2.0 Coolant

[Glamdring70]

It might be interesting to see coolant use. I bought a jug of Motorcraft Yellow coolant at a stealership waay back when. If I see the recovery jug get below the seam, I top it off to the max line. This is how much my engine has lost/consumed over the years. The jug is a gallon, but the embossed scale is Liters. So I have added a total of 3/4 Liters since the car was new in 2021 at a fairly even rate.

Sponsored

 

[hellb0y]

This is a lot of coolant dude!! I’ve had my Sport since 2023, brand new. I topped it up close to Max because it came from the factory way too close to min…

It’s 2025 now, it’s about 27 months old and the coolant has not moved.

 

[Garth]

Almost 5 years 3/4 of a litre that doesnt sound like anything more than evaporation.

 

[hellb0y]

Almost 5 years 3/4 of a litre that doesnt sound like anything more than evaporation.

Not under normal conditions — cars shouldn’t consume coolant over time.

Here’s how it works:

• 🧊 Coolant is part of a sealed system.
  It continuously circulates through the engine, radiator, and heater core. The system is designed to be closed, meaning no coolant should escape or “get used up.”
• A tiny drop over a couple years can happen, but that’s usually due to evaporation from the reservoir cap or minute seepage at hose connections. Losing a few milliliters a year isn’t unusual.
• Noticeable loss is not normal.
  If you find you have to top up every few months, there’s likely a problem such as:
  • Small external leak (radiator, hoses, water pump, clamps)
  • Internal leak (head gasket or intake manifold gasket letting coolant into the engine)
  • Faulty radiator cap (allowing vapor to escape)

Rule of thumb:

Coolant levels should remain stable. If you’re topping up more than once every couple years, it’s worth getting the cooling system pressure-tested.

 

[Garth]

3 cups over 4-5 years? That doesnt indicate a serious problem. Of course Im not an expert so you should get it pressure checked.

 

[Glamdring70]

I'm not concerned with the amount of coolant I've added. As someone else did the math, it equates to about 0.5-0.6 cups over a year.
The coolant on this system is for the engine, the RDU and the oil cooler. It isn't automatically a head issue. That is a lot of piping and joints. I don't have obvious drips or spray on the block or under the hood, so it would be difficult to determine exactly where the consumption is. I could throw away a ton of money chasing an issue that isn't there. Now if I had the 1.5, yeah I might have it looked at because of the extraordinary fail rate on that pump. Plus I have another 4 years and 85,000 miles on my warranty.
I just thought it might be interesting for any other long term owners to compare their consumption. There's also a real possibility that almost no one checks it. Perhaps doing a biannual system flush or 30k flush as a dealer will advise ($), or does the Ford Quicklane oil and the tech just tops it unnoticed.

 

[Garth]

One thing about coolant that I have been made aware of is if you have red coolant, you must use red coolant or green coolant or whatever colour the engine is presently using you don’t wanna mix different colours in because they are different compositions

 

[Ernest T]

I’ve never had to add coolant to a vehicle that didn’t have a problem - bad seal, leak or overheating issue. I’ve only been on this board since August, but some years/models have had coolant leak issues so any loss of coolant would concern me.

Sponsored