Need your guy’s help! Ford denying engine rebuild.

[WhereAreTheBrakes]

Hey gang. I’m in a serious pickle.
I’ll give you the short story first.
Dealership won’t honor warranty because of aftermarket drain plug.

Story:
So 2 months ago We we’re on a road trip and had a low oil pressure warning so I immediately pulled over and shut the truck down. After seeing a bunch of oil, I checked the dipstick on level ground and there was still plenty of oil on the stick, oil pressure light went away so I drove ~15 miles to work and left it for a tow truck. Truck ran normal

(It was about -40 and midnight, so we couldn’t realistically wait for 2 hours for a tow truck without idling the truck anyways).

So truck sits at Ford for 2.5 months.

Today they look at it… find that the Ronin quick change oil drain was the source of the leak, and that there was only one quart of highly metallic oil in the engine. They say it needs a new engine.
When the service rep called me he said that there isn’t a warranty on the truck (even though it’s still under powertrain) because they “know” the previous owner had modifications. I confirmed that’s a lie from form customer service.

Now, before you jump the gun and assume I drove this thing on way low oil forever and that’s the cause, assess 3 facts.
- The oil pressure was fine all the way back to town.
-About two weeks prior to this, I had brought the truck in for a rattle/slight knock sound that they said was “normal”
3 super metallic oil change, but oil was changed about 4K miles ago.

Unless the low oil pressure light came on way late, I don’t think the metallic looking quart they drained was caused by the small time I limped it to town. Again. Oil pressure was normal all the way back.

I just bought the truck about 4K miles ago, and I didn’t know that the ronin drain plug was on there. Whole deal is super frustrating.

Lemme know what you guys think/I should do.

It sounds like I’m going to have some sort of rock solid reason for them to honor the warranty, otherwise it’s going to time to take it before they waste my money and build the motor.

 

[CoronaRaptor]

Did you buy the truck from a Ford dealer? Was there a oil stain where they parked it for 2.5 months?

 

[1BAD454SSv2]

Its going to be hard to get them to cover engine with aftermarket drain plug. if it was the plastic POS one and it leaked then that would be on them. Just saying

 

[FordTechOne]

Oil level and oil pressure are not a direct correlation. You can have a low oil level and still not have a consistent oil pressure warning, even though the top end of the engine is being starved for oil.

Since the aftermarket drain plug was leaking, it sounds like that was the cause of the low oil level resulting internal engine damage. That would not be considered a warrantable failure.

If you want to build the engine, you may want to reach out to Ryan at RMB Motorworks; he sells performance short blocks. Alternatively, a long block is $5500 list price from Ford.

 

[MDJAK]

Sucks but if I’ve said it once I said it a thousand times, Geico MBI. $250 deductible and replaced or repaired. Whatever it takes. I don’t leave home without it.

 

[funkified]

worst part is that you didnt know it was there. Presumably the dealer did know when they sold it to you, as I assumed they would have changed the oil as part of the recon process. This would have been the minimal reconditioning they would have performed. Did you ask to see the docs of what they worked on prior to the sale?

Maybe you could argue that they knew about this plug and didnt replace it with an OEM piece during that change? Also, since they were the last to touch it maybe the tech didnt know how to use it as there is a secondary part that you screw in to drain the oil. Did they have that piece? Otherwise he would have to pull off the whole thing anyways.

I read a few bad reviews on it claiming it leaked, so it is a possibility.

Good luck on this one man, I hope you can get something to go your way.

 

[smurfslayer]

I had to read the post a few times and there’s no shortage of lazy mechanics in the world for sure, but, it does sound like from your description that the Stealership analysis is plausible, and maybe even likely.

If there was only 1 quart of oil left - after it’s pretty much drained down mind you, and there was metal in the oil, I’d bet money that the metal particles are from hyper-excessive wear on the bearings and metal to metal surfaces.

2 months ago We we’re on a road trip and had a low oil pressure warning so I immediately pulled over and shut the truck down. After seeing a bunch of oil, I checked the dipstick on level ground and there was still plenty of oil on the stick, oil pressure light went away so I drove ~15 miles to work and left it for a tow truck. Truck ran normal

(It was about -40 and midnight, so we couldn’t realistically wait for 2 hours for a tow truck without idling the truck anyways).

So it’s -40, midnight when this happens. You see a bunch of oil, and ‘plenty on the dip stick’.

How did you check it? Are you 8.5’ tall with a 45” reach ? ;-)
Actually my point here, discount the snark please, is I’ll bet you were seeing residual oil on the sides of the dipstick, that if the truck had time to cool down, nothing would be showing.

3 super metallic oil change, but oil was changed about 4K miles ago.

with all of the facts in the above post assumed as true, the stealership analysis is still plausible. You change the oil diligently, but the drain plug leaks it out and begins to slowly starve the engine of oil.
- who did the oil change? you or someone else? was a leak noted? Wet skid plates?

Unless the low oil pressure light came on way late, I don’t think the metallic looking quart they drained was caused by the small time I limped it to town. Again. Oil pressure was normal all the way back.

I don’t really know of a gentle way to get this out there, but prior to the low oil pressure light coming on, going back to the previous oil change at ~4k miles ago, when was the last time you checked the oil and how many times since the previous oil change?

We, and that includes me, can easily get complacent on maintenance, particularly on a new-ish vehicle. I caught an over fill on my last oil change, and had to drain out about a quart, but I didn’t catch it “right away” because
1) I’m not 8’6” tall with a 45” reach 2) I was lazy, assumed the local stealership handled it correctly. They didn’t. They took great care of my tires/wheels and other stuff but flubbed this.

But I’ve had a few clunkers in my driving history, one of which was a serial oil consumer, Impala. This thing drank oil to the tune of a quart every 2-3 fill ups. I gave it a good home as long as I could.

The Raptor Oil pressure light is pretty aggressive, we’ve seen users post here about going into limp mode with either a defective sensor, or low oil - but not catastrophically low. OTOH, there have been some users who got the light and it was too late. It’s not infallible.

Maybe you could argue that they knew about this plug and didnt replace it with an OEM piece during that change? Also, since they were the last to touch it maybe the tech didnt know how to use it as there is a secondary part that you screw in to drain the oil. Did they have that piece? Otherwise he would have to pull off the whole thing anyways.

If there was anything goofy, the tech would absolutely have gone to the S/A and had them call you. 100%. If they don’t know, the stop work immediately. Even if they do know and spot something they’re unfamiliar with or they think might come back on them, they notify the s/a. They then call you and ask what to do or may even deny working on it.

I had a bunch of goodies on my ’97 SVT Mustang and the closest shop was the local Ford dealer - literally, walking distance. If I had something that needed installed, I’d generally give them the first crack at it and just ask them if they were interested in doing the work. A bunch of the mechanics drag raced, so they were happy to do it if they knew about things ahead of time and gave the ok. The only thing they scoffed at was an MSD ignition - it had a LOT of connections, I don’t really blame them for not wanting to iron that out.

And there’s no way they’re changing out parts without owner permission. Even if they found a Jiffy Lube rubber plug in the drain pan, they would still call and ask.

@WhereAreTheBrakes I’m not trying to throw elbows at you online, and I am genuinely sorry this happened to you, but I think this is just an unfortunate failure not a warranty claim.

 

[WhereAreTheBrakes]

@smurfslayer lol no elbows taken. I didn't know the drain plug was on there (as I bought the truck about 5 weeks prior to the incident) and I had checked oil before we left town that weekend, which would have been about 14 hours/700 miles, and 4 days prior.

what I meant about it being negative 40 at the time, was that I had to make a judgment call. shut the truck down and wait while it gets cold for a tow truck to show up in BFE Alaska, or gently drive it to the nearest spot where I had another truck. I checked the dipstick, ran an OBD scan on it, and then decided to drive it the 15-20 miles to work, my call. In hindsight, I don't think I would have done that differently.

regardless, I suppose the silver lining is having a rock solid reason to build a better engine.

 

[GCATX]

If the truck was running okay the last time you drove it, I would take the dealer 6 qt of oil and a new filter and have them change the oil and the pan plug, in front of you, and leave.

True, it may have only had 1 qt at some point, but engines get louder when they don't have oil. Metal shavings? Meh. Change the oil and filter a couple times.

Unless they pulled the pan and you have spun bearings or something. I would run it.

 

[2slo4u]

^^^this^^^^

Change the oil and find out