2018 GT low rpm engine rattle, cylinder damage pics, Ford buyback process

mvfjet said:

I'm asking because I would think having block damage would allow oil blow by since at certain spots the rings wouldn't seal as tight.

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My oil level was full. It could be that I caught it early enough where the oil rings could still do their job.

Red Turtle said:

About 10-20%. It doesn't help that I just put an Xpipe/resonator delete on this past Thursday.:doh:

It is definitely very audible when driving next to something that echo's. Driving down my street when cold it is very audible. In fact the day that I started hearing it, my youngest daughter was with me and she could clearly hear it as well.

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Yes that's when it is embarrassing when it echoes and driving in my neighborhood.

November build date too. Glad you will have the tech take a look. See if the heavy line tech can use a borescope.

Oh man - why did I read this thread pretty much in its entirety. My baby has only 120 miles on it - I'm not sure it has this. "I'm sorry sure - your new 2018 Mustang has brain cancer.."

What I think I'll do is get the extended warranty now. I turned them all down - and the one they offered at the dealer was something like 2500.00 - I believe from zurich insurance. I just checked floodford- and I can get their premium plan with a deductible for 1K. I think I will do that now. Because if this is really an issue - it should develop into a bigger problem down the road (no pun intended.)

thanks.

rebellovw said:

Oh man - why did I read this thread pretty much in its entirety. My baby has only 120 miles on it - I'm not sure it has this. "I'm sorry sure - your new 2018 Mustang has brain cancer.."

What I think I'll do is get the extended warranty now. I turned them all down - and the one they offered at the dealer was something like 2500.00 - I believe from zurich insurance. I just checked floodford- and I can get their premium plan with a deductible for 1K. I think I will do that now. Because if this is really an issue - it should develop into a bigger problem down the road (no pun intended.)

thanks.

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What is your build date?

Also, see if your auto insurance has option for mechanical breakdown. I have Geico and it only $43 every six months for 5 year/100,000 miles.

bigriver said:

What is your build date?

Also, see if your auto insurance has option for mechanical breakdown. I have Geico and it only $43 every six months for 5 year/100,000 miles.

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Engine build date is 11/07/2017.

I can get the 8 years/60K for only 1K flat - seems like a nice deal.

zackmd1 said:

Guys.... it’s a direct injected DOHC engine.... It is going to have ticks and rattles here and there. That to me sounds like the high pressure fuel pump at idle or something else in the valve train but not problematic. You have a power train warranty for 60,000 miles in the event that it is an actual issue. My opinion is that there is no sense in getting all worked up about it now. Drive the car and enjoy it and if it does break deal with it then. I for one am not eager to have a Ford tech attempt any diagnosis let alone a full engine replacement. Down the road I might inspect the engine myself (using a borescope) and if there is actually damage to the cylinder walls I’ll deal with it but for right now I am going to enjoy the car!

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I completely agree with this - no way am I going to have a local tech pull my motor, dig around, etc. If anything (and I'm not convinced I have this issue) I'll just extend my current warranty.

My last comment on this thread (I think) - I will say this:
- we don't know what we don't know. "nobody knows nuttin"
- The Service dept pulled the engine and reported finding "something"

I do not absolutely trust a service dept's motives - Ford is a cash cow to them - they will investigate many hours as long as it is under warranty. It is their bread and butter.

They can come back with a diagnosis - but can we really trust that absolutely? Based on so many comments that people are hearing this - it could be a fact of life - and well within tolarances. Tolerances that the local tech may not agree with.

When I bought a new Mercedes back in 2004 the service dept was always fixing major issues that were under warranty (issues that I didn't know about) - they even called me prior to warranty expiring to fix things that were not even broken. I was very happy about this -but at the same time saw what they were doing. As a consumer - you gotta love it.


I found this thread last night and it woke me early this morning - filled with dread and worry. Worry about something I wouldn't have even known about had I not read it.

What I am going to do and what can I do? - and I've said it previously - that I'm going to buy the ford flood premium 8 year ext warranty - probably with deductible - for 1K USD. That is my plan. I'm normally turn down ext warranties - but this motor is complicated and has new changes for 2018.

I'm going to now enjoy my 2018 GT. The world is not ending.

rebellovw said:

My last comment on this thread (I think) - I will say this:
- we don't know what we don't know. "nobody knows nuttin"
- The Service dept pulled the engine and reported finding "something"

I do not absolutely trust a service dept's motives - Ford is a cash cow to them - they will investigate many hours as long as it is under warranty. It is their bread and butter.

They can come back with a diagnosis - but can we really trust that absolutely? Based on so many comments that people are hearing this - it could be a fact of life - and well within tolarances. Tolerances that the local tech may not agree with.

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Incorrect. Ford will not allow a dealer to rack up hours just for the sake of doing so, nor can a dealer just randomly replace parts at will. Additionally, warranty is not their bread and butter, customer pay is.

With major repairs such as the OP's, Ford will send a Field Service Engineer to work with or diagnose themselves what the issue is and/or the recommended repair.

What I hear is not something that I feel is normal. Does your car sound like a 1980s diesel Mercedes when cold and driving out of your neighborhood each morning between 2000-2500 rpms? Yes, it is that audible.

It's a personal decision as to whether you can live with it or have it looked at. I can't fault anyone either way. For me, this rattle was unacceptable on a $50,000 vehicle with only 1500 miles on it and embarrassing to drive so I got it checked out.

All I can do is provide insight into my experiences with this and hopefully help out anyone like those before me have done. Dealing with Ford (customer service, RAV dept and the dealership) is very frustrating. I am hoping my ordeal comes to an end soon and pray this doesn't happen when I get a 2019 Mustang.

Red Turtle said:

Incorrect. Ford will not allow a dealer to rack up hours just for the sake of doing so, nor can a dealer just randomly replace parts at will. Additionally, warranty is not their bread and butter, customer pay is.

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<< First off sorry - don't mean to be argumentative - just a bit freaked because of this. Good news is I'm not noticing anything other than the car being slightly rough around the edges which I'm more than happy with>>

So you are saying that the service dept doesn't make any money from warranty repairs - and that they make the bulk of their money from customers driving in off the street paying retail?

I do not buy that one bit.

Warranty work keeps a Service dept very busy and paid for. They do have to get approval - but I'm sure that isn't overly difficult when a customer is demanding something and they have to settle.

I'm not saying this is a non issue - but in my case - my car doesn't sound like an old diesel - it does make some weird noises once in a while under drive train drag - but nothing alarming.

bigriver said:

It's a personal decision as to whether you can live with it or have it looked at. I can't fault anyone either way. For me, this rattle was unacceptable on a $50,000 vehicle with only 1500 miles on it and embarrassing to drive so I got it checked out.

All I can do is provide insight into my experiences with this and hopefully help out anyone like those before me have done. Dealing with Ford (customer service, RAV dept and the dealership) is very frustrating. I am hoping my ordeal comes to an end soon and pray this doesn't happen when I get a 2019 Mustang.

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Agree completely and it does happen. Like I mentioned prior, I went through a long block replacement with my 12' back in August of 12'. The process took 29 days and car only had about 1500 miles. In the end, I was happy and the car did not have any issues for 40k miles before I traded it. It ran like a scalded dog with over 50-60 1/4 passes, all without the annoyance of a tick/rattle that FORD Engineers deemed as a defect and the need to replace.

My new concern now is my local ford dealer alluded to not supporting ESP/Ford Protect plan.

I'll find out more when they call back. They offered very $$ Zurich based plan.

I do have their review to provide which they provided me a handout saying - give us all 5 stars - if you cannot call us immediately. If they cannot support the Ford plan - their review is in jeopardy.

rebellovw said:

My new concern now is my local ford dealer alluded to not supporting ESP/Ford Protect plan.

I'll find out more when they call back. They offered very $$ Zurich based plan.

I do have their review to provide which they provided me a handout saying - give us all 5 stars - if you cannot call us immediately. If they cannot support the Ford plan - their review is in jeopardy.

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A Ford dealer can't decide to not support Ford ESP, and sounds like they are trying to sell you another warranty plan making the person selling you the warranty more money.

Red Turtle said:

A Ford dealer can't decide to not support Ford ESP, and sounds like they are trying to sell you another warranty plan making the person selling you the warranty more money.

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Thanks Red Turtle - I'm getting that feeling too. The finance guy will probably throw me some BS.

Thanks again!

rebellovw said:

<< First off sorry - don't mean to be argumentative - just a bit freaked because of this. Good news is I'm not noticing anything other than the car being slightly rough around the edges which I'm more than happy with>>

So you are saying that the service dept doesn't make any money from warranty repairs - and that they make the bulk of their money from customers driving in off the street paying retail?

I do not buy that one bit.

Warranty work keeps a Service dept very busy and paid for. They do have to get approval - but I'm sure that isn't overly difficult when a customer is demanding something and they have to settle.

I'm not saying this is a non issue - but in my case - my car doesn't sound like an old diesel - it does make some weird noises once in a while under drive train drag - but nothing alarming.

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Missed this reply. Service departments have changed a lot over the years and now require Ford approval for most major repairs before just arbitrarily doing it and expecting to be paid by the manufacturer. In most major cases, Ford will require the removed parts be sent back to them for review. Yes they make money on warranty, but it is not the main source of keeping a service department profitable. Keep in mind the Ford will also only pay a fixed number of time for a repair, so if it takes the tech twice as long, he and/or the dealership is not making money for that extra time.