I have been having an issue with coolant dripping from under the very rear of the engine, the engine mount that is located approximately half way between the front wheels behind the axle.
The space between the back of the engine and the firewall looks to be a very inaccessible area to look into, let alone do any maintenance.
The rate of coolant loss is a pint every two weeks, or about 600 miles.
Has anyone else had this issue? What might be one likely cause? Is there a possibility that the leak actually developed somewhere near the top of the engine, under some covers or parts that can be fairly easily removed?
My local shop says don't worry about it, but I suspect they don't want to spend the time as the source of the problem is not obvious. I fear that if I go to the dealer they will end up dropping the engine and charging me $2k to fix the issue. I can do many things around the car myself; unfortunately dropping engines is not one of them. Is there any hope to avoid this scenario?
Many thanks!

2013 1.6L SEL AWD

 

Have you had the coolant level sensor recall done?
If not go get it done, dealer may need car for 2 days, depends on how fast the tech is.
Other issues are heater hoses and also that little thin hard plastic hose that connects to the degas bottle then runs along top the radiator and disappears into all the hoses above the transmission.

 

Recall does not pertain to the car; the recall work adds a coolant level sensor to the engine management system. This car already came with one from the factory.
Heater hoses and degas hose, hmm, I would imagine cracks in hoses would cause coolant to spray all over the place, which is not the case. When I open the hood after a drive I smell strong odor of coolant every time, but again, nothing appears wet.

 

The small hard coolant hose doesn't carry much so it can just drip and not spray coolant.
I would look near where all those coolant hoses converge where the engine meets the transmission. If its leaking you will find coolant on top of the transmission.

 

That sounds like a good lead. Will take a look over weekend. Thanks.

 

You might consider trying these two things.
Look over the top of the engine , before you start it , when it is cold, and you might see a trail from possibly a loose hose clamp.

You could always get hold of a cooling system pressure tester and pump it up to no more than 15 psi, and watch if the gauge goes down. If it does ,and the leak is external you should be able to find it.

 

I know the leak is there but it is somewhere in the rear of the engine, hard to look into. This weekend I will make a makeshift overflow bottle cap with a hose attached, pump up some air pressure, get a mirror, find strong light source and spend as much time in the garage until I find the problem. Thanks for the tips. I am absolutely determined to fix this.

 

You can remove the cowl to be able to see the rear of the engine better if you want.
Takes under 10 minutes to remove, hardest part is getting the wiper arms off without breaking the wiper motors.

 

Hello, here is the OP, I finally fixed the leak. Thanks for all the good suggestions. For the record, here is what I did.

Removed the cowl, top and bottom parts. Removed the air box. Removed the battery and box. This gave me a good view of the top of the tranny. Next I needed a way to pressurize the cooling system. I bought a replacement degass bottle cap (Autozone), dismantled it and installed a section of nylon hose at the top of it. This hose led to the cap of a large plastic soda bottle. The soda bottle cap was big enough to also accommodate a tire valve. Once everything was screwed as I needed it, I put some air pressure in the cooling system. Before long, the top of the trans oil cooler mounted on top of the transmission started to get wet and then I saw coolant dripping off of it first on top of the trans and then down behind it onto the ground. But I was puzzled - how on earth a solid block of aluminum that the tranny oil cooler was, was leaking coolant. And then I saw it - a plastic tee hanging just above the oil cooler, close to the engine block was wet and a drop of coolant escaping once a second from a hose at the tee. So there I had it. I drained some coolant and disconnected a leaky hose from the tee (attached to the tee with another fancy plastic connector), and saw an o-ring inside the connector that was badly worn out.

As I was researching this issue on the net, I discovered I was not the only owner with this exact problem. Ford took note and now they have a redesigned section of hose that does not have an o-ring in it. It costs about $60. I could have bought it, but opted not to. The reason is that the original hose with the o-ring lasted eight years. By the time the car is 16, it will have other problems and I will likely no longer have it. Not to mention, the labor involved in replacing the bad o-ring I already took out was nothing, and it likely would have been another evening to replace the whole hose.

I wasn't sure what material the o-ring needed to be made of. But after spending an evening on the net, I was able to establish a plain BunaN rubber o-ring will do for this application (the cheapest kind). Bought one that was of similar size in a local Ace Hardware store and put all the parts I took out of the car back together.

So far so good - It has been a week since I replaced the o-ring and not a drop of coolant has escaped. Cost to fix was four evenings, $35 for the o-ring, degass cap, tire valve and coolant in total. Saved at least $400 easy by skipping the dealer. This is almost enough $$ for a 3-day snowboarding trip (next season).