Blew Head Gasket 2.3 Ecoboost
- Thread starter Ecostang15
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the car has 31K on it. My problem is I'm not sure if it was a head gasket. but it mimicked the symptoms of the head gasket. the car started acting funny, it was dragging, and slowing down and then it stalled, then wouldn't start. I check under the car, nothing was dragging physically. but it made a weird dragging or grinding noise then was real sluggish then it died. there's power to the vehicle, it just won't crank, the coolant reservoir was empty, which was odd, the thing was always full prior to today's incident, the dipstick for the oil was flooded, it was way over the full mark, and the oil cap had milky white residue on the inside of it blown head gaskets don't usually stop a car from running do they? or is that a fail safe ?
Could be a fail safe. Could be locked up. The coolant went somewhere. I know you said the oil is overfull ,I’d almost bet if you drain the oil ,the first half will be coolant.
Check Engine light come on before it shut off?
Check Engine light come on before it shut off?
I can't remember. it happened so fast. I just remember the flashing wrench on the dash, and it acted like when I tried to to start, I heard a clicking noise like the battery was dead or acting up. Yeah, most likely the overfill is due to some coolant leak. I noticed white build up on the inside of the oil cap. I didn't have time to stop the car, it shut itself off before I knew what was happening .
i complained to Ford several times over the past 3-4 months about the engine making knocking/pinging noises. they claim it was just the fuel injectors. I'm thinking the engine had been running off for months. Can they retrieve data on how the vehicle operated, like say if the engine was running lean for the past 9000 miles, would the vehicle record and log that information? because if so, they could prove the vehicle was having issues prior to this incident, and obviously I have been complaining about engine issues for the past 3-4 months
Boostedpimp
Dirt-Old 20+Year Member
Generally yes they can view logs if you didn't reset it manually.. Certainly sounds like a head gasket went and washed your bearings. Good luck you're going to have a fight ahead of you.
how can you reset it manually ? would you have to have a certain scan tool? I personally didn't reset anything. What I'm trying to establish is that they either knew something was wrong and didn't address it, or they didn't address my previous concerns seriously and never actually did an in depth diagnosis while they placated me. I'll wait to see what they say., hopefully they don't give much trouble.
so Ford says the engine threw a rod, but they claim the spark plug broke and caused the engine to fail. not sure how a spark plug can cause a rod to break, unless the spark plug in whole went down into the cylinder wall and smashed everything up. To me it sounds like the rod broke, smashed the piston, the piston then pushed up on the head, causing the spark plug to break.
Well that sucks. I've never heard of a spark plug breaking and causing a rod to break, but I suppose it's possible if a large enough chunk fell in. Usually when it happens (and it doesn't happen often), it just smashes up the piston, cylinder head, and valves. Didn't you have another post where you said you broke a spark plug trying to get it out? What ever happened with that?
Yeah. But I gave up on it and had a mechanic do the plugs. They spent time blowing out and extracting the ceramic pieces out of the hole before removing the plug. Then they vacuumed out the hole as they pulled the plug. They carefully checked the hole with a mirror and flash light to to see if there were anymore pieces. Then they inspected the new plugs to make sure they would fit and then carefully installed each one. They were pretty thorough. Its possible that a piece of ceramic still was in there but I doubt it. I know if piece was large enough it can damage a lot. But the mechanic was pretty thorough and made sure they extracted anything they saw
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Boostedpimp
Dirt-Old 20+Year Member
So did the dealership know about the broken plug? were the stealership the ones who did the plug job for you?
Understood, was just curious how that played out.
And @Boostedpimp asked the question that I was getting at, curious if they knew about this or if they performed the work. Are they trying to deny warranty on the engine?
no they didn't do the work. Not yet. They're going to tear the engine down. they think the spark plug broke and the broken electrode shot down inside the engine and damaged it. The problem with that. When they claim the spark plug, there is no way the car could of made it to where I was going like I did. They claim I was driving 120 when the one cylinder lost spark. Highly doubtful. I don't remember driving that fast that day. If the spark plug broke while I was driving that fast, and caused engine damage, the car wouldn't have made it that far. If I had been doing 120, it would have been about 10 miles out of town. If it broke at the point I would have lost power, which I didn't. That engine would have blown fast.
Boostedpimp
Dirt-Old 20+Year Member
Why would they claim you were doing 120mph when the cylinder died? Like why even bring that up it doesn't matter the cylinder shouldn't have died period right. Sounds like to me that the stealership is going to do what they did to me and take the car apart, find what caused it and then deny your warranty and want to charge you the tear down fee, the repair fee and re installation fee.. If it were me, I wouldn't bring up the spark plug at all and let them find what they find adn fight that fight
Exactly, don't even mention it at this point. I like how they are speculating, but they can't make any determination at this point without tearing the engine down. I'd be cautious, as Boostedpimp said, cause it sounds like they are trying to make a case against you, for some reason. Def. let us know how you make out.
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