Getting a Replacement Motor

[mikedahammer]

My motor blew on August 7th. I still don't have the details from the technician on what officially happened but I am just providing this info to the forum to hopefully help someone else out and I will supplement as I get the info from the dealership. Please do not make this thread a POS engine hate thread or a fanboy Ford thread.

The dealership has had the car for 7 weeks at this point and long story short the dealership I took it to went through some internal changes and that is why I still have little info and I am working with the dealership and Ford customer service to get things moving quicker. I am not really upset at the car or the dealership and understand that the world we live in isn't perfect. I have other vehicles to drive and really just want the car repaired correctly.

My 18 GT350 has always had what Ford deems as acceptable oil consumption amount per the manual. I always checked my fluids and never noticed any real issues and topped off as needed. The day the motor blew I noticed in the prior session (the one before what I posted below) that the car was running hotter than I have seen in the past, but I didn't notice any performance issues. I let off for a lap or two and the temperatures immediately went back to their norms and then the session was over. On the next session, which was also the last session of the day, I took it a little easier than I normally do and watched the gauges and did not notice anything too unusual. As you will see from video I hit 4th on the back straight and it felt like I ran something over and obviously something broke loose and then a few seconds later the motor went and everything shut off. What you will see is that when I shifted to 4th and gave full throttle the car didn't register it and the motor hesitated. It did eventually dump all 10 quarts of oil and antifreeze. I wish I had the pictures and video of the tow truck winching it up as it was a river of fluids running off the bed of their truck.

Unfortunately I just got the AIM setup so the video and sound isn't perfect yet because I haven't had much time to configure it and therefore you don't get to see the massive amounts of smoke coming from the exhaust after the video shut off. The track thought the car was on fire so I am thankful that nothing caught on fire and they didn't need to spray. I am glad that I installed the tow hook and that it worked flawlessly.

I will note the following:

1. I have attached a picture of the builders of the motor (apparently not doing this triggers people)
2. My car's VIN never triggered the TSB for the chain tensioner and I don't think it was ever checked by the dealership
3. The dealership did all oil changes and saw the car about every 45 days (during the summer) or so because someone once told me that changing the oil is the cheapest insurance to protect the motor and I wanted it documented that the dealership constantly saw the car since it sees the track
4. The car is currently an hour away from where I live so I can't just take pictures of anything people want to see
5. I did a proper 1,000 mile break in, I have about 5,500 miles on it, and unfortunately I am not looking forward to doing another 1,000 mile break in
6. I own the vehicle and here is the video from that day.....skip to 6:26 if you want to see right before the motor goes
7. I am sure someone will tell me what I forgot to include

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[br_an]

Sorry to hear it
If you're willing, keep us posted on the progress. Best of luck with the new motor.

 

[JR369]

Sorry to hear. I'm interested in the manufacture date on the door sticker when you get a chance. Thanks

 

[honeybadger]

First off, nice driving!

Sucks to hear about the motor. Glad everything went relatively smooth when it popped given your speed.

Friendly PSA - if anything similar happens to you on track, please move off the racing surface as fast as possible. Not hitting on OP - I know there's a lot going on and in a crisis situation it's rare things go as planned. OP did a pretty good job.

When fluids are involved, faster is better. At COTA this weekend, a gent dropped coolant on a blind crest and proceeded to drive a half lap before pulling over. I was off the racing surface before I got control back...could've been very bad for me and the couple cars behind me. It also caused an hour long red flag for cleanup.

 

[jmn444]

agreed. and I assuming it's hard to know if you have a fluid issue and i'll probably not get off line as fast as i should if it happens to me, but going over someone else's spill was the scariest moment i've had to date on track.

 

[mikedahammer]

Sorry to hear. I'm interested in the manufacture date on the door sticker when you get a chance. Thanks

I bought the car in December 2017 and it was right off the assembly line and I bought it as it was on its way to the dealership.

 

[mikedahammer]

agreed. and I assuming it's hard to know if you have a fluid issue and i'll probably not get off line as fast as i should if it happens to me, but going over someone else's spill was the scariest moment i've had to date on track.

The good news is no track clean up was necessary as it dumped its guts in the grass. But you are correct I wasn't sure what was going on and couldn't even remember where the hazard lights were.

 

[JR369]

I bought the car in December 2017 and it was right off the assembly line and I bought it as it was on its way to the dealership.

Thanks.

 

[460Fred]

Sorry to here OP. And yes, nice driving.
Nice to see a positive attitude towards this…refreshing.

 

[FSU350]

OP - Looks like you were out at Summit Point and good job on avoiding anything more serious with it blowing on the fastest part of the track. Can’t imagine the mess it would have been for the cars behind you if it dumped fluid right before turn 1. I live out in Reston and was curious what dealership is doing the engine replacement for you? Hope it all works out and your car is up and running soon!

 

[mikedahammer]

OP - Looks like you were out at Summit Point and good job on avoiding anything more serious with it blowing on the fastest part of the track. Can’t imagine the mess it would have been for the cars behind you if it dumped fluid right before turn 1. I live out in Reston and was curious what dealership is doing the engine replacement for you? Hope it all works out and your car is up and running soon!

I looked around on here and it looked like NoVA people recommended Koons of Falls Church. When I called that location they said they were 8 weeks out and they told me to call their sister Koons of Sterling and that is where it is. They told me it would be about a week before someone could look at it. My local dealer I use is Shenandoah/Front Royal Ford (20 minutes from my house) and didn't think they would have the capacity for a huge job like this. In their defense, I also didn't call them. My closest dealer is only 3-5 minutes away but I have not had the best of experiences with their service department (Malloy) but also in their defense I haven't been back in years.

I also just assumed a big dealership like Koons would have more Shelby certified mechanics and like my post says I wasn't too worried about next day turn around but do expect high quality work even if the communication is poor. I asked the service department and supposedly Koons does have some really good mechanics that only do this type of work.

 

[FSU350]

I looked around on here and it looked like NoVA people recommended Koons of Falls Church. When I called that location they said they were 8 weeks out and they told me to call their sister Koons of Sterling and that is where it is. They told me it would be about a week before someone could look at it. My local dealer I use is Shenandoah/Front Royal Ford (20 minutes from my house) and didn't think they would have the capacity for a huge job like this. In their defense, I also didn't call them. My closest dealer is only 3-5 minutes away but I have not had the best of experiences with their service department (Malloy) but also in their defense I haven't been back in years.

I also just assumed a big dealership like Koons would have more Shelby certified mechanics and like my post says I wasn't too worried about next day turn around but do expect high quality work even if the communication is poor. I asked the service department and supposedly Koons does have some really good mechanics that only do this type of work.

Koons Sterling is actually the shop I use as I live about three miles away. I can confirm they have some good techs there and have had no issues with them over the years with my vehicles. Hope the get it fixed for you soon!

 

[meterman]

Sorry to see that happen. Just curious with all the changes to Fords warranty policy for MY 2020 and “racing” did the dealer or Ford give you any resistance on replacing the engine due to “racing”?

 

[DCShelby]

Koons in Falls Church replaced my motor due to oil consumption. They did a great job. You’d never knew it happened. No fluid messes, no missed connectors and no loose bolts.

 

[Cobra Jet]

Sorry to see that happen. Just curious with all the changes to Fords warranty policy for MY 2020 and “racing” did the dealer or Ford give you any resistance on replacing the engine due to “racing”?

The OP should not have any issues getting his engine replaced and/or completely covered under Ford Warranty.

Being that the OP states he has a 2018 GT350, I wouldn't think the "2020" Timing Tensioner TSB wouid even apply. HOWEVER, that's not to say it can't happen on prior model years or that the timing system failed for other reasons. Since we don't know the internal cause of the failure (yet), it's also possible this failure may not even be timing system related.

Tensioner side note:
As has been noted in both the GT350 and GT500 forum within those TSB specific threads, even if a VIN was not one in the supposed "list of affected VINs and manufacturing date period" EVERYONE with that model YEAR or assembly date noted in the doc should still be proactive by checking their timing tensioners as outlined in the TSB OR follow DIY's provided by M6G members. That would also be an action to take regardless of who's signature is found on the Engine Builder nameplate.


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Side note regarding "racing/timed events":

Ford's statements about "Racing" aren't new, even though the wording has been tweaked recently.

The "racing" clause has been in the Ford Warranty and Policy manual for years now...

Prior Mustang Owner's Manuals even outline the warrantable vs non-warrantable components with regards to mods/racing/tampering, even up to the recently revised 2020+ statement.

This is the position from the Ford W & P manual:

This is the referenced addendum to “racing category”:

As far as any major Powertrain component being repaired under Warranty after participating in a timed event:

There's been quite a few posts on here where M6G Members have participated in timed events (or abused their S550's on the street), experienced a failure and have had successful replacement of Powertrain parts under the Ford New Car 3/36 or the Powertrain 5/60 Warranty.

Failure of a Powertrain part has to be proven it was caused by A-B-C during the operation of the vehicle at X-Y-Z. If a major failure such as engine ventilation is deemed "manufacturer defect" after tear down AND/OR in some instances confirmed from an on site visit from a Ford FSE or additional review of data requested from Ford Engineering, it gets replaced via warranty authorization from Ford. Service Centers can't just replace big ticket items under warranty; there's a whole process they should be following.

The heated debate of a major Powertrain component being replaced under a vehicle Manufacturer's Warranty IF/WHEN the vehicle was used in a timed event (and the ethics of it) goes back eons - even before the internet existed... LOL. As to why some Service Centers are able to repair heavily modified or track participant vehicles under warranty and other Service Centers can't (or get denied by Ford), it's anyone's guess.

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