Ford Kuga Pricing and Specs

This is actually a job you can tackle yourself. The holes should become visible when you open the sunroof and look at the mechanism from outside the car. Usually, there’s a drainage hole at each corner of the opening in the roof, within the tracks or slide mechanism. With a length of malleable wire, you can simple poke that down into each hole and unclog the drainage holes in just a few minutes.

You can then check your work by pouring a small amount of water (using a small funnel is best) into each hole and making sure that water comes out underneath the car, and not into the sunroof opening. This is a surprisingly common complaint, and you could also take the car to a workshop for the same fix if you’re not confident yourself. The workshop may use compressed air to achieve the same result, but the science is the same.

The Ecoboost petrol engine fitted to these cars has been known to give problems, usually in the form of cylinder head faults and oil leaks as a result. The open-deck cylinder block design is often quoted as the cause of these failures, and it’s not inconceivable that such a failure could cause problems with the cylinders or pistons over time.

However, no modern car can be considered acceptable if the engine fails at such a low mileage. Ford is unlikely to consider this a warranty job given the age of the vehicle, but it would be worth talking to Ford’s customer service division to see if there’s any help on offer.

For the record, the cars most affected by the cylinder head failure problem were built between 2012 and 2014, but even if you bought your car in 2015, it could have been made in 2014 and might be one of the affected ones.

I’d agree that the problem is likely to be something to do with the on-board computer(s) that control the powertrain and other functions. If you’re certain that the engine is not running hot when it claims to be, the cause could be as simple as the sensor is faulty, but it could also indicate a computer problem. The same goes for the power-steering, although an electrical circuit that constantly blows its fuse suggests a short-circuit somewhere in the wiring or connectors.

The code P1299 indicates that the car thinks the cylinder head temperature is too high, while P0118 suggests a problem with the sensor that monitors changes in the engine’s coolant temperature. Either way, this is a brand-new car, so it will be covered by the factory warranty. Make it Ford’s problem, not yours.