Any studies on how many Coyote engine have issues that need replacement

[OLdchuck]

Been awhile since I have been active on the forum. Had 4 Mustangs so not stranger to them. In the past 3 years went from a custom '66 I had built to a Porsche and even a Miata but find myself missing that V8 sound and performance. When I got back looking at the forum I noticed a few posts on Coyote engines that needed to be replaced. My question: realizing more negative folks post than those that are pleased with their cars but curious if any stats have been collected on engines with significant issues that need replacement.

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[Balr14]

I think you are worrying over nothing. The engine is very reliable, it has a pretty decent drivetrain warranty and isn't very expensive to replace. I used to lose a lot of sleep thinking what a Porsche engine and PDK transmission would cost to replace. I don't worry at all about my Mustang.

 

[sk47]

Hello; There are some threads on the site which address this question. Thing seems to be that no one can give actual numbers. Lots of anecdotal reports on both the engine and trans. Hard to know what percentage the problem engines/transmissions are compared to the total in service.

Some take the stance there is nothing to worry about and the engines are great. I like that idea but since we folks outside of Ford cannot know the actual numbers that stance cannot be fully supported. That said the same applies for those who are concerned about all the reports of trans and engine problems. Are the failures more likely to be reported and thus skewing the impression things are worse than they really are???

I do know some of the stories reported on here are scary and a big problem for the individuals who have had engine failures. I do not know the answer. I was spooked away from a good deal on a leftover F-150 about excessive oil consumption for the V8 Gen III Coyote. I was dismissing the reports until i ran across a Technical Service Bulletin by Ford about an ongoing patch.

I will follow your thread to see if any new information shows up.

 

[ice445]

I don't think the failure rate is much over the current industry average (which is quite low, like 1-2% over a reasonable product life time), and I certainly don't see that many "help my engine blew" posts on here. Some engines burn substantial amounts of oil but it doesn't seem to affect reliability unless it keeps getting worse.

 

[OLdchuck]

Bair14, SK 47,
Thanks for the reply.
Bair, I hear you and that is one of the reasons I traded the Porsche prior to end of warranty. Would never have one without an extended warranty. The engine and PDK cost would buy a GT. I would imagine that the actual number of total Coyote engine failures is a very small percentage. However, I would bet the number is higher than a Porsche but considering the price point I would expect that. Everything is build to a price point and I understand that. I was not overly concerned but just curious. On some of the Corvette Forums members have actually kept count of issues such as the C7 auto or torque converter issues and or failures and was curious if that has been done here to get an actual handle on the amount.. That would begin to tell if there is a real issue otherwise, it is just speculation.
SK47, I also hear your concern. No one wants to worry about their car or buy a vehicle that will spent a lot of its' time in the shop even if there is a small percentage of that happening. Agreed, Ford(or any manufacturer) does not want to report any issue that may be inherent to their engines. They would rather try to find the cause themselves or develop patches. I know any time you start down the high tech path engines get more complicated and more issues will crop up. The Coyote gets an amazing amount of power from the small cubes say compared to the LS or LT GM engines. That tech has the potential to cause more issues especially if trying to come in under a certain price point.
There are reasons why certain car manufacturers score in the top two or three for reliability and some mid pack or near the bottom. Ford has never been close to the top but again the Mustang for instance is not built to the same price point as a Porsche or Lexus however it should compete say with the Mazda but does not.
I am not knocking the Mustang or Ford as I have always liked them and had four but was just trying to get an idea of how prevalent significant Coyote failures may be and if so, is it an engine flaw or because of owner abuse..

 

[ice445]

Bair14, SK 47,
Thanks for the reply.
Bair, I hear you and that is one of the reasons I traded the Porsche prior to end of warranty. Would never have one without an extended warranty. The engine and PDK cost would buy a GT. I would imagine that the actual number of total Coyote engine failures is a very small percentage. However, I would bet the number is higher than a Porsche but considering the price point I would expect that. Everything is build to a price point and I understand that. I was not overly concerned but just curious. On some of the Corvette Forums members have actually kept count of issues such as the C7 auto or torque converter issues and or failures and was curious if that has been done here to get an actual handle on the amount.. That would begin to tell if there is a real issue otherwise, it is just speculation.
SK47, I also hear your concern. No one wants to worry about their car or buy a vehicle that will spent a lot of its' time in the shop even if there is a small percentage of that happening. Agreed, Ford(or any manufacturer) does not want to report any issue that may be inherent to their engines. They would rather try to find the cause themselves or develop patches. I know any time you start down the high tech path engines get more complicated and more issues will crop up. The Coyote gets an amazing amount of power from the small cubes say compared to the LS or LT GM engines. That tech has the potential to cause more issues especially if trying to come in under a certain price point.
There are reasons why certain car manufacturers score in the top two or three for reliability and some mid pack or near the bottom. Ford has never been close to the top but again the Mustang for instance is not built to the same price point as a Porsche or Lexus however it should compete say with the Mazda but does not.
I am not knocking the Mustang or Ford as I have always liked them and had four but was just trying to get an idea of how prevalent significant Coyote failures may be and if so, is it an engine flaw or because of owner abuse..

Unfortunately there's no tally that I know of, that's reserved for the GT350 guys. But as someone with no life who's on the forum way too much, I hardly ever see those types of threads from people on here, no matter which generation of engine they have. So that's a small anecdotal data point. Another useful point is the amount of guys running forced induction on stock engines with good success. You start seeing more instances of issues there, but it's usually detonation/overheat related moreso than actual part failures (unless people are pushing the envelope).

Just my 2 cents.

 

[OLdchuck]

Ryan, I hear you but it would be informative if someone who had the time and expertise put together a worthwhile spread sheet of engine issues. However, I agree the amount of add ons and power adders would be very involved and one would have to look at total amount made vs each issue vs engine type.. It would never be completely accurate as the human factor always creeps in however would be more informative than what we now. However, you do see it on the Corvette Forum. The fact that the Corvette guys readily report issues could be a lot of factors including age of average buyer, cost or price point of vehicle and overall vehicle expectations. I think the Corvette guys seem to get more vocal about issues such as C7 torque converter issues and also the cracking of rims on Grand Sports. Sorry to ramble but would seem if there is an ongoing issue that someone would want to get more of a definitive answer. Did not intend to ramble but just a had a question when I saw a number of posts about engine's needing replacement and thought with all the knowledge on the board that it might have been done and I just missed it..

 

[Bikeman315]

Ryan, I hear you but it would be informative if someone who had the time and expertise put together a worthwhile spread sheet of engine issues. However, I agree the amount of add ons and power adders would be very involved and one would have to look at total amount made vs each issue vs engine type.. It would never be completely accurate as the human factor always creeps in however would be more informative than what we now. However, you do see it on the Corvette Forum. The fact that the Corvette guys readily report issues could be a lot of factors including age of average buyer, cost or price point of vehicle and overall vehicle expectations. I think the Corvette guys seem to get more vocal about issues such as C7 torque converter issues and also the cracking of rims on Grand Sports. Sorry to ramble but would seem if there is an ongoing issue that someone would want to get more of a definitive answer. Did not intend to ramble but just a had a question when I saw a number of posts about engine's needing replacement and thought with all the knowledge on the board that it might have been done and I just missed it..

Chuck, there is no need for a engine issue study/spreadsheet. The Coyote has been a rock solid engine. Probably one of the most reliable performance engines in the world today. Just look at the number of SC’ed cars putting out 600+ wheel HP on here.

Is it perfect? No, of course not. But for a motor that puts out 400+ stock HP and gets beat on regularly by many of its owners there is really nothing to discuss.

 

[OLdchuck]

Ira,
I am sure in the broad scope of things you are correct and the chances of a Coyote engine self destructing is rare however, it does happen and all the opinions will not change that. I was not trying to start a back and forth war on whether or not a person likes or dislikes the Coyote just wondering about how many folks actually have faulty engines. I had a Gen one Coyote and it did very well and most do however, some folks on this forum seem to have issues or engines replaced on engines that are not FI or heavily modded. Opinions will not change that so I was looking for more specifics on what the cause might be and trying to get away from opinions..

 

[KingKona]

Any studies on how many Coyote engine have issues that need replacement

No.

Ford is the only source of such info.

 

[Nctong01]

The coyote IMO is a well built engine. If there is a slightly higher failure rate, I'd really like to see that scaled to driver habits. I'm guessing more guys are banging GT's than Porsche's on a daily basis. I owned a GT4 for a while and I reemed it lmao, but 99.9% of all the Porsche's rolling around my area were "show money" cars. I'd say, if anything, coyote failure rates when compared to driving habits are lower than industry standards.

 

[Ock]

some of us just have bad luck...

 

[Firsttexan]

There are so many on the road. You only hear about the ones breaking. For every 1 that goes down. 8 or 9 have no issues and live out there mechanical life.

The 8-9 that have no issues, Don't go to the net to vent.

Silent majority so to speak.

At 15k and 3 oil changes. I can say mine is as Ford intended.

 

[sk47]

Hello; Unfortunately, there does not seem a way to know the failure rate precisely. There are one or two web sites which list problems with cars I know of and i will find the links and post them. I will look for and post the TSB on oil consumption in the F-150 if I still have it.

Back a decade or so a car maker, Porsche, had a serious engine issue. The IMS bearing which was failing. It was a basic design flaw which caused perhaps a 10% rate of destructive engine failure. Not sure from memory but think the engines were made that way for at least ten years. Finally, they reworked that bearing in 2009. There was a class action settlement along the way.
What it boils down to is if i am shopping for a six-cylinder Porsche I tend to look at the 2009 or newer models. Maybe a 2008 is OK as apparently a better bearing was used that year.
I guess if Porsche can have a design flaw, then any maker can. A fellow i know had bought a used Mercedes some 20+ years ago. It failed and I looked at it. Turned out the camshafts for that engine were prone to wipe the camshaft lobes. Don't know what the guy did with the car.

For me the questions revolve around the gen III engines with the plasma lined cylinder walls. I like the notion of the new lighter weight liner but hope to know if there are any concerns.

 

[OLdchuck]

I agree failures are rare and also agree that more are likely to vent and bitch on a forum than those that are pleased or have no issues . Many owners most likely never go on a forum.
I also agree more folks beat on a Mustang than would a Porsche. I am not questioning the fact that the 3rd Gen is a good engine was only wondering if any research had been done on failures and had that broken down into categories of what failed, type of mods and driver style. Many models including Porsche when you go into the boards you can find posts that detail known weaknesses in each generation and what to expect and how to fix. To some extent, you can find that on some Corvette boards with years effected. Given that, I was wondering if anything like that existed on this forum.
Again, not a hater just seeking information..

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