The 1983 Ford Escort has 3 recalls, the most serious involving cooling fan motors that can corrode, seize, and draw excess electrical current, raising the risk of an electrical fire under the hood.
The cooling fan's front sleeve bushings are prone to corrosion in regions where road salt is common. When those bushings corrode enough, the fan motor's shaft can seize, forcing the motor to pull more current than it was designed to handle. Because the current stays below the threshold needed to blow the fuse link, the overload can go undetected, allowing wiring or the motor itself to overheat. The remaining two recalls both involve emissions: one covers a general failure to meet Canadian exhaust standards, and the other applies specifically to vehicles built with 1.6-litre engines where the exhaust air supply valve hoses were installed in reverse order at the factory, pushing emission levels above legal limits. On those affected vehicles, driveability is not expected to suffer, but the exhaust output does not meet the required standard.
