Engine Failure @ 2k miles - Resolved

Exploder · Oct 6, 2021

In July 2021 I purchased a brand-new 2021 Ford Explorer ST. At 2k miles, I went to a gas station to put gas and as I walk out of the door, I noticed smoke and a strong smell of oil. I immediately called Ford assistance and got the car towed back to the dealership. I was told that there was a leak on my transmission cooler and that the Cam Baring broke damaging the engine and breaking the valve cap.

** Update **

Besides the fact that I had to go through this, Ford has taken care of everything!

UNBROKEN · Oct 6, 2021

It happened to my brother with a Super Duty that cost substantially more than an ST on his way home from the dealer when he bought it…shit happens.
You may get a new car…you may just get a new engine. It’s up to Ford on that one.

Autoworker · Oct 6, 2021

Sorry to hear about your trouble. Every engine has stored data on it's build. (Torque specs, repair bay info, etc.) Your engine will go back to the plant and will be analyzed to find out the cause of the failure. Same with the transmission. I hope that Ford takes care of you to your satisfaction. BTW, I like your name, seems appropriate. LOL

twin001 · Oct 6, 2021

Sorry to hear about this. Doesn't make your situation any better but this happens to >$100k cars as well. I don't doubt that Ford will take care of this and make it right.

Tommyc · Oct 6, 2021

Sorry for your experience. I did notice from your picture there is an aftermarket exhaust on your vehicle. You stated "stock" and you purchased it with 2000 miles. Were any mods done previously to your ownership? A transmission cooler leak will not cause the valve to piston collision. I hope it gets resolved for you.

Tommy

FORZDA3 · Oct 6, 2021

Ford will likely replace the engine and trans completely, so there is no real value decrease. The time involved should be compensated, but the vehicle should be just fine. These failures are rare, but do happen occasionally.

Ford Guy · Oct 6, 2021

I see some decals on there so it looks modded for sure. Definitely not a sleeper haha j/k

Dark Knight · Oct 6, 2021

most states 30 days, approval or not thats the law,

ST+ · Oct 7, 2021

Damn Exploder (nice one) -- that's a little hard to take. I hope Ford steps up and does right for you. As has been said: there isn't any connection between the trans leak and the valve/piston/head failure. I have heard of trans cooler connection leaks tho which apparently Ford knows about.

What crossed my mind is the issues with cam phasers when cold that rattle which appears to be a common problem with the 'ecoboost' engines. I sure hope those 2 problems are not related. Time will tell.
Be sure to post any followup for us. TIA
Colin

GearHead_1 · Oct 7, 2021

I'm interested in following this too. The description by the OP leaves me wondering about the chain of events. The vehicle was smoking as he approached the car either after paying for the fuel before fill-up or after the fill-up. I think that would indicate it dropped a valve before being shut down for the fill-up. Why wouldn't there have been a sound or something to tip the owner off when pulling into the pumps.

Punching a hole in the block has to make a noise if not shut the engine down. I'd have thought it would have been smoking like a coal-burning train. Given the information that we've read, I'd have to think Ford would buy this one back. I can see either a new engine or a new trans but both I think they'd buy it. If it were mine I'd fight them tooth and nail. A new trans and a new engine at that low of mileage doesn't feel right, but hey I've been wrong before.

GearHead_1 · Oct 8, 2021

No doubt you got a bad one. That said, that doesn't mean they're an across-the-board poor vehicle. Explorers along with any vehicle popular enough to have a forum discussing them will have opinions/stories that are full of complaints. It's just human nature, you always hear about the bad stuff but all the stuff that simply works is seldom discussed. I wish you the best of luck.

twin001 · Oct 8, 2021

bobistheoilguy.com for a used oil analysis.

I'm no lawyer, but I'm not sure if the Lemon Law is applicable in your case or not. Different states have different laws, but the Manufacturer typically has XX number of attempts and/or XX number of days to fix a given problem. An engine rebuild isn't difficult and depending on part availability shouldn't take too long.

The transmission leak isn't related to '21s only. Ford has revised the transmission cooler to include a new attachment bracket. Your ST may or may not have actually been leaking, and they very well could have swapped out the cooler because they saw yours didn't have the bracket and of the known issue.

twin001 · Oct 8, 2021

I hope it works out for you. The ST is an amazing car, especially for the money. $55k-60k doesn't get you as much today as it did 5 years ago! The leaking transmission is really an easy fix. I would honestly give Ford a chance on the engine. Find out what they are including in the "rebuild". Maybe ask that the dealer sends pics of the cylinders back to Ford engineers to make sure there are no gouges from any possible metal parts.

Cruiser133 · Oct 8, 2021

Since it was a factory defect, I would insist on a new engine or threaten to involve an attorney. There is no way I would accept a rebuild on a brand new vehicle and in the grand scheme of things, what is a few grand to Ford Motor Company? Why not do it right the first time?

Zim · Oct 8, 2021

Just for the record this in a rarity for the 3.0.. I have not heard of many engine failures on this platform. The engine itself is reliable.

I’d let them fix it and continue to enjoy the ride once it’s fixed.

JohnE · Oct 8, 2021

I’m with you on pushing for a buyback. I’m not a lawyer either and I also don’t think this qualifies for Lemon Law. I had a heater problem with my first ‘20 ST and after driving it only 200 miles, found out I had no heater. They had to remove the entire front of the interior; complete dash and the front seats/console to replace the heater core which didn’t fix it. After that they found out that the factory had reversed the in and out heater hoses which if they found that right away, I would have kept it. I was afraid of squeaks and rattles inside the dash after they removed it. They bought it back and I got a new one with some options I didn’t have on the first one. Rebuilding a motor on a brand new car?…no thank you. Also, the Tech Package still has the vertical display. The standard display is horizontal. I actually like mine now.

Exploder · Oct 8, 2021

Zim said:

Just for the record this in a rarity for the 3.0.. I have not heard of many engine failures on this platform. The engine itself is reliable.

I’d let them fix it and continue to enjoy the ride once it’s fixed.

Thanks Zim!

ST+ · Oct 8, 2021

Thanks for the followup Exploder. I hope you get what you want from Ford and best of luck with the repaired ST or another new one.

blueovaltech · Nov 17, 2021

If the failure happened within 12months/12,000 miles of the warranty start date of the vehicle, it may qualify for a low time in service engine replacement.

Meaning

The dealer doesn't have to repair the existing engine, they can simply replace it with a new one. Depends on how knowledgeable the dealer is on current FoMoCo policy, and exactly happened to the original engine, as well as the mileage and time since the warranty start date of the vehicle.

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Engine Failure @ 2k miles - Resolved

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