The reason this OCI was longer than my normal(ly OCD) 5k miles was because I was more or less right up on the 5k mile mark when I left for my trip to TOTD; I had briefly contemplated changing the oil before the trip, but I wanted to see what a run to and from the Dragon would do to the oil, plus previous reports have indicated that I could push it a bit. I had also made an executive decision to run 6 quarts of oil in the car from now on, since that amount of oil gets to the full mark on the dipstick, whereas Ford's stated oil capacity of 5.7 quarts does not; make of that what you will.
The overheat event mentioned in the report occurred while I was on the Dragon; I had been driving somewhat aggressively, using the SelectShift mode (the car is automatic), with the A/C on, and I'm guessing the airflow through the radiator simply wasn't enough to satisfy the car's cooling needs at that specific time; that or the mild witches brew of coolant in the cooling system (a mixture of Ford's orange and yellow coolants, a result of a drain-and-fill I performed before leaving on the trip) wasn't up to the task of removing that much heat from both the engine AND the trans. I immediately pulled over (luckily I was coming up on a pull-off), shut off the A/C, popped the hood, and let it idle; the temperature immediately came back down. I'd like to think it was a result of the aforementioned coolant drain-and-fill, rather than a design flaw/oversight on Ford's part, otherwise I doubt they would've put the manual shift mode on the trans in the first place. I've been monitoring the coolant surge tank ever since and I have not seen any evidence that internal damage occurred (such as oil in the coolant), a belief backed up by these results.
As far as the oil consumption issue I've noted in the past is concerned, I'm still at something of a loss to explain it, especially since I checked the oil before I left the Dragon for home, and well as right after I got home, and the level was the same (low, but the same). I'm thinking it's just the PCV system, something I'll have to service soon.
The overheat event mentioned in the report occurred while I was on the Dragon; I had been driving somewhat aggressively, using the SelectShift mode (the car is automatic), with the A/C on, and I'm guessing the airflow through the radiator simply wasn't enough to satisfy the car's cooling needs at that specific time; that or the mild witches brew of coolant in the cooling system (a mixture of Ford's orange and yellow coolants, a result of a drain-and-fill I performed before leaving on the trip) wasn't up to the task of removing that much heat from both the engine AND the trans. I immediately pulled over (luckily I was coming up on a pull-off), shut off the A/C, popped the hood, and let it idle; the temperature immediately came back down. I'd like to think it was a result of the aforementioned coolant drain-and-fill, rather than a design flaw/oversight on Ford's part, otherwise I doubt they would've put the manual shift mode on the trans in the first place. I've been monitoring the coolant surge tank ever since and I have not seen any evidence that internal damage occurred (such as oil in the coolant), a belief backed up by these results.
As far as the oil consumption issue I've noted in the past is concerned, I'm still at something of a loss to explain it, especially since I checked the oil before I left the Dragon for home, and well as right after I got home, and the level was the same (low, but the same). I'm thinking it's just the PCV system, something I'll have to service soon.
