captdistraction
Corner Carver
(I think this counts as tech since its going to be full of tech discussion and pictures of an injured coyote)
I spent last weekend in Vegas for the Wuste Euro Car show (I represent a group called FRRG which is an Audi Driver's organization). Well, while up in the desert, the car's motor fails. From what we can tell, #7 is full of metal, and its probably valves. The intake valves are bent, and a P0025 code was sent showing a exhaust cam out of position. Oddly, it was super smooth letting go, just a noise progressively getting louder and the engine feeling like it was going in limp mode. On the 5 hour drive up from Phoenix, I thought it had felt a bit down on power, but I had written it off, unfortunately.
Fast forwarding, I obtain a Uhaul (since the nearest ford dealers were 55 miles away in vegas, and no one could see me until the following week) to take the car home, spend 6 hours in the desert loading up the car (what a nightmare it was getting the GT on a uhaul auto xporter), and even get run over in the process (a buddy clipped my foot and leg backing up a car that I was approaching). So additionally, I had some medical concerns to add to my bad luck.
The final bit of bad luck (if you put it that way) was that the repair isn't going to be covered by Ford. I don't want to go into a whole lot of detail on how or why; its a story in itself. Either way, I want to know what failed and how so I can either take responsibility, or advise Ford of the fault.
So now the car is at a friend's and I'm pulling the valve covers today to inspect the top half of the motor and see what condition the valvetrain is. A new service motor from Ford is roughly $5300 (which I'm unfortunately months away from having), or I can look into repairing this one. This thread will follow my progress as I do so.
Initially I wanted to just give up and let the bank have the car (not a terrible thought given the repair costs, what I owe, the damage that would be done, etc), but I'm really not the giving-up type. I'm still discussing with Ford regarding the warranty repairs and coverages, however depending on how much time/money I have to invest in that front I may move forward on the repairs on my own. I will at least be doing the mechanical removal of the engine and install of whatever replaces it (using the factory service manuals, which are still sorta in their infancy unfortunately), and then utilizing a dealer to complete the calibrations and scan tool procedures when installing a new motor.
I should have some pictures shortly of at least my findings. The only thing Ford's done so far besides a warranty cancellation is borescope the one cylinder to find scoring and bent valves.
At this point I'm looking at suppliers, engine builders, and doing my own cost/cap on repair vs replace. If I can get away for the same money on a shortblock with some chosen upgrades, or rebuild this one, then I will. Whatever goes in will be improved and the weakness that caused the failure will be corrected.
Sadly, I don't think I was abusing the car in any manner, but definitely in a higher risk area given the temps out here and lack of fantastic fuel options.
I'll have some pics later this afternoon. Now if anyone has any ideas on how to save money, make money, or get the car running sooner ..... feel free to contribute
. I'd be more upset about this, but its just a challenge to overcome.
I spent last weekend in Vegas for the Wuste Euro Car show (I represent a group called FRRG which is an Audi Driver's organization). Well, while up in the desert, the car's motor fails. From what we can tell, #7 is full of metal, and its probably valves. The intake valves are bent, and a P0025 code was sent showing a exhaust cam out of position. Oddly, it was super smooth letting go, just a noise progressively getting louder and the engine feeling like it was going in limp mode. On the 5 hour drive up from Phoenix, I thought it had felt a bit down on power, but I had written it off, unfortunately.
Fast forwarding, I obtain a Uhaul (since the nearest ford dealers were 55 miles away in vegas, and no one could see me until the following week) to take the car home, spend 6 hours in the desert loading up the car (what a nightmare it was getting the GT on a uhaul auto xporter), and even get run over in the process (a buddy clipped my foot and leg backing up a car that I was approaching). So additionally, I had some medical concerns to add to my bad luck.
The final bit of bad luck (if you put it that way) was that the repair isn't going to be covered by Ford. I don't want to go into a whole lot of detail on how or why; its a story in itself. Either way, I want to know what failed and how so I can either take responsibility, or advise Ford of the fault.
So now the car is at a friend's and I'm pulling the valve covers today to inspect the top half of the motor and see what condition the valvetrain is. A new service motor from Ford is roughly $5300 (which I'm unfortunately months away from having), or I can look into repairing this one. This thread will follow my progress as I do so.
Initially I wanted to just give up and let the bank have the car (not a terrible thought given the repair costs, what I owe, the damage that would be done, etc), but I'm really not the giving-up type. I'm still discussing with Ford regarding the warranty repairs and coverages, however depending on how much time/money I have to invest in that front I may move forward on the repairs on my own. I will at least be doing the mechanical removal of the engine and install of whatever replaces it (using the factory service manuals, which are still sorta in their infancy unfortunately), and then utilizing a dealer to complete the calibrations and scan tool procedures when installing a new motor.
I should have some pictures shortly of at least my findings. The only thing Ford's done so far besides a warranty cancellation is borescope the one cylinder to find scoring and bent valves.
At this point I'm looking at suppliers, engine builders, and doing my own cost/cap on repair vs replace. If I can get away for the same money on a shortblock with some chosen upgrades, or rebuild this one, then I will. Whatever goes in will be improved and the weakness that caused the failure will be corrected.
Sadly, I don't think I was abusing the car in any manner, but definitely in a higher risk area given the temps out here and lack of fantastic fuel options.
I'll have some pics later this afternoon. Now if anyone has any ideas on how to save money, make money, or get the car running sooner ..... feel free to contribute
