ARDrummond25
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- May 23, 2020
- Threads
- 10
- Messages
- 146
- Reaction score
- 64
- Location
- San Jose, CA
- First Name
- Andrew
- Vehicle(s)
- 2017 Shelby GT350, 2017 Audi Q7 Premium
- Thread starter
- #1
For any of you that attended the Northern California Shelby Club Turkey Bowl event at Laguna Seca the Friday after Thanksgiving you likely remember the GT350 dumping oil and white smoke down the main straight before lunch. That was me.
Thankfully I didn’t actually blow up my engine as folks (including me) originally suspected. Turns out the knuckleheads at my local shop (Campbell Ford Performance) didn’t properly install the oil filter and when I missed a shift in the morning session the oil pressure spike from the over rev blew the gasket on the oil filter apart and oil started spilling. Ford confirmed that while I should stop missing shifts, the gasket should not have blown under the conditions and was installed improperly.
Despite all that, I managed to put on a good show and meet a lot of very concerned fellow drivers. It was a very empathetic and supportive community at the track that day.
At the end of the whole drama, it turned out the car still had a couple quarts of oil in it which prevented the engine from seizing or being damaged. Ford did an oil analysis, compression test, leak down test, etc. They found no knocks or other problems with the motor. So all I really needed was an oil change. Sadly, I did spill 7-8 quarts of oil all over my driver side brakes so I needed to replace my pads and rotors. They did have several track days on them so not the worst thing but they definitely didn’t need to be replaced yet otherwise.
All things included (tow, track cleanup bill, repairs) the whole series of shenanigans wound up being just under $5,000 to set right. Much cheaper than a new voodoo plus I got fresh brakes out of it.
Question for anyone who has knowledge on this sort of thing, I do still have oil splashed all over the bottom of the car and I can smell it when the engine is warmed up. How urgent is it I get this grime off? Ford recommended a steam cleaning but I’m not clear if that’s something I NEED to do or perhaps just an optional suggestion. Thoughts?
Thankfully I didn’t actually blow up my engine as folks (including me) originally suspected. Turns out the knuckleheads at my local shop (Campbell Ford Performance) didn’t properly install the oil filter and when I missed a shift in the morning session the oil pressure spike from the over rev blew the gasket on the oil filter apart and oil started spilling. Ford confirmed that while I should stop missing shifts, the gasket should not have blown under the conditions and was installed improperly.
Despite all that, I managed to put on a good show and meet a lot of very concerned fellow drivers. It was a very empathetic and supportive community at the track that day.
At the end of the whole drama, it turned out the car still had a couple quarts of oil in it which prevented the engine from seizing or being damaged. Ford did an oil analysis, compression test, leak down test, etc. They found no knocks or other problems with the motor. So all I really needed was an oil change. Sadly, I did spill 7-8 quarts of oil all over my driver side brakes so I needed to replace my pads and rotors. They did have several track days on them so not the worst thing but they definitely didn’t need to be replaced yet otherwise.
All things included (tow, track cleanup bill, repairs) the whole series of shenanigans wound up being just under $5,000 to set right. Much cheaper than a new voodoo plus I got fresh brakes out of it.
Question for anyone who has knowledge on this sort of thing, I do still have oil splashed all over the bottom of the car and I can smell it when the engine is warmed up. How urgent is it I get this grime off? Ford recommended a steam cleaning but I’m not clear if that’s something I NEED to do or perhaps just an optional suggestion. Thoughts?
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