Replaced Voodoo Engine

unknown internal failure, oil consumption, blown block, damaged valve train etc.


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torque124

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As Showgun32 said Ford will never release any information on these failures. They are very tight lipped and do not allow the dealerships to dig into these engines. I have an 8 year powertrain warranty and sleep like a baby at night. Buy one and get a warranty and enjoy the ride. The failure rate is hard to track down and the cause is even harder to nail down.
What @orangegrower said.. I am on my powertrain warranty and I can extend it next year for another 24k miles and 3 years (which I will do) . Many if not all other performance car companies had engine failures which caused the whole engine to grenade... I even owned a few of them : BMW S85 engine (M5 with the V10, which was eating rod bearing for breakfast), E46 M3 (rod bearings again), Audi A4 turbo (fuel pump eating the camshaft due to follower wear, causing engine failure as debris will get into oil passages for sure above 100k miles), Porsche 911 Carrera with IMS shaft failure causing many engines to blow... Mercedes AMG C63 with cylinder walls too thin cracking...

It is the name of the game :)
 

03reptile

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I also think the GT350 engine is pretty substantial and reliable. I don't have the production figures for each full model year since 2016, but it's probably similar to the GT500's. In round figures I'd think around 4K cars a year, so that's approximately 16K cars out on the street. Given the oil usage and other failures reported on the forums, it's a small number. Granted there is an issue and we all know Ford will say nothing. And it's true that almost all manufacturers of performance engines have had issues. I'm just glad Ford has replaced the majority of engines that have failed, so we've got that going for us. I remember reading about the flat plane engine Ford was developing and how all other (mostly European) FP engines had far fewer liters than the GT350 engine, and that they had problems with larger displacement engines, so they stayed small; IE., Ferrari. I think all in all, the 5.2 FP engine is pretty damned amazing! Mine has been perfect..so far! LOL!
 

Ron Swanson

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What @orangegrower said.. I am on my powertrain warranty and I can extend it next year for another 24k miles and 3 years (which I will do) . Many if not all other performance car companies had engine failures which caused the whole engine to grenade... I even owned a few of them : BMW S85 engine (M5 with the V10, which was eating rod bearing for breakfast), E46 M3 (rod bearings again), Audi A4 turbo (fuel pump eating the camshaft due to follower wear, causing engine failure as debris will get into oil passages for sure above 100k miles), Porsche 911 Carrera with IMS shaft failure causing many engines to blow... Mercedes AMG C63 with cylinder walls too thin cracking...

It is the name of the game :)
I have owned many of those engines you note as well, haha. (Minus the A4 and the M96 and whatever the other Porsche engines were called that had the IMS issue) And thats actually my point... the manufacturers and/or the aftermarket came to the rescue and these issues were WELL documented. Sure, you were buying a vehicle with these issues, but you *knew* the issue you were getting into.

For conversation sake:
- The M156 block in the C63 is stout as hell, the issues with that engine are all in its head. First it was head bolts (MB fixed this issue) and after a while the solid lifters will beat up the cams and you will get cam wear on the intake came bc of lack of less lubrication. But this is an issue that will creep up after 80, 100, 120k... not on a new engine.
- Although the S54, S65 and S85 all ate bearings (they also have well known VANOS issues), a.) these issues happen over time, and BMW released an updated bearing for those vehicles that fixed the issues. Would I replace bearings every 30kish if I tracked, and 60-80k for a street car... yeah I would. But again, the manufacturer admitted the issue and it was well documented on forums even before this.


Everybody will have theories on the failures. I have a few myself as I have built my fairshare of race engines. But without inside information from Ford Performance it's all speculation.
If you dont want to say, I understand, but I am curious to hear what the speculation is. I sort of get why Ford is tight lipped, although it disappoints me, but I am blown away theres not a performance shop that has torn a couple of these apart and has a pretty good idea whats going on.


However - I do get your point - an extended warranty is the way to go. I'm not a "warranty" guy. I wrench on cars for fun, its a hobby for me.. but I'll have to get over that and look into extended warranty options for this if I decide to take a plunge. Is everyone going through Ford directly to ensure the engine is covered with no BS?
 

torque124

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[QUOTE="Ron Swanson, post: 2858884, member: 33681" Is everyone going through Ford directly to ensure the engine is covered with no BS?[/QUOTE]

Funny you should ask, but I just called around today, and Ford are the only one able to extend my powertrain warranty when it expires next year (after a quick inspection on the car).
If you are still under the bumper to bumper (3 years, 36k miles) warranty and want to extend it before it expires (within 41 months of starting) you can get it from anyone backed up by Ford, does not have to be Ford ...

Good luck
 

Droopy1592

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My dealer found main bearing bad in cyl 4 causing the piston to do some bad things to the cylinder liner. Not sure why the bearing went bad though.
 

DCShelby

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I think you mean rod bearing, main bearings are for the crank.
 

AdamIsAdam

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We will know the problem area(s) as the cars go out of warranty and owners have to hire someone to fix them. Hopefully, it will be something that is fixable by the after market, like the great IMS bearing issue (which lost a class action suit). Those failures were as high as 9% in later 996's.

And of course there's the issue of how many failures there really are for the Voodoo vs any other car. I mean, there's a good chance that close to 100% of GT350 owners are at some point on some forum, Facebook thread, group, etc even if just occasionally. But take someone like my brother-in-law who lost the engine in his brand new Jag SUV mysteriously, I promise you, he's not investigating the reason on a forum. In fact, this sums up his knowledge and interest level in the engine when I asked him what was wrong with it exactly: "It's shot." And I said, "yes, but what specifically was wrong?" To which he replied: "It's TOTALLY shot."

Those people do not have their voices heard and their engine failures logged on line.
 

Montoya

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Mine was a dropped valve at 900ish miles. Looking like a bad valve retainer, or assembly.
 

AdamIsAdam

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Mine was a dropped valve at 900ish miles. Looking like a bad valve retainer, or assembly.
900? not 9,000? If so, I'd assume that's a fluke. Bad part, bad assembly, etc. Experts, do you agree or disagree?

I'm more curious about cars that are fine for 5k, 10, 15k and burn ZERO oil, then one day they burn a qt in a short time with no other changes. (if we believe the owners that nothing else changed, like racing or excessive redlines on cold starts, etc)
 

Montoya

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900? not 9,000? If so, I'd assume that's a fluke. Bad part, bad assembly, etc. Experts, do you agree or disagree?

I'm more curious about cars that are fine for 5k, 10, 15k and burn ZERO oil, then one day they burn a qt in a short time with no other changes. (if we believe the owners that nothing else changed, like racing or excessive redlines on cold starts, etc)
Yes, 900 miles. Well documented here in my engine replacement thread. I’m not the only one with early delivery mile failures- at least three others. We all seemed to have a valve dropped, in one the retaining clip was found in the oil pan.
 

AdamIsAdam

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I wonder, is that the sort of thing that is ether bad or not bad? And if bad, it shows iteself very early? And if good, it never shows? Or could it develop over time? I heard there's a valve issue with the Z06, I think C6, and if you run it hard, the problem surfaces. So you can essentially do a valve job preventatively and it's fixed. $2,500. Done. That's the sort of thing that will eventually, hopefully, be good to know. Same as IMS bearing in 911/996. replace it with aftermarket every 6/60 and you're fine.
 

morepowr

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Update: Picked up GT350 with 3rd engine replacement after dealer had it 2.5 months (unacceptable - blamed COVID, but got a nice loaner). New engine had a little rough idle when picked up but settled down after some driving. Dealer damaged vinyl stripe, misaligned the hood severely and cracked the front facia just above the splitter..I let them know. Took another month 2 get parts and took in for a scheduled appointment which took 2 weeks(Got loaner). Hood still not correct, they replaced the air splitter instead of facia, front nose popping out from fender now and they had a vinyl guy try to match the stripe (I was livid, and went off and had them order a OEM decal). Facia has been ordered..still waiting weeks later. All this coupled with 2 AC hoses blowing off and several issues with parking brake I lost confidence in this car and this dealers service dept. With 19,700 on odometer, 1,800 on new engine I went to another dealer last night and and traded for a loaded Explorer. I loved this car when it ran, but this is too much. I'll get something else down the road. Hope you all have better luck than I have.

On a side note after I got 3rd motor broke in I was on a road trip and ran into a guy at a gas station from Romeo engine plant that was a chief quality control guy and he asked how I liked the car...well I explained my issues and he verbally admitted that 15-17 had major issues with high oil consumption and 2nd motor that snapped a vale he said said yep, Ford had a bad batch of valves.
 
 
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