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2014 Ford Kuga 1.6 ecoboost 180 bhp 4x4 - Whine from engine - Speedbird 747

This car had a new engine about three months ago.

Recently it has developed a whine that is apparent all the time, especially at lower speeds and revs. Considering the engine is supposed to develop 180bhp, it feels a bit gutless.

RAC engine reckons it could be the vacuum pump. Is this a big job?

2014 Ford Kuga 1.6 ecoboost 180 bhp 4x4 - Whine from engine - elekie&a/c doctor
Vacuum pump drives the brakes , I’m sure if this were faulty, the brake pedal would be hard . More likely to be an air / turbo boost pipe split or not attached adequately.
2014 Ford Kuga 1.6 ecoboost 180 bhp 4x4 - Whine from engine - Speedbird 747

Well, the Kuga was in the Ford dealership for over three months this year, whilst a new engine was sought for it. The problems then were covered in another thread.

The car is back in the same dealership and has been there since Wednesday. The whining noise has been identified as a problem with the auto gearbox. Oil samples have been taken for analysis and it appears the gearbox needs to be replaced! This is hard to believe.

Whilst the engine was being being installed, we thought it would be a good idea to change the gearbox oil, as the car is coming up to 8 years old and probably has never been done before. It was an expensive job and cost £475 inc VAT. So I am not sure if that oil change precipitated anything, or something happened to the gearbox when the new engine was fitted. The car has only covered around 800 miles since all that work was done.

Fortunately the car is still covered by its Ford Protect Gold warranty. However imagine if you had just paid £7800 for a new engine....and then the gearbox goes!?

2014 Ford Kuga 1.6 ecoboost 180 bhp 4x4 - Whine from engine - elekie&a/c doctor
Sadly not one of mr Henry,s best bit of engineering. Eco boost engine and a power shift gearbox. Both destined to fail.
2014 Ford Kuga 1.6 ecoboost 180 bhp 4x4 - Whine from engine - Speedbird 747

Ford Protect have agreed to fit a new gearbox.

2014 Ford Kuga 1.6 ecoboost 180 bhp 4x4 - Whine from engine - Xileno

That's good news. However, once it's fitted I think I would be looking to trade it in for something else.

2014 Ford Kuga 1.6 ecoboost 180 bhp 4x4 - Whine from engine - FP

"... I would be looking to trade it in for something else."

My thoughts exactly. Get rid of the thing.

2014 Ford Kuga 1.6 ecoboost 180 bhp 4x4 - Whine from engine - edlithgow

Well, the Kuga was in the Ford dealership for over three months this year, whilst a new engine was sought for it. The problems then were covered in another thread.

The car is back in the same dealership and has been there since Wednesday. The whining noise has been identified as a problem with the auto gearbox. Oil samples have been taken for analysis and it appears the gearbox needs to be replaced! This is hard to believe.

Certainly seems a bit...er...analytical...for a car dealership, but I suppose the cars are fragile and complex enough now to force them into the arms of science, needs must when the devil drives stylee.

Did they tell you what they did and what the oil analysis showed?

For example, were they diagnosing on the basis of the relatively cheap elemental makeup analysis (too much iron or copper, say) and/or did they do one of the more difficult and expensive particle size analysis procedures (too many big particles on a ferrogram, say)?

2014 Ford Kuga 1.6 ecoboost 180 bhp 4x4 - Whine from engine - Speedbird 747

Well there has been an interesting development.

Ford Protect have asked the Ford dealership for the invoice for the Powershift oil change my son paid for. However they were not satisfied with that, and have now demanded the Job Sheet for that work. Maybe the insurers think the work was not carried out?

The dealership has said that the job sheet is not to hand because they send it off somewhere to be stored. You would think all of this would be digitalised.

It seems very strange that the Powershift gearbox should fail so soon after an oil change. Could it have been under filled?

2014 Ford Kuga 1.6 ecoboost 180 bhp 4x4 - Whine from engine - Speedbird 747

Looks like the car will not be fixed for another two weeks.

Anyone buying a Ford beware. The service departments of dealerships seem to be permanently overloaded.

2014 Ford Kuga 1.6 ecoboost 180 bhp 4x4 - Whine from engine - Steveieb

A friend recently bought a 17 plate diesel version which after three months started throwing out lots of black smoke.

Dealer initially refused to do anything but in the end agreed to source a second hand engine from a scrap yard .

My friend then paid £2400 to have the engine fitted by his own mechanic.

Maybe should have dumped the car at the dealer and insisted they fix it but sometimes the process is too stressful for someone in their late seventies ?

2014 Ford Kuga 1.6 ecoboost 180 bhp 4x4 - Whine from engine - Speedbird 747

So the same problem as with the engine. No new gearbox available.

The garage are hoping one will arrive on Tuesday, but on previous form they will probably send a manual gearbox rather than an automatic. With the new engine, Ford sent two Diesel engines instead of a petrol, greatly increasing the time the car was off the road.

So it is very unlikely the car will be ready by the end of next week.