Blown stock motor with no mods

[LT1runner]

White smoke and the motor was acting really bad. So i take it to the dealer and they said it #6 has no compression and the other 5 cylinders are "cracked". WHAT IN THE WORLD?!?! We've done regular oil changes and put gas in it. Not one mod. Has anyone else heard of this? It's crazy.

 

[Emtpbill]

How many miles?

 

[SHOdded]

Just sounds like a blown head gasket. Hopefully that's all it is?

 

[LT1runner]

68,100 miles on it. We've contacted Ford customer service and waiting for their verdict on Friday. Maybe they will break the motor down to see what went bad, or more like how it went bad. I hope it's God's will for them to help us out. NO mods or programing. Just a bad motor. I'm used to a lot stronger cars, but this was my wife's car and she loved it, so you know the doo doo is hitting the fan. She was driving it when #6 hole died. Man this sucks. I thought this was Ford most kick ass motor(quality wise).

I've got 4 plugs that look normal and 2 dark ones, cylinders #6 and #3.

 

[SHOdded]

It does suck, and even if they say there's a 1:million chance, you don't want to win that lottery Do you have access to the plugs to take & post pics of? Any smells/drips?

From what I have been hearing, Ford has been fairly responsive when contacted directly. If nothing else, you could ask that a Ford engineer come down and look at the problem.

 

[LT1runner]

It does suck, and even if they say there's a 1:million chance, you don't want to win that lottery Do you have access to the plugs to take & post pics of? Any smells/drips?

From what I have been hearing, Ford has been fairly responsive when contacted directly. If nothing else, you could ask that a Ford engineer come down and look at the problem.

#3 and #6 where dark. I did a video of the plugs (no pics). The other four were that good brown. With the new plugs I pulled #5 and it was slightly wet with a fuel smell.

I'll defiantly ask an engineer to come down if I have that option. Maybe that will happen due to how good these motors are supposed to be.

 

[dohcsable]

I think they'll mainly come look if its a warranty case.......my parents just got their sport tracks bed replaced @ 34k due to the laminate coming apart......be prepared to hear "we've never heard of that problem" alot though

 

[LT1runner]

I think they'll mainly come look if its a warranty case.......my parents just got their sport tracks bed replaced @ 34k due to the laminate coming apart......be prepared to hear "we've never heard of that problem" alot though

The sad thing is we're out of warranty. I hope they're still consider it.

 

[pitaSHO]

Ouch...

 

[EcoBrick Bob]

They likely are talking about cracked areas on the pistons. I suppose that if a water gasket allowed water into the intake, you could have hydro-locked the engine. This will cause areas between the rings to crack out and if enough area is missing, you lose compression in that cylinder. Long Block retails for around $4,800. plus install. Dealer cost is around $3,300. They have a 3 year unlimited mileage warranty.

Good luck!

 

[LT1runner]

Well Ford has agreed to give us 2500 bucks toward a new motor for the car. So I'll let you guys know what the final cost is. Now my wife said the next car we'll get WILL be foreign. She's ******.

When asking service personnel about what could possibly cause this, I got all bad answers. For instance, one dude thinks the motor was over heating. When I told him even now if he runs the car right now it's not over heating, even with it running as rough as it is. One guy says maybe it was low on oil. Well we have all of our oil changes done at Valvoline, and if he checked the current oil level he would see that it's with in the limits. No good answers at all. They also told us that Ford made this motor to run on 87 oct. Well the wife dropped allot of 87 in the car. When I told the service manager this, he said that wouldn't hurt that motor at all.

It doesn't help the customer to repeatedly say that "these motors don't ever go bad like this", with a customer with a motor that went bad like it did.

I was really looking forward to getting a Fusion plug in hybrid, but now not so much. I know sometimes you could just have a bad experience with one motor and that shouldn't reflect on the whole company, but when a bad experience costs and least 6000 on top of what we paid for the car on a stock motor with only 68,000 miles, at these costs I can't afford to give them another chance.

Maybe my situation is an isolated event. Just in case, use only 93 oct, and buy the extended warranty if your car is stock. Of course I can't get the dead motor back because the service department said they have to turn in a core. I wanted to get that sucker and pull it apart myself and take pics and put it on this forum.

I just can't believe that this hasn't happened to anyone else.

I'm a Chevy guy, that liked a Ford and got bit on the one Ford I believed in. I still like the car, just not the experience of this motor. The SHO is an excellent highway cruiser. I guess I'll try the Impala SS when\if it comes out. As far as a plugin hybrid, I don't know. Back to the drawing board.

 

[EcoBrick Bob]

The good news is a Ford re-mfg engine will have a 3 year unlimited mileage warranty.

 

[LT1runner]

The good news is a Ford re-mfg engine will have a 3 year unlimited mileage warranty.

Well that is good news. I can appreciate how this looks from the outside. The motor was truly out of warranty, so for Ford to give $2500 towards the motor replacement is better than nothing for sure. But man dead at 68,000. Oh well.

I still want that Fusion plugin hybrid. I'll have to wait awhile though. Maybe pick up the 2nd year they come out provided nothing else better comes out, like VW's up and coming diesel hybrid (69 mpg). I need a real dedicated road warrior and I want to buy American. We'll see how things pan out.

 

[Phoenix]

I think some early ones had spark plug fails and resulted in melted pistons.

Just throwing it out there.

 

[RedCandySHO]

Ummm....last time I read the Owners Manual, it said 91 octane minimum.

 

[RonPorter]

Every EFI engine built in the last 25+ years can run on 87. You never know what you are getting when you fill up at the 91-93 pump, either.

 

[itguy08]

Ummm....last time I read the Owners Manual, it said 91 octane minimum.

Pg. 353 of the 3rd printing of the 2010 Taurus Owner's Manual:

3.5L V6 SHO engine
Your vehicle is designed to run on regular fuel with an octane rating of
87 or higher. For best overall performance, premium fuel with an octane
rating of 91 or higher is recommended. The performance gained by using
premium fuel will be most noticeable in hot weather or in severe duty
applications such as towing a trailer.

 

[itguy08]

Well Ford has agreed to give us 2500 bucks toward a new motor for the car. So I'll let you guys know what the final cost is. Now my wife said the next car we'll get WILL be foreign. She's ******.

Could happen to any make. In 2003 I was researching new cars and was looking hard at the Infiniti G35 (and bought one). Browsing the Infiniti forums there were a couple cases of people with blown engines. And that was the highly regarded VQ. Shit happens to all makes and models. Heck, Honda can't make an automatic that does not contain glass (Google V6 Honda Transmission) and Toyota has made its fair share of sludging engines.

All in all, for a brand new car (engine/trans/interior/exterior), the SHO is a hair better than the G35 when it came here to the states.

Well we have all of our oil changes done at Valvoline, and if he checked the current oil level he would see that it's with in the limits

Not to pour salt in the wound but... Dealers can have pull with the manufacturer to get them to pay for out of warranty stuff. They get a limited amount of goodwill and that goes to their best customers. Which is why mine has been serviced at the dealer exclusively. Their prices are not bad, I know it's done right (they are a good dealer), and if something happens I know they will take care of it. And if something like that happens they (hopefully) will go to bat for me.

Of course I can't get the dead motor back because the service department said they have to turn in a core. I wanted to get that sucker and pull it apart myself and take pics and put it on this forum.

Ask them what the core charge is and pay it and they should have no issues giving you the engine.

 

[Crash712us]

I would definitely be curious to see what the failure actual is, I don't see anything here as yet what the exact problem is other then you will get $2500 towards a new motor and it runs rough.
What test where performed to say you need a new motor? was leak down test performed? this test well tell you the source of the compression leak. Your not over heating and you haven't mentioned any loss of coolant and if remember correct from photo of cylinder block design it impossible for a compression leak between cylinder without the loss of coolant.
And with no loss of coolant it cant be cracked cylinder either, which leaves only a piston failure or a valve.
I'd be asking for more detail into how they determined the motor was bad, its a very reasonable question and they shouldn't have any problem answering.

good luck to you

 

[SHO U UP]

Yours was NOT the first one that was stock to go out. The others have been covered under warranty though as those went out early on in their mileage. I do find it odd that no one has a modded SHO that has "popped" other than the one that someone was testing its limits with.