Ferazza
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- Thread starter
- #1
Long-time lurker, first-time poster:
My 2016 Ecoboost Mustang is the first car I ever bought new. Tonight, it's sitting in the frigid cold on top of Black Mountain between Asheville and Old Fort, NC all by itself. For the second time in about 6 months, it is effectively dead. Let me share my story and see if anyone has advice:
Back around the summer of 2020, I noticed some issues forming. The car would take a few second longer to start, would idle roughly upon starting and it would smoke heavily for awhile, even after warming up. I also noticed that my catch can's oil had changed color and texture, to something watery and brown. Oh, and it was using a disturbing amount of water.
I replaced the water pump (the first one went bad not long after I got the car) as well as the starter and battery, thinking them all to be unrelated and just coincidentally failing around the same time. Around the start of October, I went home to be with family after my grandmother passed away. I drove to the funeral and the car smoked like a steam locomotive. I returned home, pulled the spark plugs and found anti-freeze in cylinders 2&3. I decided to do the head gasket replacement on my own, with lots of help from my Pops and brother. Other than it taking me 2 months of driving from WNC to TN and getting the timing wrong TWICE, it all went smoothly. The machinist confirmed that I had metal burrs in my cylinder head, like the ones part of a class action lawsuit now taking place:
https://www.carcomplaints.com/news/2020/ford-ecoboost-problems-class-action-lawsuit.shtml
On 11/28/2020 I got back on the road, proud as hell to be back in my car.
A few gremlins remained after the rebuild. This weekend, I finally tracked the source of an exhaust leak when I saw flames licking out of the turbocharger onto the donut gasket on the downpipe. I tightened it down on Saturday and the smells and rough idle disappeared. I was officially on cloud nine and thinking I'd be trouble free and finally able to pay this S.O.B. off.
Then came Sunday.
I decided to take a short drive to get dinner. On my way back, I fill up my tank. I hit the road and start climbing over a hill on I-40 Westbound. The engine seems to bog so I shift from 5th to 4th. No change. Then comes a low oil pressure light. I book it to the shoulder and try to restart the car. Nothing. I've attached a video with the sound and behavior (turn up the volume, that's it trying to start sounding like an old tractor):
Checking the oil, I found the level to be perfect. There was no "oil spill" like what happens when a block typically goes boom. There was no warning, no strange sounds, smells, behavior etc. The car was driving like a champ up until that point.
So, tomorrow, I'll be getting someone to tow it to a shop (assuming it isn't stolen or smashed by a semi truck in the night). My gut tells me that it's 3 options (ranked in terms of costliness);
1. Bad oil pressure sensor, wire, etc.
2. Bad oil pump (possibly caused by back-cranking the motor during the timing procedure)
3. Blown block
Up until this point, I've sang the praises of the Eco platform. But after all this, I might be done. Aside from the usual "sHoUlD hAvE gOT uH vEE-aTe" I'm open to any suggestions, advice, etc. And thank you all. The 6G forum has always been a treasure trove of good info, especially during my head gasket replacement.
My 2016 Ecoboost Mustang is the first car I ever bought new. Tonight, it's sitting in the frigid cold on top of Black Mountain between Asheville and Old Fort, NC all by itself. For the second time in about 6 months, it is effectively dead. Let me share my story and see if anyone has advice:
Back around the summer of 2020, I noticed some issues forming. The car would take a few second longer to start, would idle roughly upon starting and it would smoke heavily for awhile, even after warming up. I also noticed that my catch can's oil had changed color and texture, to something watery and brown. Oh, and it was using a disturbing amount of water.
I replaced the water pump (the first one went bad not long after I got the car) as well as the starter and battery, thinking them all to be unrelated and just coincidentally failing around the same time. Around the start of October, I went home to be with family after my grandmother passed away. I drove to the funeral and the car smoked like a steam locomotive. I returned home, pulled the spark plugs and found anti-freeze in cylinders 2&3. I decided to do the head gasket replacement on my own, with lots of help from my Pops and brother. Other than it taking me 2 months of driving from WNC to TN and getting the timing wrong TWICE, it all went smoothly. The machinist confirmed that I had metal burrs in my cylinder head, like the ones part of a class action lawsuit now taking place:
https://www.carcomplaints.com/news/2020/ford-ecoboost-problems-class-action-lawsuit.shtml
On 11/28/2020 I got back on the road, proud as hell to be back in my car.
A few gremlins remained after the rebuild. This weekend, I finally tracked the source of an exhaust leak when I saw flames licking out of the turbocharger onto the donut gasket on the downpipe. I tightened it down on Saturday and the smells and rough idle disappeared. I was officially on cloud nine and thinking I'd be trouble free and finally able to pay this S.O.B. off.
Then came Sunday.
I decided to take a short drive to get dinner. On my way back, I fill up my tank. I hit the road and start climbing over a hill on I-40 Westbound. The engine seems to bog so I shift from 5th to 4th. No change. Then comes a low oil pressure light. I book it to the shoulder and try to restart the car. Nothing. I've attached a video with the sound and behavior (turn up the volume, that's it trying to start sounding like an old tractor):
Checking the oil, I found the level to be perfect. There was no "oil spill" like what happens when a block typically goes boom. There was no warning, no strange sounds, smells, behavior etc. The car was driving like a champ up until that point.
So, tomorrow, I'll be getting someone to tow it to a shop (assuming it isn't stolen or smashed by a semi truck in the night). My gut tells me that it's 3 options (ranked in terms of costliness);
1. Bad oil pressure sensor, wire, etc.
2. Bad oil pump (possibly caused by back-cranking the motor during the timing procedure)
3. Blown block
Up until this point, I've sang the praises of the Eco platform. But after all this, I might be done. Aside from the usual "sHoUlD hAvE gOT uH vEE-aTe" I'm open to any suggestions, advice, etc. And thank you all. The 6G forum has always been a treasure trove of good info, especially during my head gasket replacement.
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