Database on engine failures; Voodoo vs Coyote

[350 Feet]

Not seeing anything but anecdotal information, does anyone know of a database showing engine failure rates between these two engines?
Along with that, has anyone ever linked the noted 350 engine builders to failures?
Obvi there are tons of variables to this equation, but a database that you could extrapolate percentages or link to builders would be interesting.
The flip side of this would be giving credit where credit is due, with specific engine builders having few or no engine issues.
Don’t yell at me, it was just an idea..
Cheers

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[JAJ]

There was a website that did that, back about 6 or 7 years ago. It was put up by a GT350 owner that looked at the real failure rates of Voodoo engines by model year.

He put the time in to look at and cross-check the reports on YouTube and forums so that multiple reports of the same engine failure were not counted more than once. It was an epic task, given the popularity at the time of "my Voodoo failed" reports on social media.

it's gone now, but his analysis was that the 2015/16 engines were about as reliable as any other GT engine, but the 2017/18 engines were a lot more trouble-prone. Since then, 2019/20 engines have been thought of as "best in class" but the early 2015/16 engines (developed and qualified by FP directly without the help of Ford cost-management engineers) were every bit as good.

 

[Inthehighdesert]

What’s the aim/point of this? Are you looking for an aftermarket builder to do a build. This has been beat to death at nauseum at this point. Not yelling at all. Lol. Just curious if this is headed in a particular direction.

 

[UpACurb]

What’s the aim/point of this? Are you looking for an aftermarket builder to do a build. This has been beat to death at nauseum at this point. Not yelling at all. Lol. Just curious if this is headed in a particular direction.

Ill tell you where this is headed......30 pages of how unreliable the VooDoo is as soon as the usual non-GT350 owning characters get here.......lol

 

[ModernSVO]

I'd think Ford warranty claims would data point this.
But more gt engines fail just because they are used by their owners more than the other cars that might see 500 street miles a year if that.
I'd rather have data of number of failures of each while tracked. That be a better metric.
Too many Ford v8 vehicle owners that don't care for their vehicles to group them in with the rest.
I mean the cars and coffee bandit that bounces the engine off the rev limiter without shifting leaving the event most likely blow up more engines, than those with brains.

 

[icecreamtruckz]

I’m convinced some of the failures can be directly attributed to owner behavior. More than any other car I have ever had, the voodoo is finicky and frankly feels downright fragile to me when it’s cold. It also demands complete attention to oil quality and level.

Before mine reaches about 180, the piston slap is very noticeable. It also just feels like shit. Sluggish, noisy, unhappy. The engine completely changes character when it’s warm. It wants to be hot. Demands it.

It also has bizarre oil use behavior. Sometimes I do 4K miles and don’t need to add anything. Sometimes at 2k miles it’s low a quart. It would be very easy to screw up oil level for someone not paying attention or going 8k miles plus without a change.

40k miles so far without any issues on a 2018. Knock on wood. I keep on top of the oil, and baby the shit out of until 170+ oil temp. And that can take miles and miles and miles. In cold weather I don’t see 170 the first 15-20 minutes.

 

[350 Feet]

I’ll tell you what got me going with this general topic. Of course the voodoo failures as a broad topic has been beat to death. But I met up with two of the original Romeo-Niche engine builders and this sparked a conversation about any links between specific builders and engine failures. I’m not sure how many hands touch a generic gen 3/4 coyote before it gets put into a Mustang, but at least we know who built our engines.
Another question I have not asked them yet is why Ford switched from 2 engine builders down to 1 when the gen 2 engines came out. It was stated that the 2 builder teams help transfer knowledge and experience in one of the articles I read. The planned end of the 350 probably dictated that there was no need to keep building a team around an engine that was being phased out.
Anyway, I was just hoping for a magical database that I overlooked. I have owned numerous vintage Mustangs but I am still new to S550, so my curiosity is high.
By the way, the Romeo-Niche engine builders were thrilled that I reached out, and wanted pictures of the car that their engine went into. Cool stuff!

 

[Nfs1000f]

 

[Joe Gonsalves]

Voodoo vs Coyote engine failures, gee maybe they sold a lot more Coyotes than Voodoos, so of course the database, if you find one, of engine failures would skew toward the Coyote. Just math people. And I bet if you owned a GT350 you'd be more inclined to leave it stock over someone with a GT trying real hard to beat you at the track.

 

[JAJ]

Voodoo vs Coyote engine failures, gee maybe they sold a lot more Coyotes than Voodoos, so of course the database, if you find one, of engine failures would skew toward the Coyote. Just math people. And I bet if you owned a GT350 you'd be more inclined to leave it stock over someone with a GT trying real hard to beat you at the track.

Failure rates are a percentage of the total number built. That makes them independent of quantity so it's possible to compare them.

The other point that came out in the analysis I mentioned in my earlier post is that the failure rate of modified Voodoo's was much higher than stock Voodoo's. People didn't realize that the Ford Performance factory-tune placed the engines closer to the limit than the factory-tune that parent company Ford puts on regular Coyote engines. The YouTube stars would gush about their great new aftermarket tune, wind it up the to show off and end up complaining that Ford was denying warranty. Happened a lot back in the day.

 

[350 Feet]

Voodoo vs Coyote engine failures, gee maybe they sold a lot more Coyotes than Voodoos, so of course the database, if you find one, of engine failures would skew toward the Coyote. Just math people. And I bet if you owned a GT350 you'd be more inclined to leave it stock over someone with a GT trying real hard to beat you at the track.

I appreciate your input, but I wasn’t trying to come up with a total amount of failures as much as I was looking for a percentage. One percent of voodoo motors and one percent of coyote motors is going to be a very different number. But it’s the one percent that I wanted to compare. Obviously that’s just a hypothetical percentage, but I was wondering if the database existed for that. This was actually secondary information that I was looking for as I was trying to link specific engine builders to successes or failures.
My whole question is nothing to get riled up about or point fingers at anyone. I was just asking if anybody knew of information that was available other than anecdotal or hearsay..

 

[CANTWN4LSN]

In a word, no. Only place to get that info accurately would be total number of engines replaced/number of cars sold and that would only come from Ford either through their approval process or their dealers who provided the work and they have not released that info and likely never will. Buy, drive, enjoy, with extended warranty for 17 and 18 models with original engine if you want.

 

[Unas2k5]

A person who I’ve worked with is an engineer for ford. He said he’d take a 5.0 over the voodoo. He worded it differently but I’m not t trying to start a war here lol

 

[350 Feet]

A person who I’ve worked with is an engineer for ford. He said he’d take a 5.0 over the voodoo. He worded it differently but I’m not t trying to start a war here lol

Hmm. I’m thinking he probably helped engineer the Mach E….

 

[WItoTX]

A friend who tracks as much as I do has had 3 Coyotes in his M1 in the time I'm just getting to #2. I have a 2017.

Anecdotal fun times lol

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