Hey all, Ive been a lurker for awhile and finally registered. Wish it was for a better reason but unfortunately I need a new engine and some advise. I had a lease on a 2014 with the 3.5, Started getting cam phaser rattle towards the end of ownership and ended up returning the lease and letting the dealer fix it. I purchased a 2018 3.5 private party with 60k miles on it. Truck ran as well as it should and I changed the oil whenever the notification popped up. I enrolled in a mechanical breakdown insurance program just in case i had any issues with the truck since it was past the factory power train warranty and my issues with the previous 2014. Fast forward three years and racking up a total of 92k miles, driving down the freeway, engine gives out. I had the truck towed to my local ford dealer where they broke down the engine and told me I need a replacement engine and possibly turbos but they wont know until they get the engine installed. The adjuster for the breakdown insurance inspected it and turns out the failure was caused due to the oil pickup being 90% clogged with sludge and the oilpan and heads showed significant amounts of varnish. Well, fine print of the breakdown insurance says they don't cover anything due to this:
"Repairs caused by loss of lubricants or fluids or contamination of oil, fluids or fuel
and repairs caused by continued operation of the Vehicle after loss of lubricant or
fluids or contamination of oil, fluids or fuel"
The Ford dealer is saying that it will cost me 17k to get the engine and turbos replaced. That seems kind of high to me but i don't really know. My wife and I are trying to purchase our first house and I cant really take out a loan for 17k to get the truck fixed and jeopardize getting our mortgage funded. I have some cash saved up for a rainy day but paying 17k out of pocket will clear that all out.

I guess im looking for any advice on whether i should pay the 17k to get the truck fixed, take it to a different shop hopefully for less or just try and sell the truck as it sits and take the loss on equity as its paid off. Is the sludge and varnish likely from the previous owner or can it build up even with scheduled maintenance? My oil changes were between 5-7k miles. Thanks for reading this and any advice you can give me.

 

First, I'd be curious to see this excessive sludge and varnish along with service records. As far the engine replacement goes it's definitely worth your time to source a used engine and third party installer. Engines these days are indeed very expensive and labor intensive to replace.

 

I can post the service records since i've owned it here but i really don't understand what that will accomplish. I have no idea how to get service records prior to my ownership of the truck. Ill ask the service manager to send me some pictures of the sludge/ varnish on Monday when they are open as well as a breakdown of what they want to charge me for parts and labor. I've done some research on cost for the necessary parts on tasca and i come up with roughly 8k shipped minus core deposits for the long block and turbos. Is labor really going to be 9k? How to i find a 3rd party installer whos qualified to do the job? Google "engine replacement near me"? I feel im fairly competent when it comes to automotive repairs (rebuilt multiple motorcycle engines 50- 1000cc top and bottom ends, did some upgrades to my grandpas 67 Mercury Cougar 289 : Intake manifold, heads, carburetor, exhaust etc) But these newer engines with all the electronics and hoses and sensors kinda worry me.

 

I misread your post and thought that they were denying your engine warranty due to lack of maintenance. If that isn't the case then service records wouldn't mean much. With your license plate number and state or VIN number I can provide you service records since your truck was new. Note that these records ONLY indicate services performed at registered service centers, those performed elsewhere will not show up. (Sort of like if you crumbled your fender but repaired it yourself and didn't turn it into the insurance then Carfax isn't going to show it.)

The labor time to replace your engine with a long block is about 23 hours, less for a complete engine assembly (ie used) as this would require less parts to transfer. Most if not all repair facilities are going to lift the cab off of the truck for this repair. 23 x $120 or so per hour is going to put you in the $3000 range for labor. A low(ish) mileage used engine is going to fetch around $5000. I've been in the industry a long, long time. There are PLENTY of great technicians that are not working at dealerships just as there are plenty of less experiences technicians with FORD on their uniform shirt.

Sorry this happened to you. NO ONE should ever have to deal with engine replacement on such a young truck!!!

 

Wow, really bummed to hear about your engine failure. And what exactly gave out?

I am quite surprised you would have that kind of sludge buildup with a 5-7k oil change interval. Would be great to see photos of what they are claiming before giving up on your insurance.
The paragraph they are citing seems to sound like if you are low on oil, such as it burning oil without adding or if the oil pan is sheared off, etc. I didn't read it as a failure of the lubrication system. Might just be worth trying a bit more with them. Maybe they would cover a portion of the work?

I think indepdendent shops would be far less than the dealer to drop in a used motor or short block rebuild. Maybe google searching for ford shop in your area? $17k sounds like the "we dont really want to do it" quote. I would expect up to 10k max but thats only a guestimate.

 

This would tell me that you waited 10,000 or so miles between oil changes?

Did you always use synthetic oil?

 

I've always maintained 2018 is a suspect year for the F150.

 

Poor assumption. My oil monitor doesn't wait until 10,000 miles to pop up.

 

when does yours pop up?

do a lot of stop and go driving?

 

mine varied between 5-7k miles on all 3 of the truck i owned, never made it past 7k.