next service and brought the car to my dealership to check tire pressure and he spotted the leak. The car has 131k miles on it. The cost of repairs for the pump is 2500$ On top of that my differential oil leaking and its additional 500$

I knew that water pump are expensive repairs, but 2500$ put me in to a shock. And I am desperately trying to make a decision fixing this car or trading it for a new one. I will mention that I am due to replace 4tires and its 1200$ at best.

I totally trust my mechanic at the ford service center. He was looking after my “baby” for 5 years. These are the first repairs in my car . Before it was just regular maintenance.

Does it sound too expensive to keep her going?

[Cerberus]

Only you can answer the question of costs vs value for you. Quick searching for 2014 edge sport values shows them worth abt 20k for the ones carvana has listed with around 90k miles.

If the car is financed then you really don't have a choice aside from fix it and keep it or fix it and trade/sell it, because the value will be hit hard by the need for the pump etc.

Unfortunately, owning it outright doesn't change the options much unless you are willing to say F it and throw away the loss of value by selling it or trading it in as is.

The good news is, if the pump job is done well, you should get at least another 80k out of the new water pump.. so that is an important consideration to the equation.. and you really like the car.. 

 

I had a similar situation with a 2011 fusion sport with a captive water pump, like yours. It sucks to be backed into a corner with no fun options in front of you. 

Good luck

Edited August 30, 2022 by Cerberus

[onyxbfly]

You really don't hear about the water pump issues on the 3.7 engine. It's a known issue on the 3.5. The reason the price is high is due to the craptastic design that ford chose to go with and use an internal water pump.   Here is an alternative suggestion. It could be cheaper depending on how you sort it out.

 

My suggestion would be to get a low mileage engine from a salvage yard and while it is out, I would change the pump, the guides, the chain etc I would also take the opportunity to gibe it a full tune up which really shouldn't cost much because while the engine is out its not hard to get to anything. 

 

I'd also ask your trusted ford mechanic if he does work outside of the shop.

 

Here is my thought process.... When you notice a leak, you really don't have any idea of how long its been leaking prior to. My coworker noticed a leak. The reservoir was damn near empty when I picked him up. Being strapped for cash he opted to fill it with coolant.....apart from filing the reservoir every so often, its still going strong......No compression issues, no power loss etc, no milky oil etc...

 

That was 3 years ago and its still running strong.

 

I don't know your requirements for tires, but you can get 22" tires for your edge starting at ~$200 a pop. Might be time for you to start looking at independent shops.

 

Food for thought!

[Cerberus]

38 minutes ago, onyxbfly said:

My suggestion would be to get a low mileage engine from a salvage yard and while it is out, I would change the pump, the guides, the chain etc I would also take the opportunity to gibe it a full tune up which really shouldn't cost much because while the engine is out its not hard to get to anything. 

 

I'd also ask your trusted ford mechanic if he does work outside of the shop.

 

Here is my thought process.... When you notice a leak, you really don't have any idea of how long its been leaking prior to. My coworker noticed a leak. The reservoir was damn near empty when I picked him up. Being strapped for cash he opted to fill it with coolant.....apart from filing the reservoir every so often, its still going strong......No compression issues, no power loss etc, no milky oil etc...

 

That was 3 years ago and its still running strong.

 

 

I know the water pump is replaceable with the engine in place for some edges, but admittedly i don't know if this is one of those.

but if the pump can be done w/ eng in place, that would almost have to be cheaper than a salvage yard engine, refresh & swap, wouldn't it?

 

and your coworker is pretty damn lucky so far, but that is definitely an exception to the rule situation, and once the oil gets milked up, its a crapshoot whether the bearing surfaces in the engine get damaged or not.

my 2011 3.5 seemed like it could have just had a new pump and been back in svc, but since it was an engine out required job, i did the salvage engine, refresh and quick swap deal in that case.

[onyxbfly]

1 hour ago, Cerberus said:

 

I know the water pump is replaceable with the engine in place for some edges, but admittedly i don't know if this is one of those.

but if the pump can be done w/ eng in place, that would almost have to be cheaper than a salvage yard engine, refresh & swap, wouldn't it?

 

and your coworker is pretty damn lucky so far, but that is definitely an exception to the rule situation, and once the oil gets milked up, its a crapshoot whether the bearing surfaces in the engine get damaged or not.

my 2011 3.5 seemed like it could have just had a new pump and been back in svc, but since it was an engine out required job, i did the salvage engine, refresh and quick swap deal in that case.

 

You're right some mechanics will do it with the engine in place. Others will not. Ironically enough I believe some mechanics will recommend changing all the ancillary bits and others will not especially since its a chain and not a belt. I guess it's going to come down to who's turning the wrenches. I guess the price comes down to who's doing the work.

 

My coworker knows he's living on borrowed time.  At this point I think he might be waiting it out to see how long it last. He said he has the funds saved for the engine swap. He already has the water pump and other parts.

[Lucia]

Thank you guys for all of your replies! Funny enough that I had read about the water pump issues on edges on this forum years ago when I was deliberating if I should keep my 2014 edge.

so far reviews were great only the water pump issue. (To what my mechanic said that pump may never leak) So, all of these years every service my first question to mechanic was about the pump. And I also knew it would not be cheap because of how labor intensive it is. How ever your points were right! I do not know at what point it started to leak. It was ok 6k miles ago and I was due for an oil change in 200 miles. Pump was leaking externally but I guess no one will warrant that nothing got inside the engine. 

So with the absolute heavy heart I decided not to take any risks. At this point anything you need to replace like 1000$ For example leaking steering pipe (or line) 1200$. I know if I have to replace control arms, bushels its ain’t cheap, rust. God forbid transition. My differential oil was dripping for a year. Thinking back I get angry with the garage. I spoke to mechanics about it may be in spring , and was told that its not a common problem for edges. But when they actually looked …. I saw the shock on their faces. Even though they brushed of any concerns ( like I would have heard the noise if something happened to the gears) I kind of lost a trust in the car. Suddenly it was just a lot going on.

I traded her in for a new Edge ST-line. Bloody dealers wanted 5k on top of ticket price for top trim which is ST. I could not justify that. In fact I was totally  shocked. I knew things were bad, but 3 cars on the lot and only one new! 

Not crazy about my new edge. But at least she is new. So we will see. 

 

 

 

[onyxbfly]

If you're not making payments, you're making repairs! May she serve you well. If you plan on keeping her for longer than 3 years look into an extended warranty. If you sell or trade her in, you can recoup the investment from the warranty or get a prorated refund. 

 

Enjoy your new ride!

[Lucia]

Guys, its been a total disaster so far.

Ok, faux leather seats-total shock but I can stomach that. Audio-rubbish. 2L engine ok-ish, but I am not sure if it is better then 3,7 L that I uses to. Just the sound makes me cringe. 
But the most concern is Sync4. Car play would disconnect randomly from my iPhone 8 and freeze my phone. So I am driving in unknown area and suddenly have no map.Almost crashed last night on a parkway trying to reconnect myself.  Been to the dealer twice today. All they are saying is I need a new phone. What the hell mind me asking. 
And now I have to suck it up for next 3 years until my lease is up. 
Finally I saw Edge ST on the lot. Sticker price 55k plus they wont 5k over. 60 k for the car which doesnt even have leather seats. They say leather trimmed, it looks no different from faux. 
Am I going crazy? 

[ZeroPlus]

Buy a Toyota or Lexus next time.

[Davidoo]

And pay a lot more for nothing better.

[Elfiero]

This is exactly why I dumped my 2017 Exploder Limited . it had a N/A3.5 that started to use small  amounts of coolant. I traded it for a 2019 edge ST with a belt driven water pump 2.7-V6 this is my first ego-boost. happy so far. it only set me back about $40k or about $15k after the trade-in

[dabangsta]

I wanted the slightly better fuel mileage out of the 2.0, but in the back of my mind I wasn't sure I wanted another 3.5 powered vehicle. My 2012 Fusion Sport has the 3.5, and I drive it hard, and it only has 128k miles. I maintain it fairly well, but again, drive it aggressively and hard. I also didn't own it for the first 105k miles, and it had none of the 100k-120k maintenance done before I bought it. It is was my beat around town car, but it has been on a few longer 1000+ mile trips, and my son is using it to learn to drive and go to school with.

 

I wanted to not have a "coolant intrusion" 2.0 (I sweated bullets with my 2017 Escape with the 1.5), and something with the amount of labor involved in swapping a water pump, if caught in time to not cause catastrophic engine failure, I thought a 2019+ Edge was what I wanted, as the 2020+ Escape just didn't excite me, and finding a later 2019 Escape wasn't really in the cards.

 

I thought I preferred the normally aspirated engines, but with how much more driveable the 1.5 GTDI over the 2.5 is is crazy, pretty similar ratings, but just different beasts to drive.

 

If I drive sensible in the Edge, I can get over 30 mpg (cruise set to 81, very little acceleration to get out of traffic), only time I got over 27 mpg in my Fusion is when I had a temp spare on it and babied it home. I get 3 mpg better on a similar generally downhill interstate run with the 2.0 over the 3.5, but the 3.5 is so much fun to drive I rarely just cruise along with traffic, and gas mileage takes a hit.

[MLTEdge]

On 9/19/2022 at 4:27 PM, Lucia said:

Guys, its been a total disaster so far.

Ok, faux leather seats-total shock but I can stomach that. Audio-rubbish. 2L engine ok-ish, but I am not sure if it is better then 3,7 L that I uses to. Just the sound makes me cringe. 
But the most concern is Sync4. Car play would disconnect randomly from my iPhone 8 and freeze my phone. So I am driving in unknown area and suddenly have no map.Almost crashed last night on a parkway trying to reconnect myself.  Been to the dealer twice today. All they are saying is I need a new phone. What the hell mind me asking. 
And now I have to suck it up for next 3 years until my lease is up. 
Finally I saw Edge ST on the lot. Sticker price 55k plus they wont 5k over. 60 k for the car which doesnt even have leather seats. They say leather trimmed, it looks no different from faux. 
Am I going crazy? 

That must be one loaded ST. I bought mine Dec 2021 new, Only options NOT on it were larger brakes, Tech package/sunroof. Total MSRP was $45,240 and sold it to me for around $42,000 and got 5 year zero financing. Also matched my Carvana price which was more than I paid for my trade in. I know it's a year later, no more zero financing, but this was right in the middle of no cars on lots and most dealers adding crazy markup prices. Car dealers finally are getting inventory and reports are their sales are really slowing. Find a new dealer. 

 

PS Yea, velour seats with leather bolsters are the in thing now. A lot of cars have them. My last car had them too and it was the top of the line. The Car play issue isn't just Edge, it's a known issue across all platforms, AA also is hit and miss, but mine is finally working good after multiple updates from Google. Aure it will break again with the new Coolwalk interface coming out.

[Filtercharged07]

Ford's infotainment systems are just garbage. My girlfriend runs a rental car agency branch and gets to pick what she drives home every night. Out of every manufacturer, Ford easily has the worst system to use with Carplay. Specifically Lincolns for some reason.

[dabangsta]

I don't have access to or have driven a wide range of modern vehicles, and the fact that the visual part of the EATC in my 2019 is displayed in the SYNC 3 screen, I was a bit worried. But as long as CarPlay and Android Auto work, I don't care if it is a dumb terminal. Don't care about the built in navigation, and once updated to 3.4 it is responsive enough.

 

It seems better than the Hyundai Tucson I drove a couple thousand miles, the Mazda 3, and a Rogue, but those are all either on par or lower end than my SEL. I don't like the 2020+ Explorer or 2022+ Edge portrait style screen with no physical controls (or very few).

[Elfiero]

This is exactly why I got  rid of my 2017 explorer Limited. I bought a 2019 edge  with a "cheap" water pump you should do the same.