UPDATE: Great day in Moab until my Bronco broke down (Overheating)

[jb56]

Our Bronco Wildtrak is such an amazing vehicle. It conquered the 3 hour freeway drive and all the trails we took it on in Moab. (All easy to moderate, nothing hard core, no scraping or bumping) But, when we were taking a back road, without service, in the boonies, it all the sudden overheated. The coolant is full and cold. The heat blows cold. For some reason, it's just not circulating coolant. I'm assuming it's a sensor or computer/thermostat problem. We limped back to the pavement, hitch hiked back to cell service, and after many attempts to get ahold of our dealership roadside service and Ford's roadside service, we had to arrange our own tow truck back to the tiny dealership.

I haven't had a car overhead since the 1990s. Ugh.

UPDATE:

Hey Everyone who is still following this. I'm hoping that maybe you can help me understand what is going on.

So in the bronco there is a coolant reservoir/tank. When my Bronco overheated, that coolant reservoir was completely full, above the max. It was also completely cold even though the engine was overheating.

According to the Ford dealership, the hose that connects to the transmission had come off, either it was pulled off or "pressure" popped it off. The dealership says that the vehicle was completely out of coolant as a result of the hose coming off. I'm really confused about this because I didn't see any leaks of any kind. I didn't see anything wet at all. There was no steam or smoke or anything.

Can anyone think of why the reservoir would stay completely full if the coolant was leaking where it crosses over the transmission?

And why would that hose just pop off from pressure?

I'm just a little worried about driving it 200 miles on the highway when all they have done is just reconnect that hose.

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[Gassyjack]

Did you disconnect the battery and hope for a reset before you walked out?

 

[Cobrafang]

So sorry. Weird have not heard of this yet on the bronco. Keep us posted.

 

[Donkeygyrl]

With it running take rad cap off see if its circulating, could be bad thermostat?

 

[jb56]

With it running take rad cap off see if its circulating, could be bad thermostat?

Yeah. The coolant reservoir was full above maximum and it was totally cold. The cap wasn't warm at all when I took it off. The hoses were cold and empty. The heater on full hot was ice cold. And there were no leaks, no steam, no smoke. Weird.

 

[jb56]

Did you disconnect the battery and hope for a reset before you walked out?

No, I should have done this but honestly didn't think to.

 

[EL in NH]

water pump..

 

[jb56]

water pump..

I know that it could be the water pump, but it seems very strange for a 2022 water pump to go from working perfectly to failing completely with no leaks. Hopefully that's all it is and it's a quick fix under warranty though.

 

[flip]

Curious....VIN?

 

[Fonz54]

Pleas let us know what troubleshooting turns up.

 

[Figmo]

I know you said the overflow bottle had fluid - but did you look inside the radiator itself? Sure sounds like a bone dry coolant system to me.

Even if the thermostat was stuck you typically get a little bit of circulation - even if just from convection of nothing else. Odd that the radiator and hoses would be ice cold (unless they were empty)

I don't know about Bronco - but every other water pump I've seen is designed to leak when the bearings overheat so if there was no leak there probably not the pump. Unless it leaked on the trail and you didn't notice until there was nothing left the leak anymore.

Regardless....looks like a trip to the dealer whatever the cause was.

 

[killaz05]

I know any vehicle can overheat but I was under the impression that modern vehicles would be able to limp home and shut off cylinders to act as an air pump to keep the engine cool for a bit with obviously reduced power. I know my father's 2004 F150 5.4 v8 has this because I read it in the owner's manual.

I would also have disconnected the battery to reset it, also changing GOAT modes seems to have helped a when I had an electrical hiccup.

 

[OX1]

Impeller could have fallen off WP shaft.

 

[VoltageDrop]

Our Bronco Wildtrak is such an amazing vehicle. It conquered the 3 hour freeway drive and all the trails we took it on in Moab. (All easy to moderate, nothing hard core, no scraping or bumping) But, when we were taking a back road, without service, in the boonies, it all the sudden overheated. The coolant is full and cold. The heat blows cold. For some reason, it's just not circulating coolant. I'm assuming it's a sensor or computer/thermostat problem. We limped back to the pavement, hitch hiked back to cell service, and after many attempts to get ahold of our dealership roadside service and Ford's roadside service, we had to arrange our own tow truck back to the tiny dealership.

I haven't had a car overhead since the 1990s. Ugh.

Bummer! Overheating is no fun anywhere but certainly not in the outback. It sounds like everything was cold so how did you know it was overheating? Cluster message? I know there's an electric water pump but I was thinking that was for the HVAC rather than for the engine cooling. I'm sure @flip can help solve this one.

 

[Tex]

Almost sounds like you lost the belt or something. Assuming it's a 2.7L, there are two belts from what I recall, one that drives the alternator by itself, and another that drives the AC compressor and water pump. Seeing as how you were driving in snow, I doubt you would've noticed the AC not working, but you did notice that it wasn't circulating coolant. There's an auxiliary electric water pump for cooling the transmission heat exchanger, but I think that loop bypasses the belt driven pump and engine. In the old days it was pretty obvious when you lost a serpentine belt because everything would die...power steering, AC, alternator, and water pump all at once, and even then you often wouldn't notice until you tried to steer at slow speed, or the AC quit blowing cold air, or saw that your coolant temps were going up fast.

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