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Oil cooler failure - first hand experiences?

GT_86

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Hi guys. New on the forum, from South Africa. Last night (Saturday), my 2017 GT PP (reg 2018) overheated. I pulled over and noticed huge puddles of milkshake coming out my car. I noticed the cylinder head temp running a few degrees higher than usual, eventually I saw it climb within seconds to over 128 degrees celsius. Then the coolant temp started climbing and I pulled over. No warning lights etc. leading up to the massive failure. The car was recently serviced, about 1000kms ago or less. My car has about 23000-25000kms on the clock and I vaguely remember the build date around mid-2017. Will try to get the info when I visit her at the dealership when she gets dropped off on Monday. Found these threads after googling a bit when I eventually got back home after my car was towed away. Glad to know it's a known issue at least.
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GT 550

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Sorry to hear it, all too well known unfortunately. Yours should still be under warranty, yes?
 

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Sorry to hear it, all too well known unfortunately. Yours should still be under warranty, yes?
Thanks. Should find out soon. I'm hoping the intake and exhaust mods don't cause any problems but SA dealers are ruthless when it comes to voiding warranties even based on unrelated mods... suspension, car audio etc. Given it seems the TSB originated in SA, I hopefully won't experience too much resistance if the dealer is aware.
 

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Damn, I thought we were all done will oil cooler failures. Got me worried now. I got a Aug '16 build with nearly 18,000km, only have aftermarket warranty on it too. Any recent Australian failures? I ended up registering and looking through threads on the UK section and here, latest one seems to be around about a year ago now. I had a look at the streetfighter/harrop kits online. Thinking of getting one but with covid and substantial income loss due to the global recession I have to have a long think about it :/
 

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I followed the strategy (on some Australian forums) of replacing the Oil Cooler Assembly (from -'B' to ‘-D’), which apparently was the only crucial difference in the area from the 2016/17 models to 2018 onwards. All good so far, after 28k miles (and my car was an April 2016 build - right in the centre of the batch that was hit frequently by these failures)
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Damn, I thought we were all done will oil cooler failures. Got me worried now. I got a Aug '16 build with nearly 18,000km, only have aftermarket warranty on it too. Any recent Australian failures? I ended up registering and looking through threads on the UK section and here, latest one seems to be around about a year ago now. I had a look at the streetfighter/harrop kits online. Thinking of getting one but with covid and substantial income loss due to the global recession I have to have a long think about it :/
Hope all goes well for GT_86 this is a well known problem that doesn't seem to happen too often to cars that aren't tracked!
Here in Australia this should be covered under our consumer laws irrespective of warranty! Not to mention good will by Ford as it's well documented if not common like the aircon issues
 

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£217 inc vat for that part from a U.K. ford dealer! Thought this may be a cheap preventive measure since they are about 60usd.
 

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GT_86

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Damn, I thought we were all done will oil cooler failures. Got me worried now. I got a Aug '16 build with nearly 18,000km, only have aftermarket warranty on it too. Any recent Australian failures? I ended up registering and looking through threads on the UK section and here, latest one seems to be around about a year ago now. I had a look at the streetfighter/harrop kits online. Thinking of getting one but with covid and substantial income loss due to the global recession I have to have a long think about it :/
The dealer I took the car to said I'm the 3rd GT they received at that dealer alone. Granted, I'm in an area more likely to have Mustangs. It's quite expensive here but SA cars come standard with warranties, service plans and a lot of a spec standard but we plagued by high customs duty.

The dealer isn't replacing the engine but are replacing the oil cooler, radiator and piping. They claim the engine is fine, the temperature before failure didn't cause any issues and neither did the low oil levels. Apparently, they didn't see oil contamination either from a quick dipstick check.

I will be forced to buy an extended warranty for R25 k, about 1500 to 2000 USD for my piece of mind.
 

GT_86

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Hope all goes well for GT_86 this is a well known problem that doesn't seem to happen too often to cars that aren't tracked!
Here in Australia this should be covered under our consumer laws irrespective of warranty! Not to mention good will by Ford as it's well documented if not common like the aircon issues
My car isn't tracked but I'm a sometimes aggressive driver, can't help it with the exhaust sound. I'm more often aggressive now since it's more a weekend car. Half my mileage is start stop driving. The other half was reasonable cross country driving. The temperatures climb very noticeably while waiting at traffic lights with this car. To give you an idea, when it was my daily, I was using 20 to 26 l per 100km so it's not often working in its efficient range. My long term consumption is about 18 l per 100km.
 

GT_86

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The dealer I took the car to said I'm the 3rd GT they received at that dealer alone. Granted, I'm in an area more likely to have Mustangs. It's quite expensive here but SA cars come standard with warranties, service plans and a lot of a spec standard but we plagued by high customs duty.

The dealer isn't replacing the engine but are replacing the oil cooler, radiator and piping. They claim the engine is fine, the temperature before failure didn't cause any issues and neither did the low oil levels. Apparently, they didn't see oil contamination either from a quick dipstick check.

I will be forced to buy an extended warranty for R25 k, about 1500 to 2000 USD for my piece of mind.
Should quickly mention, we only sell about 50 to 60 Mustangs a month here versus 10 times that in Aus. So 3 at a dealer is a lot given we also sell a fair amount of Ecoboosts.
 
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The dealer isn't replacing the engine but are replacing the oil cooler, radiator and piping. They claim the engine is fine, the temperature before failure didn't cause any issues and neither did the low oil levels. Apparently, they didn't see oil contamination either from a quick dipstick check.
@GT_86 it's up to you but I'd be asking to see the tech services bulletin that talks about only replacing ancillaries, IIRC just about every other LHD country is replacing the engine and rightly so. If the TSB does say to only replace ancillaries I'd recommend asking for a sump oil analysis - preferably be there when they drain it - in case you have issues down the way.

A dipstick check IMHO is a bit of dealer nonsense and unlikely to show anything in this circumstance, and their other observations are just guessing. If anything they need to get the above mentioned oil analysis done and if water is detected provide an empirical argument for not replacing the engine, possibly referring it to Ford SA for review. Replacing ancillaries because they're compromised suggests there simply must be water in the block, there's no magic gate that stops it from entering the bearings. Put that to them and see what they say.

It sounds like you're using the car as its maker intended. If they don't budge off their current course of action, and you don't want to make them, ask what will happen if the car is out of warranty and starts making bearing noises. A bit of consumer law pain now may prevent more painful litigation in the future.

Just my 2c, hope it goes well.
 
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Maoilearca

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Christ.
£217 inc vat for that part from a U.K. ford dealer! Thought this may be a cheap preventive measure since they are about 60usd.
Yes, not cheap, and there was also cost of fitting professionally!
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