Spun bearing on 2018 Ford F150

I sent this whole thread to Ford. Hopefully an engineer will see it.

You sent this whole thread to Ford ? You better hope they don’t see the post where you said you once drove 100 miles on low oil . It is too late now but I don’t think you should have done that .

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It wasnt in this truck. It was in an old ass Nissan Sentra over 20 years ago. I dont understand how that would be relevant to this situation. That engine seized completely. This engine would have done the same thing if it were low on oil.

Could show that you have a history of not checking your vehicles out very well. If nothing else, it could make your case a little more cloudy.

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Because that post even though it was not this vehicle will not help your credibility factor . Also Ford Corporate is not going to accept Forum opinions by anonymous people.

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Well, if thats the case I would be going to court either way
Furthermore I’ve only had this truck for 4 months, so I got an oil change when it was supposed to be done. I guess they will do anything to weasel out of this

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A bearing can fail even if all of the environmental conditions are perfect.

The way that you demonstrate damages is to have the repair completed then you know what it costs. There is no need to do nothing while the thing is being decided.

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You say that you have had the truck for 4 months. So I assume this means you bought a used truck? How many miles on it when purchased?

A bearing shell will spin when oil starvation is involved. It could be the shop botched the oil change, caught the mistake, and added oil after the fact. Could have been issues with that engine before you bought the truck assuming it was a used vehicle purchase.

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Bah. The Magnussen-Moss Warranty Act specifically makes it illegal to deny a warranty claim just because you had it serviced elsewhere. They’re trying to get around this by claiming that you drove it with no oil (it is legal to deny the claim if you or the mechanic screwed up and caused the damage) but here’s the catch: Under Magnussen-Moss, the dealer has to prove that you broke it.

So, you bringing it in with, per their in-writing admission, “fine” oil level and then them saying “well you must have run it dry before” isn’t good enough. They have to show evidence that it was run without oil, not just “we assume that’s what happened.”

I suspect, however, you’re going to end up having to at minimum have a lawyer send Ford a nastygram on the firm’s letterhead before they’ll capitulate.

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Thank you all for your advice and help. I was going to curse out the wrong people, and I would have been looking stupid.

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A dealer can certainly and legitimately deny a warranty claim if it’s related to a hands-on problem by anyone else. A dealer does not have to prove anything.

I will ask again. You said you have had the truck for 4 months. This must mean a used car purchase and I also ask how many miles son it when you bought it.

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That certainly adds another dimension to the whole issue. Possibly the previous owner caused a bearing issue and got rid of it in time.

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I have heard of tooo many people a car puked shortly after purchase. Bad for the buyer, but how do they know? My daughter asked about buying a Jetta, and giving up her saturn, I said if you had a fine running car with no issues would you sell it? She said hell no, I said lesson learned.

If there was something useful in this thread I missed it. The invoice in the first post explains the damage, the people at Ford already have that information. Maybe this or that, the dealer inspected the engine and has pictures of the damage.

If a dual stage oil pump is mysterious here then you are asking the wrong people how this engine was damaged. Two days after an oil change and you have an oil pan full of bearing material, a reasonable technician or engineer would suspect that the engine was damaged at the shop that drained the oil, engines don’t just fall apart, there was a cause.

Ford Motor Company could make an offer to split the repair costs but since you took the truck out of the dealers shop and returned it to the scene of the crime that may not happen.

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40,152 miles
oil changed at 46,000

In general this may be true, but we are all aware of certain engines which are actually prone to failed bearings, even with meticulous maintenance. Examples of this would include the Chrysler 2.7L V-6 and the Kia/Hyundai 2.4L GDI engine.

It is entirely possible that the engine was damaged by over-revving or being run low on oil before the OP even bought this truck. Perhaps the engine started to knock, and the previous owner had someone change the failed bearing(s) from below, then traded in the truck while it still ran. Perhaps the previous owner didn’t even bother to replace the bad bearing(s) and instead added something to the oil to keep the engine quiet, then proceeded to trade in the vehicle.

It is also entirely possible that this is the result of a manufacturing defect, and neither the previous owner nor the shop which changed the oil recently did anything to cause it. We really don’t know, and perhaps will never know. All that really matters is what a judge or arbitrator can be convinced to believe.

Well my bill at Ford would have been over 10k, while I found 2 shops that will drop me a low mileage engine for around 5k, so what would I really be losing? BTW, I offered Ford $$ to get them to do a further teardown, but the only answer I got was the decision has already been made. At that point, the only thing Ford would accept is a video of the shop doing the oil change properly, and my license plate had to be visible in the video. These folks had their mind made up. I did plenty of calling on the Ford hotline, all they do is side with the service manager. I tried it all, except suing Ford.

Relevant quote:

That said, there may be certain situations where a repair may not be covered. For example, if you or your mechanic replaced a belt improperly and your engine is damaged as a result, your manufacturer or dealer may deny responsibility for fixing the engine under the warranty. However, according to the FTC, the manufacturer or dealer must be able to demonstrate that it was the improper belt replacement — rather than some other defect — that caused the damage to your engine. The warranty would still be in effect for other parts of your car.

Just from personal experience I have never seen a case where FTC rules overrode a dealer or manufacturer decisions.

A spun bearing and the reason for it is easy to diagnose. There will be more damage than the bearing itself. Galded cam lobes, pitted cam followers, bluing on the crank counterweights, badly scored crank journals, damaged cam saddles, etc. The dealer and Ford has inspected this and made their decision based on that.

A 40 something thousand miles engine is not going to spin a bearing unless someone did something to cause it to spin. I asked twice whether this was a used vehicle purchase and got no answer so I just assume at this point it was damaged goods when purchased (a.k.a. the reason why the prior owner unloaded it
) or it was damaged by the shop that did the oil change.

If somneone wants a factory warranty to cover a new engine in a case like this they better be prepared to back up the maintenance history from day one with verifiable proof.

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