“Titanium Head bolts, EGR bypass, High pressure oil fitting off oil pump, back of engine.” My husband has recently been doing LOTS of driving from Louisiana to Pennsylvania for his job working disaster claims. He deployed first to New York, R.I., and Maryland.
Continued on in Florida for two months, before transferring to PA for the last two months working claims. Five days before leaving for home, noticed “a small oil leak” [Prior to this, the brakes failed and that cost him $1,000.00. Then the two batteries went dead! $200. more bucks!].
He claims the oil gauge readings were all ok, he checked oil and every thing to the best of his ability each time he stopped for gas, and drove straight through the 20 hours to get home.
The next day, we brought it to the mechanic and the man simply could not understand how it drove to his shop, let alone the 20 hour trip home! He was absolutely flabbergasted! He could not believe the truck would start, let alone drive across the street to his repair shop. He kept repeating this again and again, then took a look and he informed my husband of the bad, bad, expensive news!
I was born in Boston, and love Click n’ Clack, so anyone who can advise me about this issue would be greatly appreciated. My husband won’t pay for the on-line Car Talk mechanic advice, (he’s cheap! ) and I would like more information for this vehicle repair, as this repair will eat all his hard work over the past two months - almost not worth going, I’d say! THANK YOU in advance! (Wife of man who knows it all)!
P.S. The mechanic stated that after this repair, " He would stand behind this for another 300,000 or 400,000. miles and my husband replied, “If it breaks, you’d better not be standing in front of it!”
Did the engine leak out all its oil and starve for lubrication then? So the $5,200 is for an engine rebuild or new engine?
I don’t know if Ford has remedied this situation, but oil gauges in some Ford vehicles were more for ‘show’ than an accurate reading of oil pressure. Like an oil light coming on, if the gauge read 0, you should stop the engine immediately, but the sensor that fed the gauge only had two positions—on and off. When on, it was designed to move the gauge about halfway I think, and when off, down to 0. So if your truck has one of these systems, it isn’t measuring anything in between, like a proper gauge should do, and unlike a proper gauge, it doesn’t give any real warning of an impending problem any more than an idiot light would. Silly design in my opinion. But I don’t know if your truck employs this system or a ‘real’ gauge.
You might try contacting someone above the local service manager, like a zone rep or similar and see if Ford will cover part of the repair cost as a goodwill gesture. It may take a lot of phone calls, and you should be polite but don’t be afraid to make a ruckus. Don’t take no for an answer, and if someone denies you, try someone else. Maybe the PR department, which is what worked for a coworker whose meticulously maintained VW had an engine failure at 62,000 miles. VW gave her 4,000 towards a new vehicle, which is at least $4000 she wouldn’t have had if she didn’t make a stink about it. Get everything in writing as to the mechanic’s analysis, and good luck to you. It might be worth getting a second opinion too based on the cost–you might find a cheaper option.
He’s too cheap to pay for on-line advice, but he’s willing to shell out $5,200 without getting a second opinion? I doubt that thing would have made a 20 hour drive if it was in THAT bad a shape! Take it to someone else and get another look at it. It sounds to me like the mechanic is putting on a show. Also, if oblivion is correct about the oil pressure gauges, they should shoot whoever came up with that one. And people wonder why Japanese cars are selling so well. Jeez!
You have not really told us much about why the truck went to the mechanic (small oil leak at the backof yjr rngine,) or what the nechanic diagnosed as the problem. Or what he wants to do to fix it, We can’t see the truck, all we can do is go by the infprmation you give us and you haven’t given us any of value.
I suggest that hubby get a second and third opinion concerning the repairs.
One more thing: thanks to him for showing up in MD. We needed a lot of help during the last hurricane removing fallen trees and returning power to everyone. Our power was out for 3 days and it was great to get it back.
Well, another thing: Go USC! We’re gonna (continue to) kick butt in the east, the beat the SEC west winner (LSU, of course) and move into the BCS final. Absolutely no one can beat us next week, then Tennessee falls, and after that the Hogs meet their match.
This vehicle does have the Digital oil gauge… (its either got pressure or it does not)… The oil pressure in the 6.0l varies very significantly from cold to hot as well as with engine rpm… It seems silly to most people that the gauge does not indicate actual pressure, but there is some rational to this. The gauge swinging with the pressure would drive you crazy, and often leads to information overload to the operator and service garages. Pressures can swing almost 100 psi. So the digital gauge is nothing to worry about.
The gauge does work for cases when oil pressure gets low… Not that it really matters. If the base oil pressure goes south, then engine will shut off or fail to start due to the way the fuel system operates. (It operates using high pressure engine oil to activate the fuel injectors.) No base oil pressure, means no oil to the High pressure system. No high side oil pressure and the truck is going no where. At least on its own power.
You need to examine the extent of the leak… So a second opinion would be very wise. You need to ensure the leak is not originating from the top of the engine (Turbo drain, oil cooler, HP pump gasket, IPR oring)… I have a strong feeling that the bed plate gaskets are damaged… The engine block is actually two pieces… the Upper block which is the cylinders and cam valley and the lower block which is called the bed plate which holds the crankshaft in.
You indicated that the rear timing cover was off previously??? (Hopefully just the HP pump cover and not the rear timing cover) There are specific procedures that need followed during engine disassembly to prevent damage to the bed plate seals… If the rear cover was removed without following the proper procedures, this thing will leak… bad… Very possible that the service garage screwed up… Not saying they did, but I have seen it before on multiple occasions. $5200 bucks is a bit high… Understand that the engine WILL need removed mounted on a engine stand, flipped upside down and the lower block removed to gain access to the bed plate seals (requires that the front and rear engine covers be removed), … it is a Big job… The engine weighs over 1000 lbs and is a handfull to say the least… I have worked on probably a 1000 of these engines, resealed the bedplate on my own 6.0L. It is a phyically demading job… So you will need to determine how bad the leak is… A few drips, I would leave it alone… If it is pouring out, it will need fixed. The gaskets are cheap, the rear main seal will need to be replaced (as it is destroyed when the cover is removed) it is not cheap close to 100 bucks. The rest is strictly labor.
You need to find a quality diesel shop that is well versed in the 6.0… Just anyshop or dealer will not do… If your looking at a Ford Dealer, I would recommend one that has a lot of commercial traffic. The shops with significant commercial traffic likey have all the required tools, the proper engine stand, and the practice to make the repairs as short and sweet as possible. This will help reduce the cost of the repairs. A few of the technicians I know can get this done in a day (A Full day) … They are fast, and provide top notch service.
For that kind of money there was apparently some engine damage and all engine damage, especially diesel, is expensive.
While you did not provide many mechanical details I might theorize a bit. The truck had a known oil leak which was quote, “small”. You state he checked the oil each time he got gas but drove 20 hours straight through. It’s not clarified whether he checked the oil during the 20 hour trip.
Those small oil leaks frequently get away from people and leave them with a trashed engine.
Another common quirk is that many people who have damaged an engine either due to no or little engine oil or by overheating generally state the same things; they checked the oil level regularly, the oil light never came on, the oil pressure gauge was fine, the temperature gauge never showed a problem, it never made any noise, etc, etc, etc.
Your comment about your husband and your hubby’s comment to the mechanic is also a bit revealing; “the wife of a man who knows it all” and “you’d better not be standing in front of it”.
This is where the majority of you are wrong. 1. A new 6.0 powerstroke is upward to $12,000. 2. There are several seals that need replaced , front main seal, rear main seal, oil pan gasket and the belly pan gasket. 3. In order to fix all of these to be cost effective, the engine needs to be pulled.
This is where your cost will be. The seal kits are not that expensive, the book hour time calls for 15 hours of labor to do this.
