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Low Coolant level at delivery

Bybotie

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I saw another post addressing this but wanted to add my personal experience. My Bronco(BL, SAS, 2.7L) was delivered with the coolant well below the "Min" mark. I chalked it up to Ford bean counters saving a buck and planned to address it when I took the truck in for service. Then the 2.7L failures started to pop up and they look like classic detonation to me. Since these failures all resulted in the destruction of the spark plug, it is impossible to confirm. This brings me back to the low coolant. I wanted to see how low it truly was. I topped mine off and fired up the engine with the reservoir cap off. sure enough, there was air in the system. Where there is air, there is going to be intense heat. I'm not saying this is the cause of any engine failure. I'm simply saying that coolant is cheap, fill your system.
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CJ1064

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I apologize in advance for the seemingly stupid question but does just running the engine with the coolant cap off remove the air from the system?
 
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Bybotie

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I apologize in advance for the seemingly stupid question but does just running the engine with the coolant cap off remove the air from the system?
Yes is the quick answer. Please make sure you don't open a hot system or run it capless for more than a few minutes. Don't drive it capless.
 
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CJ1064

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Yes is the quick answer. Please make sure you don't open a hot system or run it capless for more than a few minutes. Don't drive it capless.
LOL, Yes of course. Just wasn't sure if opening the cap would bleed it or not. Thanks
 

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Here is mine after I checked. It was below the min mark when cold. Once it warmed up and I was at the Dealership it was in the middle. The tech filled it up for me and it did not take much.
Ford Bronco Low Coolant level at delivery 20211228_145543
 

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Bybotie

Bybotie

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Here is mine after I checked. It was below the min mark when cold. Once it warmed up and I was at the Dealership it was in the middle. The tech filled it up for me and it did not take much.
Ford Bronco Low Coolant level at delivery 20211228_145543
Mine was slightly lower. Great pic, you can see the pickup location under the tank. I wonder if start-up on a steep incline would shift the coolant enough to get some air in the system. Mine didn't have much air but it did "burp" twice.
 

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That cap “should be” self burping. That’s been a thing since external reservoirs replaced radiator caps / reservoirs. Basically as long as there is coolant in your reservoir over the bottom feed line, you’re good to go. Remember the reservoir is higher than the system. So if there is any coolant returning to the reservoir at all, the system is full with min chance of air in system. Weird things do happen under heat, pressure, and bouncing / cornering. But I don’t think it’s causing engine failure at the rate seen.
 

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Yeah.. I thought all modern systems basically burped themselves. Maybe there is air in the system and the engine hasn't been ran long enough to work the air out into the reservoir?

The fact that the reservoir was low means it did finally get the air out and that's why you needed to add some coolant.

I find it so odd, because isn't checking fluids the de facto when it comes to a dealer finalizing your purchase?
 

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I saw another post addressing this but wanted to add my personal experience. My Bronco(BL, SAS, 2.7L) was delivered with the coolant well below the "Min" mark. I chalked it up to Ford bean counters saving a buck and planned to address it when I took the truck in for service. Then the 2.7L failures started to pop up and they look like classic detonation to me. Since these failures all resulted in the destruction of the spark plug, it is impossible to confirm. This brings me back to the low coolant. I wanted to see how low it truly was. I topped mine off and fired up the engine with the reservoir cap off. sure enough, there was air in the system. Where there is air, there is going to be intense heat. I'm not saying this is the cause of any engine failure. I'm simply saying that coolant is cheap, fill your system.

Reposting this from another thread of "things you need to check when you take delivery".

2021 Ford Bronco Pre-Delivery Checklist - Google Sheets
 

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Bybotie

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Yeah.. I thought all modern systems basically burped themselves. Maybe there is air in the system and the engine hasn't been ran long enough to work the air out into the reservoir?

The fact that the reservoir was low means it did finally get the air out and that's why you needed to add some coolant.

I find it so odd, because isn't checking fluids the de facto when it comes to a dealer finalizing your purchase?
I would have thought checking fluids would have occurred in makeready, guess not.
 

TheKim

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Just adding another picture of low coolant. This was about an hour after driving, so it was mostly cooled.

I didn't check it while it was warm, nor have I burped it. I'll probably have Ford top it off instead of buying a bottle.

Ford Bronco Low Coolant level at delivery 1642535909000
 

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I apologize in advance for the seemingly stupid question but does just running the engine with the coolant cap off remove the air from the system?
For the Bronco, it should burp itself, though removing the cap is fine as well.

That said, that isn't the case for all vehicles.
 

da_jokker

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Yeah I don't know if I would try to burp it. You could try squeezing the upper radiator hose and see if the level in your overfield tank goes up. But sometimes opening up the actual radiator cap just cause you to lose antifreeze or add air.

I would just add some to the overfill and monitor to see if it stays.
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