Cracked Valve Cover

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FordTechOne

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It might be termed "excessive" for the 3.5 Ecoboost, but I've had engines that go a quart/3-4000 miles... My old man had an E90 335Ci and the factory said quart per 800 miles was "totally normal"... zero usage between oil changes is like Camry-level car world. I would expect a high-strung power unit like the 3.5 HO would use some oil between changes. I don't know what the typical Raptor is doing on that front ... but I'd say anything at 2-quarts or less between change intervals is probably not "bad/excessive."

Besides, I don't know how long I've been running w/ this cracked valve cover. Could be that's been the source for all my "consumption" up until now.

You don’t want Camry level oil usage, unless you like burning a quart every 1k miles and having the manufacturer deny there’s an issue:

https://www.classaction.com/toyota-oil-consumption-defect/

As far as oil consumption, per Ford’s TSB the 3.5 should not consume in excess of 1 quart within 3,000 miles, so 1 quart every 2,000 is considered excessive. Keep an eye on your oil level and let us know if the replacement valve cover fixed the consumption issue.
 
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Jason Krakauer

Jason Krakauer

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And all that's moot ... shop replaced the cracked valve cover, the bad coil, and I sourced a replacement oil pressure sensor. But when they went to test drive it they got another low pressure warning. Hooked up a hydraulic pressure gauge and I was only reading 8-10psi at idle (factory states 20psi for a hot motor). Dropped the oil and filter and it looked like a crystal ball with fine metal.

So bearing ware. Hoping it’s just rod bearings and that they can get to them and check them without pulling the motor (know more tomorrow). If I can get away replacing those bearings and there’s not any scoring on the crank and/or the main bearings look fine that’s a best-case. Worst case - looking for a short block and hoping that my local shop is up to the job.

Sucks hard. Bought the thing in Feb and have only put about 3k miles on it. So this problem has been working its way out for a while and I’m just the lucky bastard that found it.
 

FordTechOne

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And all that's moot ... shop replaced the cracked valve cover, the bad coil, and I sourced a replacement oil pressure sensor. But when they went to test drive it they got another low pressure warning. Hooked up a hydraulic pressure gauge and I was only reading 8-10psi at idle (factory states 20psi for a hot motor). Dropped the oil and filter and it looked like a crystal ball with fine metal.

So bearing ware. Hoping it’s just rod bearings and that they can get to them and check them without pulling the motor (know more tomorrow). If I can get away replacing those bearings and there’s not any scoring on the crank and/or the main bearings look fine that’s a best-case. Worst case - looking for a short block and hoping that my local shop is up to the job.

Sucks hard. Bought the thing in Feb and have only put about 3k miles on it. So this problem has been working its way out for a while and I’m just the lucky bastard that found it.

Sorry to hear about that. Was the oil level ever low enough to where it didn’t register on the dipstick? It sounds like the bearings were starved of oil at some point, resulting in a spun bearing.

It is very difficult, if not impossible to get all of the metal shavings out of the cylinder head passages, so your best bet will probably be a long block.
 
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Jason Krakauer

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As long as I've owned the truck I never saw oil levels lower than about mid-stick *and that was post 1st incident*. Never had any odd noises/high temps/stumbling, etc. The lone issue I had prior to this was front drive shaft joint at the transfer case. I would have said unrelated, but very well could have been an indication that the truck was beat on by its previous owner (1-prior).

I think/hope that the metal we're seeing (which is more like a sheen than chunks) is from one, maybe 2 of the rod bearings being worn down... doubt they're "spun" as I'm not hearing any odd noise or having rough operation. Likely hard use, high operating temps, or no/infrequent oil changes for that first 60K miles just wore those bearing surfaces down enough and the problem snow-balled more recently. Even that's odd because I've only driven the truck about 3K miles since I bought it Feb. But the guys at the shop tell me its a quick process once the wear gets to the damage point. Plus they suspect the ECM doesn't qualify "low pressure" until it gets to roughly that 10psi mark. So it could have been running less-than-optimally for a long while and just finally hit the tipping point.

I'm finding that Ford doesn't even list a "short block" - long block assembly is around $3500/4 ... still doing some digging around, but I suspect the shop is going to tell me that the damage is enough to warrant more than just a few bearings. That or the accessibility is limited enough to where they'd need to pull the motor to do that kind of work well-enough (and at that point a full motor replacement is prob not too far off (in terms of cost).
 

letsgetthisdone

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If the oil was truly that bad, you are well past the point of spinning bearings in. You're going to need an engine.

That metal has gone everywhere, including the turbos, so those will need rebuilt or replaced as well if you get a long block that doesn't include turbos.
 
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Jason Krakauer

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So complete motor isn't necessarily the best deal. Tasca has factory-new long blocks for $3500 with a $1500 core charge. You need to port over the turbos/accessories, etc. - but that's not crazy for factory-new. Going that route, and they have them in stock (local dealers told me 4-6wks to get one in.

Shipping isn't cheap - but still saving cash over local.
 

CoronaRaptor

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So complete motor isn't necessarily the best deal. Tasca has factory-new long blocks for $3500 with a $1500 core charge. You need to port over the turbos/accessories, etc. - but that's not crazy for factory-new. Going that route, and they have them in stock (local dealers told me 4-6wks to get one in.

Shipping isn't cheap - but still saving cash over local.
Post pics of the engine swap, or we will try to get you banned. :adminpower::33:
 
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