Great to be here

Hi everyone,

Great content here! Excited to check out everything all about ST!

Recall's happen for mass failures or when safety is the issue at hand. I've read your other thread and at this point, I still am not sure what happened to the engine.

Your description is using terminology that isn't what I'm used to speaking, reading, or hearing. I mean no offense with that comment, I believe it sounds as if you dropped a valve but what broke? You mentioned a cracked valve head but then in a later post talked about a rebuild, I'm assuming the cylinder is cracked. I don't think Ford sleeves and engine for warranty issues.

The highlighted sentences simply don't make sense. So as far as a recall being relevant we just don't know. "values was hitting the valve head" I'm assuming values was meant to read valves but it still doesn't make sense. Which cap broke, a cam cap? "cylinder cracked the valve head" doesn't make sense, I can't even guess here.

Gotta know what really happened in order to see if there is a pattern of failure. I'm not reading anything about dropping valves, cracked heads or cylinders and who knows on the caps. A pattern that you will see is like what you read about with phasers going bad or transmission cooler lines cracking. That's the kinda stuff that may be recall worthy.

I'm completely in agreement with @GearHead_1. Obviously you have had a major problem, but your ignorance (don't take that wrong) of the terminology doesn't give any of us who could advise you any sense of what went wrong. Like others on the forum, I'm left to try and guess what the problem could be. If it indeed dropped a valve, that would most likely be a spring retainer that failed or was badly fitted at the factory. Assuming that's true, it would contact the piston and cause some damage to the piston, and combustion chamber. Once again, if that is the case, and because of the low mileage, it could be fitted with a new head, piston, rod, rod bearing, and the rest of the valve train for that cylinder.

I would insist on that from my service manager. It "sounds" like that's the route Ford is taking. I wouldn't be concerned with metal in the oil in that case. Now, if what you say about a cylinder being damaged "cracked", then forget about rebuilding the engine, it would have to at least have a new shortblock and a head. In that case it wouldn't (from a cost standpoint) make any sense for Ford to try a rebuild. I don't think I'm going out on a limb by suggesting that due to the parts shortage, they might try to reuse rather than replace.

If you were to post more info from your service manager, I'd be happy to look at it....That way I could tell you whether they're doing the right thing, or you should pursue a Lemon Law buyback. It's very unfortunate that this has happened, but occasionally flaws happen- you should know this from your software background!

This is the third thread on this situation. Why? You mentioned the damage was caused by a loosed barrel. This engine is not a barrel engine like in some aircraft design. You also stated you wanted to cut open the oil filter. This engine has a drop in filter with no casing. Maybe I am a doubting Thomas but if you post the service report from the dealer stating the cause and the damage upon inspection it might shed some better light on what really happened. I agree with GearHead as I do not recognize the terminology. If a valve retainer let go and the valve dropped you would definitely hear it! What causes retainer to fail? Over rev of engine which is usually seen in a manual transmission downshift to too low of a gear. Everything just sounds odd to me.

Tommy

Well, if that's the case it may be the rod cap that cracked and if that's true there is no doubt damage to the crank. I'd still in my head think it dropped a valve which would mess up the piston, the head, and perhaps the cylinder wall. Far as I'm concerned that's new engine time.

EDIT: I'm sitting here thinking about it and perhaps things happened backward of what I've been suggesting. Here's another scenario, the rod cap let's go, the piston touches the valves (that may or may not destroy the head) and things may not look as gloomy as the first picture I was painting. If the valve didn't drop the cylinder wall is likely okay. If it's a rod cap that broke, think big pieces there may not be all kinds of metal in the engine. Of course the longer the engine ran, the worse things would get in that scenario. There would still likey be some type of crank damage.

Hey, no salt here. Just like to get my head around things I'm reading. I'd be truly disappointed if it happened to me and even more so if they told me my only option was a rebuilt engine

A lot of us trying to help out. We all hope things get sorted out to your favor. Sounds like you are getting mixed signals from the dealership. Stop dealing with the service advisor. Some are knowledgeable others are not. Sounds like you are getting second hand information. Request a face to face with the service manager. Engine failure on a new 60k vehicle should warrant it. Request the tech assigned to the car be there. Should be no resistance to that request. If there is, you've got the wrong dealership. Don't be an AH but be clear you have decisions to make and need to fully understand what the options are so you can determine your options moving forward. They'll understand what what you mean. Had a much less serious issue with the modem on my ST. Got nothing but doublespeak from the service advisor. Got the SM involved along with the tech and all sorted out in less than 30 min. Took a while to fix but we were all on the same page. Best of luck man, keep us posted.

Man, Id be pushing real hard for a new engine!!!!! As far as tranny leak, ehh, might be something easy. Had a tranny leak on my 2017 fusion sport, that couldnt be spotted because on the covering underneath! Tightened a drain plug and all good. WHY IS THER NO TRANS DIPSTICK ON THESE THINGS!!!!!!!!

I will say this, I don’t believe OP was driving this “easy” as he stated. From what I see, and the dealer will see, is he states it is “stock” yet it clearly has an exhaust. He didn’t mention that in the original thread (that he deleted) until he was called out. Then he goes out of his way to put a “Twin Turbo” sticker on the back. Ok, it’s just a sticker, right? Yes, it is but to me it is the OP letting everyone know his SUV is fast and he will prove it. Loud exhaust, stickers, he isn’t driving this slowly, and combined with his ~1mi commute probably isn’t getting the lubricants up to proper temp before getting on it. This will definitely cause damage to your engine, especially if you are in manual mode and hitting high RPMs.

I promise you your dealer and/or warranty dept will think the same and be less lenient towards you, especially if you are giving them as much conflicting information as you did in your deleted post.

this is just the opinion I’ve formed after reading the previous threads. A dealer sees stickers and exhaust on cars and they think one thing. Dealers don’t like to do warranty work because they tend to get paid less and it’s a paperwork headache. I’m not saying you don’t have a legit engine failure, what I’m saying is it will be more difficult to get it approved. Yeah, I am familiar with Mag-Moss, it sounds good in the comments section on webpages, but we all know Ford has more money and lawyers.

there is a tranny dip stick. Get under the driver side and it’s on to of the tranny behind the cooler.

the tranny leak is due to a lack of support causing excessive vibration and cracking on connections.

On a 21? Manual says no, to bring it to a service! Ill have to take a peek! WHO the F*** builds a car with no dipsticks?!?!?!? (Ford, I guess )
Thx for the info!

yes, I have a 21 and there is a dipstick. Get under the car on the driver side and look between the cooler and downpipes, top side of tranny. You need a wrench to remove it.

the thing is you need to have the tranny temp up to normal op temp to get an accurate read on it, which means engine running, which means hot downpipes, which means you are likely going to burn your arm. It’s not a dipstick you access through the engine bay, pretty tough to get to.

check out Post #4 here:
https://www.explorerst.org/threads/transmission-fluid-level-check.2032/

Ton of Luxury cars have no dipsticks for their engines..... Been like that for years

i am experiencing similar problems and getting no where with local dealership service. do you have a direct contact at Ford?

800-392-3673 is the number for customer service. I've used it for some minor things and didn't have great luck but it's worth trying.