2.7 Ecoboost Explosion

[ctechbob]

I do Cars Latest video.

Couple things I noted.

Given the maintenance history I was pretty disappointed in the oil control rings. Even with bulk/dealer oil I expected them to be a bit cleaner with SN/SN+/SP

Still don't care for the oil pump belt, but I'd still own a 2.7 in a heartbeat. (Note, it was still cracked up at 110k even with 5-6k oil changes)

The truck was out of the recall range for the 2.7/3.0 valve problem.

Check out that burned valve. Hot gas flow/erosion is cool to look at.

The rod/main bearings are immaculate (well, mostly).

Personally, I would never work my truck hard on 87 octane. If that is what indeed caused the failure. I always go up a grade when I'm planning on towing.

I still love the design of the 2.7. I'd love to have one all stripped down of the emissions equipment and boosted to the moon, just for giggles.

 

[ctechbob]

Now this is how you properly melt an exhaust valve.

 

[2.7ecoboostFordBronco]

Gulp. Surely Valvoline Restore and Protect will prevent this.

 

[ctechbob]

Gulp. Surely Valvoline Restore and Protect will prevent this.

I'm sticking with my plan on my 3.5 of 89 minimum 91/93 when towing. I have never liked the idea of leaning on the knock sensors to prevent scattered parts on turbo motors.

Well, and Valvoline Restore and Protect at 5k for the rings.

 

[2.7ecoboostFordBronco]

I'm sticking with my plan on my 3.5 of 89 minimum 91/93 when towing.

Well, and Valvoline Restore and Protect at 5k.

I'm stuck with 90 since that is the highest we get here, but I do use it. Could this have been LSPI related? Probably not if they were doing dealer oil changes, and I think the 2.7L is on the high side of displacement for that to occur. However I did read that Motorcraft Blend required a reformulation to meet SQ and I wonder if that could've been due to the aged oil LSPI sequence (still guessing not since that's more additive related).

 

[bullwinkle]

Now this is how you properly melt an exhaust valve.

View attachment 332609

That's how you keep deposits off a valve! I have to ask, how in the heck do you get ONE VALVE that hot and not burn ALL of them?

 

[ctechbob]

That's how you keep deposits off a valve! I have to ask, how in the heck do you get ONE VALVE that hot and not burn ALL of them?

I'm gonna go with cascading failure. Something started the process.

Detonation event took a chunk from a piston, nicked the valve on the way out. Valve burned, piston disassembled itself.

Hard to say though, he doesn't do many failures that you can't point a finger at the starting point, but this is certainly one of them.

Or maybe it was tuned.

Or a weak spot in the valve.

Would be cool to know why, but all we can do is speculate.

 

[vwmaniaman]

my old 07 hemi just keeps going now at 227 k. Also my old Yukon 5.3 from 05 with 226k miles. Give me those old style V8's without all this turbo power. They just grunt and go. Both are getting 16 city and mid 18 highway. That's on regular 87 gas.

 

[meep]

I'm sticking with my plan on my 3.5 of 89 minimum 91/93 when towing. I have never liked the idea of leaning on the knock sensors to prevent scattered parts on turbo motors.

Well, and Valvoline Restore and Protect at 5k for the rings.

I got to the point quickly where I only used 93. It simply shifted better with it. On anything less, at every shift I could feel a little tug-of-war between the shift itself, engine defueling, and small turbo lag. Granted mine wrestled with transmission problems as you know. But mine simply ran better on 93 and like you, I didn’t want to be relying on knock sensors as a protective measure every time I started the truck. That 2.7 was one of the best parts of the truck.

 

[hemioiler]

my old 07 hemi just keeps going now at 227 k. Also my old Yukon 5.3 from 05 with 226k miles. Give me those old style V8's without all this turbo power. They just grunt and go. Both are getting 16 city and mid 18 highway. That's on regular 87 gas.

Guys no longer care about engine architecture. They want to tow their trailer up a grade passing semis at 1500 RPMs in overdrive because a little downshift or two is "too annoying" and if one engine doesn't downshift and another does that must mean the first one is doing it better.

These turbo engines are absolutely tortured to death when worked hard; low rpms, high load... recipe for killing your bearings, transmission, and just building heat everywhere.

A tiny displacement turbo gas engine is not the same as a large displacement turbo diesel, even though it may feel similar out on the road.