Have you blown an engine? If so, what rod (cylinder) failed?

CustomS550 said:

With the stock tune the coolant / oil temps do hover on the mid-high side! With the AGS deactivated the temps are more in check.

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What's AGS ?

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Good job on the list Maggneto!
Going through that list I didn't see blown motor caused from a FP tune.
Glad I went that way with my tune!

A blown motor, on the FP tune, was just posted on FB with pics. It had the tune and an intercooler and was just installed two days prior to popping. It took out Cylinder #2 and had a code for a Cyl. 2 misfire. What's interesting is that it bent the rod and it didn't snap. This now makes (2) cases that I've seen with bent rods. That can sometimes save the block but his cracked the piston and did a good bit of damage to it, so the entire motor is being replaced by Ford under warranty.

Juben said:

A blown motor, on the FP tune, was just posted on FB with pics. It had the tune and an intercooler and was just installed two days prior to popping. It took out Cylinder #2 and had a code for a Cyl. 2 misfire. What's interesting is that it bent the rod and it didn't snap. This now makes (2) cases that I've seen with bent rods. That can sometimes save the block but his cracked the piston and did a good bit of damage to it, so the entire motor is being replaced by Ford under warranty.

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Ahhh was not aware of that.
Did they happen to say if their was a different tune prior to this one or was it always stock before the tune?

I agree [MENTION=23892]CustomS550[/MENTION]. As soon as I got rid of my AGS my temps definitely leveled out oil wise. I used to ride about 75% through the green when warm. Now I hover at maybe 35-45%.

LuckyJerk said:

Ahhh was not aware of that.
Did they happen to say if their was a different tune prior to this one or was it always stock before the tune?

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He talks like this was the only tune that's been installed along with the intercooler. He said it was on the car for a couple of days before it crapped out. Fortunately though, Ford is warranting it, so there is a way to have your cake and eat it too. Lol

Yup blew mine up on Super bowl Sunday earlier this year. 12/14 Build date. 23k miles. Running Motul Xcess 8100. E85 on a Full Race 7163 Turbo Kit. Stopped on the way to a super bowl party to make a hit and as soon as it shifted to 2nd boom #3 rod snapped.

I have yet to see a rod let go on #4, and #1 appears to be cracked pistons. It is probably safe to say that is not random and that there is something about #2 and especially #3 that is contributing to these failures.

Since there should not be any difference between #4 rod/piston and #3 rod/piston material, manufacturing, or defect, it appears highly unlikely that a defect, manufacturing, or material would never occur on #4.

It may be that #2/#3 are more prone to LSPI like events under certain conditions, and/or the weakest link because of the design (balance shaft gear).

Maggneto said:

I have yet to see a rod let go on #4, and #1 appears to be cracked pistons. It is probably safe to say that is not random and that there is something about #2 and especially #3 that is contributing to these failures.

Since there should not be any difference between #4 rod/piston and #3 rod/piston material, manufacturing, or defect, it appears highly unlikely that a defect, manufacturing, or material would never occur on #4.

It may be that #2/#3 are more prone to LSPI like events under certain conditions, and/or the weakest link because of the design (balance shaft gear).

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#1 and #2 show the most knock count, #3 trails those cylinders slightly, and #4 never does get any knock count. Could be that fuel is fed starting at the rear cylinder. The center cylinders will get the most heat as there siamese to the rear and front cylinders, where as #1 and #4 should have better cooling with more water around the cylinder. I would assume that the two cylinders that would have issues would be #2 and #3. It all has to do with knock count, the cylinder that knocks the most is the one that's gonna have a problem, hence why #4 never has any issues. This is just my observation on my own car, other cars could be different. Always over octane people, and dont ask your tuner for to much low engine speed TQ.

CustomS550 said:

With the stock tune the coolant / oil temps do hover on the mid-high side! With the AGS deactivated the temps are more in check.

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What does that translate into in degF?

I would also be interested to find out if there are any European or Australian Mustangs that have blown an engine.

perfweld said:

#1 and #2 show the most knock count, #3 trails those cylinders slightly, and #4 never does get any knock count. Could be that fuel is fed starting at the rear cylinder. The center cylinders will get the most heat as there siamese to the rear and front cylinders, where as #1 and #4 should have better cooling with more water around the cylinder. I would assume that the two cylinders that would have issues would be #2 and #3. It all has to do with knock count, the cylinder that knocks the most is the one that's gonna have a problem, hence why #4 never has any issues. This is just my observation on my own car, other cars could be different. Always over octane people, and dont ask your tuner for to much low engine speed TQ.

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I agree, I think its cooling issue, but also looking at were the knock sensors are located.
#1 between 1st and 2snd cylinders and #2 by 4th cylinder, so #3 doesn't have one right by it.
Not that you want to rely on knock sensor for timing retard as there always a delay (it has to knock first).

Edkiefer said:

I agree, I think its cooling issue, but also looking at were the knock sensors are located.
#1 between 1st and 2snd cylinders and #2 by 4th cylinder, so #3 doesn't have one right by it.
Not that you want to rely on knock sensor for timing retard as there always a delay (it has to knock first).

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Good point on the knock sensor location !!!

My theory about the low mileage seems to be holding relatively constant. I'm sure some one will pop one at 50k or 100k etc., but it does seem pretty darn common that if a rod is going to let go, it happens under roughly 36k...aka that whole infant mortality thing I keep talking about. Even that first ford performance tuned EB in the video that pop was at 17k.

Also is a good case about what I suggested in using the Ford Performance tune as an "engine break in" tune. If the rods are sound with the FP tune for the first 36k, there's a good chance they will hold up over time with similar or slightly hotter tunes. While it's not as wild as some after market tunes, my particular EB is pushing around 400 ft-lbs at the CRANK (360 wtq), so it's not anemic by any means. It's a cheap way to have some potential headache on your dime and it's good for diagnosing issues as you can always flash back to it as a baseline.

Oil cooler with any good quality GM Dexos 1 Gen 2 compatible oil + a good inter cooler with proper tuning should rule out user related failures. This is a mass produced engine, some will fail even with warrantied tunes like the FP. There's certainly been a couple hundred (out of 500,000+) ecoboost F-150's that failed completely stock engines, same with ST's, RS's and every other car. Heck there's a bunch of bone stock failed 5.0's and 6.2's and that's what the warranty is for.

I'll stick with my FP tune at least until 36k, hopefully by then if nothing has given out I can have relative confidence in the engine's integrity against factory rod or piston defects.

Has anyone sheared a crank on these? Seems that the rods are almost ALWAYS the first to go and everything else follows.

I talked to Livernois yesterday and they now have a few clients with their 93 tune on with over 100k, those are early 2015 builds so they have the Spanish built engines. I'm starting to think more of these failures might be Ford supplier issues rather than all tune related or even LSPI. F-150's had a big rash of them back in 2012-2013 where a decent number of bone stock engines let go, majority very early on (again in my searching most well under 30k).