New owner - engine failure

[Nick@VaBeach]

i have a 2020 model that exhibited the same behavior i bolded above. I also experienced cruise control issues in 5th/6th gear. the dealership replaced the alternator and battery first, but this didn't fix my issues. The real culprit in my case was the Tone Ring; there was a TSB for 2019 models, but it was expanded to include 2020 models. Once the Tone Ring was replaced, no more surging, cruise control issues and stuttering. i'm not suggesting this is your issue; just adding my observations incase your dealership's current troubleshooting doesn't resolve the problem.

Thanks for the heads up, I'll mention the Tone Ring if I speak with the dealership today. Like I said, they're following the diagnostic procedure required by Ford prior to an engine replacement so we will see what happens next. Seems unlikely to me that a tech didn't do a compression test correctly but stranger things have happened.

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[Dig-It]

Which dealership are you working with? I'm on the other side of town from you.

 

[Nick@VaBeach]

Which dealership are you working with? I'm on the other side of town from you.

Beach Ford is doing the repair work. I bought the car from Keller Bros. Ford in PA.

 

[cortez]

Thanks for the heads up, I'll mention the Tone Ring if I speak with the dealership today. Like I said, they're following the diagnostic procedure required by Ford prior to an engine replacement so we will see what happens next. Seems unlikely to me that a tech didn't do a compression test correctly but stranger things have happened.

Yes, stranger things happened to me; the dealership ignored my request/info to check the Tone Ring for 2 weeks before getting Ford CSE's involved. After 2 more weeks of troubleshooting didn't resolve my issues, Ford CSE's checked the Tone Ring and confirmed it was toast. 6 hours later (3 of which was to replace the ring), i had my car back in working order.

 

[DCShelby]

I had the same thing with the rear cylinder block plate noise. I told the guy what it was, he ignored me and told me to live with it. Rather than cause a scene I got home, called Ford and opened a case. I told them exactly what was wrong and how to fix it, and if they didn’t they would buy it back. That’s after I had a new engine put in and a new AC compressor. At this point Ford lost money on this car. Sooooo I went back and dropped it off two days later and they installed the rubberized one, and the noise went away of course. The fat ass service manager stayed in his office at all times, would not even man up and admit he was wrong.
Bottom line: dealers and service managers hate when customers diagnose and tell them what to fix.

 

[Nick@VaBeach]

I had the same thing with the rear cylinder block plate noise. I told the guy what it was, he ignored me and told me to live with it. Rather than cause a scene I got home, called Ford and opened a case. I told them exactly what was wrong and how to fix it, and if they didn’t they would buy it back. That’s after I had a new engine put in and a new AC compressor. At this point Ford lost money on this car. Sooooo I went back and dropped it off two days later and they installed the rubberized one, and the noise went away of course. The fat ass service manager stayed in his office at all times, would not even man up and admit he was wrong.
Bottom line: dealers and service managers hate when customers diagnose and tell them what to fix.

Yeah I'm not trying to tell the dealership what to do so much as make sure that whatever is wrong is fixed correctly. You better believe I'll be checking the compression in cyl. 5 when I pick the car up

 

[K4fxd]

rear cylinder block plate noise

What is this? never heard of it.

 

[DCShelby]

A compression test is totally independent of the cars electrical system. In a compression test the hose of the tool is screwed into the spark plug hole, the engine is cranked and the dial will tell you what the value is. A low battery has nothing to do with this. You can check the compression when it’s warm or cold, the values will vary some. If 7 of the cylinders look good, and one is bad…a new battery or whatever…will not do a damm thing.

 

[JAJ]

A compression test is totally independent of the cars electrical system. In a compression test the hose of the tool is screwed into the spark plug hole, the engine is cranked and the dial will tell you what the value is. A low battery has nothing to do with this. You can check the compression when it’s warm or cold, the values will vary some. If 7 of the cylinders look good, and one is bad…a new battery or whatever…will not do a damm thing.

Everything you're saying is true. However, it's possible that something happened that delivered an unreliable test result - they're not infallible. A second test would confirm.

 

[stanglife]

A compression test is totally independent of the cars electrical system. In a compression test the hose of the tool is screwed into the spark plug hole, the engine is cranked and the dial will tell you what the value is. A low battery has nothing to do with this. You can check the compression when it’s warm or cold, the values will vary some. If 7 of the cylinders look good, and one is bad…a new battery or whatever…will not do a damm thing.

This is true - but there are diagnostics that can be done that can report low power on a cylinder which might make someone exclaim that the compression is low. I agree, mechanically, low compression is low compression - but this could still be something else.

OP - Except for the tensioner issue, the 19s-20s seemed to have very few issues/failures. Hopefully this means yours will be able to be resolved quickly. I'd triple check on the tensioner TSB though - just to make sure it's where it's supposed to be and hasn't caused the chain to skip or anything.

Good luck!

 

[loco_GT350]

I can’t comment on the cylinder pressure issue but I had the same symptoms you describe (except the cylinder pressure stuff) on my 17 a couple of years ago and it turned out to be the flange nut on the transmission. There is a TSB for it. Once they changed the flange nut out the issue was gone.

 

[Gray Area GT350]

I had very similar issues like the OP with the wrench light, car would go into safe mode and I would have to pull over and restart the car. It did this very frequently and nearly caused me to be run over in highway traffic as I was looking for a place to pull over because the car would not accelerate. As it turns out it was the same issue as loco GT350. I torqued the flange nut to the proper spec and have not had the issue since.

 

[Egparson202]

I can’t comment on the cylinder pressure issue but I had the same symptoms you describe (except the cylinder pressure stuff) on my 17 a couple of years ago and it turned out to be the flange nut on the transmission. There is a TSB for it. Once they changed the flange nut out the issue was gone.

I had very similar issues like the OP with the wrench light, car would go into safe mode and I would have to pull over and restart the car. It did this very frequently and nearly caused me to be run over in highway traffic as I was looking for a place to pull over because the car would not accelerate. As it turns out it was the same issue as loco GT350. I torqued the flange nut to the proper spec and have not had the issue since.

Do you guys think this was one of those “Voodoo-doing-voodoo” things where it somehow vibrated the flange nut loose? I only ask because I’m thinking of compiling a checklist of such things for scheduled inspection.

 

[ice445]

A compression test is totally independent of the cars electrical system. In a compression test the hose of the tool is screwed into the spark plug hole, the engine is cranked and the dial will tell you what the value is. A low battery has nothing to do with this. You can check the compression when it’s warm or cold, the values will vary some. If 7 of the cylinders look good, and one is bad…a new battery or whatever…will not do a damm thing.

I've had low results before from the adapter going in cross threaded without me realizing, lol. Given low compression related misfires would absolutely show up on a scan tool and throw a code, I'm pretty doubtful that is something to worry about in op's case. The dealer can also run a power balance test with their scan tools to see if any cylinders are actively down on power.

Far more likely this is electrical or that flange nut thing.

 

[Nick@VaBeach]

Thanks for another great bit of info. I’ll be happy if it doesn’t need an engine replacement. A list of little problems that dealerships mistake for engine failure would be pretty handy, could save someone the cost of a Golf in an unnecessary repair.

They’re putting the new alternator in today, then running more diagnostics. I’ll update the thread when I get more info. If by “low compression” the nice lady meant “low power” as measured on a scan tool then maybe it’s electrical. By low compression I was thinking of the old school tool that screws in to the spark plug hole and measures compression - which would not be electrical.

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