Major Ecoboost repair, long delays

[Groover]

My daughter parked her 2013 F150 Ecoboost with about 140,000 miles on it back in mid-May. When she started it back up it would barely run and was very rough. To make a long story short it was parked at the location of her medical school graduation and after graduation she had about 7 weeks to move from San Antonio to Dayton Ohio for the 5 year residency period. That included buying a house and moving her stuff and her horses. The truck was required to move the gooseneck horse trailer.

She took it to a local mechanic that seemed to have a good reputation but also he was the only one that would take the truck in quickly. The mechanic diagnosed the problem as a failed electric vacuum pump that had self destructed and some of the debris got sucked into the engine. The debris made a mess of the passenger side head. After working on it for about 2 weeks he told her that it was fixed and to take it away. It was far from fixed but did make to my house in Tennessee where I borrowed a truck with a gooseneck hitch to get her horses the rest of the way to Dayton.

The truck has been sitting at the local Ford dealer ever since waiting on a factory reconditioned long block. I was first told the long block would be there in August which was by far the best delivery promise that I could find plus it would come with a 3 year Ford warrantee. In August the delivery promise got changed to October 27th and I was advised that I was the 104th customer in line. Well, I still don't have long block but I have moved up to the 84th customer in line. At that rate I expect to get the truck back around Christmas, 2023. The place that rebuilds engines for Ford says that they can't get parts and are only filling high priority orders. The dealer told me that mine is a high priority but even that obviously isn't helping.

I have heard that there are various impediments to making new vehicles but those seem to center around electronic items, not engines.

I am trying to figure out if I have any viable options. I found some taken out of wrecks on the internet but looked up reviews for those places and they were awful. I got the impression that less than one in four of the engines they shipped actually worked.

If anyone has any good ideas I would love to hear them. I do want to be able to have confidence in the truck after the repair since my daughter plans to drive it for the next 5 years. To me that is going to take a long block or better but I don't know where to find one with a reasonable delivery.

Oh yeah, the electric vacuum pump seems to be there in case you need to apply the brakes while the turbo charger has the intake manifold pressurized. So it connected to the manifold via the brake vacuum booster and debris can be sucked through. Apparently, failures of the electric pumps are not uncommon. The amount of damage that my daughter's truck suffered is. That is what the mechanic told us but based on some other issues that have come up I don't put a lot of stock in what that guy told us but the bottom line is that I still need a good engine.

[Huntindog]

I think this truck will always be a problem child.
It appears you had mechanic working on it with no clue. Lord knows what all is now screwed up. A long block won't fix all of that other stuff. Once that is in, I doubt that will be the end of it and you will likely shell out more money on it as all those gremlins are tracked down and fixed. I generally do my own wrenching, and I would not want this project.

[Groover]

We found a long block on the shelf at Fraser. It is on the pricey side but it seems to be the best route to getting the truck fixed and it comes with a 5 year unconditional warrantee.

I wish that I could answer some of the questions that about damage that people are asking but all I can tell you for certain is that the mechanic told us that it was good to go but obviously wasn't. I do know that at some point a piston hit some valves, a camshaft was broken, the head was machined flat, the passenger side camshaft position sensor is not working even though it has been replaced at least once, probably more, the engine is blowing oil out the tailpipe and the vacuum line to the turbo controller is hanging out in space. In addition the electric vacuum pump has been replaced and the running boards were crushed. What little the mechanic did share did not make a lot sense to me. I was glad just the get the truck back and get it home.

One thing that I have not mentioned is that the truck had started throwing error codes indicating timing chain stretch about a month earlier and my daughter wanted that fixed before towing her horses 1,300 miles in the upcoming move. This mechanic seemed to have good reviews, was close and available so she took the truck to him for that job. The truck ran well for about four to five thousand miles before things suddenly went bad. Was it something in the timing chain job and the electric vacuum pump failure was just a cover story? I have no way of knowing. What all was torn up and was all the debris removed? I don't know that either.

As I have stated earlier, I want the truck to be trouble free for the next 5 years and the long block seems to be the best way to get that assurance.

I am very disappointed with the communication from Ford and sincerely hope that someone from Ford reads this and decides to do something about it. Letting the truck sit on their lot for months without telling me or the dealer that no parts were coming is disgraceful.

[jaycocamprs]

Groover wrote:
I just talked with the dealer parts department and he said that Ford is not even trying provide parts for vehicles not under warrantee. However, he thinks that he has one from a big rebuilder (not Jasper) lined up and is trying to finalize the details.

The dealer is very put out with Ford in that they were billed for my engine in August and paid the bill. Over two months have gone by since they paid the bill and they just now found out that no motor is coming, no refund has been offered and Ford was happy letting all of that slide.

He also told me that he is having trouble getting parts for Chrysler products as well. He carries Chrysler products too.

Took us about 6 months to get a long block from GM this spring. Wife likes the car, and replacing the engine was way cheaper that a new car.

[FishOnOne]

Pbutler97 wrote:

FishOnOne wrote:
Look...another nut! :B

This one's got 400k miles.

Link

Enjoy...

LOL for a $4k oil leak. More like $4k to replace your GM stuck lifters.

You know they say if you watch youtube enough your testicle will fall off lol.

Speaking from experience? :E

[Pbutler97]

FishOnOne wrote:
Look...another nut! :B

This one's got 400k miles.

Link

Enjoy...

LOL for a $4k oil leak. More like $4k to replace your GM stuck lifters.

You know they say if you watch youtube enough your testicle will fall off lol.

[FishOnOne]

Look...another nut! :B

This one's got 400k miles.

Link

Enjoy...

LOL for a $4k oil leak. More like $4k to replace your GM stuck lifters.

[Pbutler97]

FishOnOne wrote:

Pbutler97 wrote:
When those ecopukes puke, all you're doing with a 10 yr old truck is throwing good money after bad. They're great engines for about the first 100K miles. After that it's a crapshoot.

crapshoot

Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a awhile.

Having a little experience with them (@23 at present) in a business setting, sitting in one as I type this that leaks oil like a sieve that would cost @ 4K to repair, I see the maintenance and repair costs on them skyrocket when they pass 100K miles. But by all means go with YouTubers as gospel if you wish.

[FishOnOne]

Pbutler97 wrote:
When those ecopukes puke, all you're doing with a 10 yr old truck is throwing good money after bad. They're great engines for about the first 100K miles. After that it's a crapshoot.

crapshoot

[Pbutler97]

Groover wrote:
I just talked with the dealer parts department and he said that Ford is not even trying provide parts for vehicles not under warrantee. However, he thinks that he has one from a big rebuilder (not Jasper) lined up and is trying to finalize the details.

The dealer is very put out with Ford in that they were billed for my engine in August and paid the bill. Over two months have gone by since they paid the bill and they just now found out that no motor is coming, no refund has been offered and Ford was happy letting all of that slide.

He also told me that he is having trouble getting parts for Chrysler products as well. He carries Chrysler products too.

I wonder if the dealer is put out enough with Ford to drop his franchise agreement with them?

FWIW I highly doubt the dealer paid up front for something they never recieved. Some parts department guy telling you that is most likely BS. As soon as you walked out the door the parts guy forgot all about you when he said "next".

[valhalla360]

Grit dog wrote:

Groover wrote:
but I am pretty sure that automakers are required by law to have spare parts available for vehicles up to 10 years old and Ford may be in violation of that law. Since Ford told me that 83 people have been waiting longer than me this could be a ready made class action suit.

That says it all....
Running around with your hand out for anyone that will feed you, regardless of their responsibility to do so....
Ok, then, next topic...have a nice day!

Not too worried:

- Ford could simply point back to the govt which shut down the economy and claim Force Majeure.
- Would an entire engine qualify as "spare parts".
- Then there is always the option...Ford could offer him an engine tomorrow from one of those 30,000 trucks sitting waiting for chips. The new engine price is $70k and as a bonus comes packaged in nifty truck shaped box on wheels.

[Thermoguy]

After reading this, replacing the batteries in an EV F150 after 200-300K miles doesn't seem like that big of deal.

Best of luck to you in this situation.

[Groover]

I just talked with the dealer parts department and he said that Ford is not even trying provide parts for vehicles not under warrantee. However, he thinks that he has one from a big rebuilder (not Jasper) lined up and is trying to finalize the details.

The dealer is very put out with Ford in that they were billed for my engine in August and paid the bill. Over two months have gone by since they paid the bill and they just now found out that no motor is coming, no refund has been offered and Ford was happy letting all of that slide.

He also told me that he is having trouble getting parts for Chrysler products as well. He carries Chrysler products too.

[Groover]

shelbyfv wrote:
FWIW, let me offer congrats to you and your daughter on her graduating med school! She's put in years of hard work most folks wouldn't have the backbone for even if they were lucky enough to have the brainpower. Five more years and she will have the key to the treasure chest!:)

Exactly. She will be a general surgeon and her husband will be an orthopedic surgeon. At that point they will have a lot more money than I do and the truck will be their problem. But so far they have only received 2 or three paychecks and those are not very impressive. She had to have a vehicle for her 35 mile commute (her husband goes the opposite direction for his residency so they bought in the middle) so they bought a much more efficient vehicle. With fuel prices going up the pickup many not get many miles on it before they graduate. All the same, there are things that economy cars just can't do so they really need the truck at times.

But, they will be working 80+ hour weeks for those 5 years so I want whatever they have to be reliable instead of another problem.

[valhalla360]

Groover wrote:

valhalla360 wrote:

mkirsch wrote:
Add full coverage back on and two weeks later the truck turns up stolen? If you don't think they're going to do a full-court-press investigation on that, you are delusional.

After two seized lifters within 500 miles on my Chevy, when the fuel pickup line immediately started leaking the day I picked it up from the second, I was hoping for a wayward match, but I knew I'd end up in jail, so I got it fixed.

Yeah, always said criminals are dumb. 2 weeks and it's pretty obvious. Probably better to have an "accident", even then, you might want to wait a month or two.

Of course, I was speaking in general terms that for most people with a $20k truck that they can't replace with pocket change, keeping full coverage makes sense.

I can afford to replace it. But the reason I can is that I don't run out and buy a new vehicle every time there the old one has a hickup. I think that this one has several more years left in it. If I can get a long block and extend this one's life another 6 or 7 years that would be a lot less expensive than a new truck.

The dealer told me yesterday that they have escalated my case up the corporate ladder. They gave me the impression that the people they talked to were unaware of the shortage of spare parts and the difficulties it is causing customers. I am not so sure of that but I am pretty sure that automakers are required by law to have spare parts available for vehicles up to 10 years old and Ford may be in violation of that law. Since Ford told me that 83 people have been waiting longer than me this could be a ready made class action suit.

If you are talking about buying a brand new truck off the dealers lot...yeah that's not a good financial move.

If you are talking about putting a junkyard motor in, selling a truck you don't trust for $15k and then buying a used truck with factory original motor for $15k, no it won't cost you a lot more.

PS: I don't know the particular specs/condition on your truck but I suspect the $20k value is old news from a year ago. Looking online I was finding lots of 2012-2015 trucks in the $10-15k range.

[shelbyfv]

FWIW, let me offer congrats to you and your daughter on her graduating med school! She's put in years of hard work most folks wouldn't have the backbone for even if they were lucky enough to have the brainpower. Five more years and she will have the key to the treasure chest!:)