Blew my 2.3 motor need options, opinions, and thoughts

[Lazv19]

Hello I’m new to the site so I blew my motor and turbo being a idiot I’m 18 so I’m living and learning. I have 2016 eco boost and I’m trying to figure out the best route for me if I don’t get it fixed under warranties which I’m like 50/50 on happening bc I had to car cob tuned with full turbo back and cold air intake I’ve removed Everything except my cat back portion bc it’s welded in place. I’ve/my parents have great relations with dealership which I’m pretty sure won’t help much. but I wanna know what’s the best route for me if I can’t get the warranty. I thinking about going a built motor option bc it seems to be about the same cost but I wanna know from y’all what’s a good option for money wise and for a strong build going forward

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[Wolfe]

How many miles are on the car? That will probably be the biggest factor. The techs at my dealer have replaced bone stock 2.3 motors with less than 40k on them and I think many are aware of the fault in the blocks used for the eco mustang and f150s at this point.

Talk to them and see what they say. You might get lucky. I know someone who was able to get theirs replaced with his bolt ons still in the car by just returning the car to the stock tune.

If they deny it...good luck hunting and at that point you might as well look into a built 2.0 like in the the focus rs. Probably gonna run you around 3-4K between getting a replacement and getting it installed.

 

[Strokercrate]

A built 2.0 block if you want to keep pushing the car otherwise revert back to stock drop in a used 2.3l and enjoy what you have.

 

[Lazv19]

The car has 75k I’ve already contacted ford I’m having roadside assistance take the car to the dealer I’m just finding out that they snuck a extended warranty on top of the one from the previous owner also the car is ford certified seems I’ll be without any information on what exactly went wrong for about a week or longer but I was thinking about possibly doing a built motor but I’m unsure with cost wise or what to go with all still kinda up in the air tho but I would love to here from someone who has a built motor who did they go with and how much it cost over all and how it’s going so far

 

[Jaymar]

Well, I can't give you firsthand information about a "built" Ecoboost motor but I can help maybe put a few things into perspective. The OEM motor on an Ecoboost is fairly cheap comparatively speaking, it's definitely more than a little cheaper than a built alternative. And while there are certain cases where beefy, forged internals and a 2.0L closed deck block are necessary it really isn't for most cases. A majority of the time when somebody blows a factory motor, it is something completely out of whack that would have also blown a built motor. They aren't bullet-proof answers to everything, a detonation will still destroy the piston, a missed shift can still drop a valve, etc. If you were in that slim margin in between, you would already be thousands of dollars into your modifications and have a pretty good idea what happened already.

My recommendation to you would be to return it to OEM, find out what went wrong if you can and keep your modifications conservative as you build towards a realistic goal. Keep in mind that if you put more than $5-$10K into these things you easily get into price territory when new of what a GT would have cost anyway so you are already behind the $/fun ratio.

 

[Lazv19]

If they do fix it under warranty I don’t know how bad the motor was hurt but if they give me a new on will it be the same motor in the newer eco boost mustangs because Ik the newer 2.3 are definitely built a lot stronger than 2015-2016 years

 

[Cplennon17]

You might get lucky, I had a FBO tuned Genesis 2.0T that I spun the bearing in the turbo. I re-flashed back to stock, took my downpipe off and threw the service manager a quick 100$ bill to push me through under the radar. They fixed it under warranty

 

[Jaymar]

If they do fix it under warranty I don’t know how bad the motor was hurt but if they give me a new on will it be the same motor in the newer eco boost mustangs because Ik the newer 2.3 are definitely built a lot stronger than 2015-2016 years

Not true, they are the same motor. If you buy that whole Valencia motor build crap then I have some magic speed magnets to sell you.

You might be in luck, aftermarket warranties are less likely to have insight into the changes made to the motor unless it's glaringly obvious but th hey have to send out an inspector.

Do you know what's wrong with it? When you say blown motor most people are assuming blown head gasket or piston or something of that magnitude. What happened between car running and tow truck?

 

[Lazv19]

Well I know for a fact it’s cylinder 3 I either cracked my piston or broke the rings I pulled the plugs and oil was on it I also blew the turbo for sure it squeals when I turn the car off and smoke comes from it as well as non stop smoke out the tell pipes

 

[Lazv19]

And a misfire ofc

 

[Lazv19]

As for what led to this situation I was omw to my parents house and decided todo a wot pull and and right around 6krpm big cloud of smoke out the exhaust and so u pulled over and popped the hood smoke was coming out of the turbo and exhaust and it started running real bad I was a couple of minutes from parents and so I drove it a left it there till I was ready for the dealer to pick it up

 

[Lazv19]

Not true, they are the same motor. If you buy that whole Valencia motor build crap then I have some magic speed magnets to sell you.

You might be in luck, aftermarket warranties are less likely to have insight into the changes made to the motor unless it's glaringly obvious but th hey have to send out an inspector.

Do you know what's wrong with it? When you say blown motor most people are assuming blown head gasket or piston or something of that magnitude. What happened between car running and tow truck?

I’m a idiot at first it was like what are you taking about for the motors idk about the being built wherever you’re talking about but I was just saying that bc most of the post I read were 2015-2016 mustangs including mine Lmaoo I was like magic speed magnets wtf

 

[Jaymar]

I’m a idiot at first it was like what are you taking about for the motors idk about the being built wherever you’re talking about but I was just saying that bc most of the post I read were 2015-2016 mustangs including mine Lmaoo I was like magic speed magnets wtf

It's all good, I'm poking fun at a certain crowd of people within the community. The early Ecoboost 2.3 motors were built on the production line in Valencia while the later domestic supply of motors came from Cleveland I think (could be wrong on that one.) Quite a few early adopters blew their motors up under some questionable circumstances with aftermarket tunes. The facts don't exist one way or another to prove where the fault lies but an entire bandwagon of people decided that there must have been a production fault from the Valencia plant. All this despite there being no recall, TSB or communication otherwise from Ford regarding said fault. Ford has their data, the tuners have their data and neither of them are under any obligation to share that so we'll never truly know but some folks sure are convinced one way or another because it supports the narrative that they want to push.

Best of luck with your motor though. For what it's worth these are strong little motors up to the 350-400 CHP line and they are good, cheap fun. After that though you'll end up so invested that you would have probably been better off with a Coyote to start with.

 

[FreePenguin]

Ive heard all different sides, not so much that it was "engines built in Cleveland" or anywhere else, as much as tuners using the first 2.3's as learning trial and error. pushing them a bit too hard and giving out before they got the limits and found out what worked. Theres tons of people with those engines driving everyday hundreds of thousands of miles with no issue. You will have someone complain when an engine blows vs happy customers never talking about it.

but yeah, I side with the idea of it was a new platform, and yeah... tuners blowing the early ones more or less new platform and didn't understand them fully and backed off once found the limits. maybe was too aggressive on the stuff first.

My 2015 mustang ecoboost was flawless, ruby red Cleveland. never had an issue. it was totaled by a hit and run driver.

 

[Hi-PO Stang]

If the OP could still drive home with the Mustang , maybe the engine was not totally blown. May be just a bent exhaust valve. How much oil pressure did the engine have before being turned off ? Did the water temp rise after the incident ? What was the water temp before shutting the engine off ?

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