3.5 EcoBoost under valve covers/front cover

Yeah.... going by the Ford IOLM is playing with Fire on an engine like this.

I deliberately ran my naturally aspirated 3.7L down almost all the way and UOAd. It was good but on the ragged edge of failure. That was with Motorcraft semi-synand Motorcraft filter.

Changing at 30% remaining with a fairly high end oil and filter is about right. I wouldn’t accuse the 5k people of being BITOG OCD either.

Ford likes to present their vehicles as low maintenance and they simply go too far.
 
Racecarfan2 said:
Also look at the color difference on the VVT actuators right to left. Temperature or Oil flow cause excessive heat? or are they just dirty?
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Just dirty.
Racecarfan2 said:
Looking at the cover, I think you have an oiling problem on one side of the timing chain. I did a 5.4 head job once where one valve head look like that and found filter media in the oiling tube on that side blocking half of the oil flow to that side of the engine.
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Well noted; I'll thoroughly check everything before buttoning it up.
 
Inked said:
Getawheel, what will this job run your customer in your neck of Florida?
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Estimate was $2,070.95. That was 9.2 hours at $95/hr, parts at a 25% markup from my cost, and a $15 shop fee. Local Ford dealer gave me a discount on the cam phasers which I didn't expect, and the customer asked me to replace the spark plugs after I already had the car apart. Even with new Motorcraft plugs, the total works out to be less than the estimate at $2,017.67 plus tax.

Putting that in perspective, our local Ford dealer quoted him just over $3,200.
 
Sorry if I missed it in here, but it would interesting to know how long it actually went between OCIs given the owner followed the OLM.

Even if it was ~8-10K miles, you'd think that kind of wear shouldnt happen in such a new vehicle at only 105K miles.

When he bought it through enterprise w/ 30K on the ticker, it may have only had 1, maybe 2 oil changes at best.
 
JTK said:
Sorry if I missed it in here, but it would interesting to know how long it actually went between OCIs given the owner followed the OLM.

Even if it was ~8-10K miles, you'd think that kind of wear shouldnt happen in such a new vehicle at only 105K miles.

When he bought it through enterprise w/ 30K on the ticker, it may have only had 1, maybe 2 oil changes at best.
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My newer Ford OLMs have tended to go about 8k, fairly consistently with my driving.

It's a common issue with these engines, and probably complicated by lacking maintenance as a rental.
 
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MParr said:
Getawheel said his customer had been going by the OLM and using various quick lubes places to do his oil changes. I highly doubt the customer is going to make any changes. That being said, the customer’s best option would be to let his local Ford dealership do the oil changes. He would then be getting 5W30 Motorcraft Synthetic Blend, which is a very good oil for his engine. We’ve recently seen the PQIA oil analysis of the Motorcraft 5W30 SynBlend. It’s a pretty stout oil.
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Zee09 said:
This truck most likely had a hard life early on as a rental. And bulk oil of the lowest quality afterwards.
Not good for longevity.
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Seriously doubt there are any significant differences in "quality" between different brands of API certified conventional/syn blend oil.

The issue is probably linked to the length of the intervals, not the oil.
 
Grassy knoll here but... Enterprise?.....the first oil change was after 30k. Everything suffered a wear pattern then that escalated into this mess.
 
The Critic said:
Seriously doubt there are any significant differences in "quality" between different brands of API certified conventional/syn blend oil.

The issue is probably linked to the length of the intervals, not the oil.
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Disagree completely
You doubt but don't know.
So you are going to swear the quick lube places used the right weight of oil , proper approvals, quality oil filter..lol
Most of them don't even change your filter if they can get away with it. This oil isn't coal black yet. Keep it in there.
Hardcore quick lube customers usually mark their filters before the service. You know how many catch the scam. Many. While others don't care.
Plus the owner could have at least used a Ford dealer so he would have a trail. Sounds like he was part of the problem.

Who said the oil was API certified..lol
 
PontiacHO said:
Grassy knoll here but... Enterprise?.....the first oil change was after 30k. Everything suffered a wear pattern then that escalated into this mess.
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Yeah, I wouldn’t go bashing Enrerprise at all. I’ve seen many fords at my work as well as all other makes and models. They DO NOT get their first oil change at 30k either. And they use Safety Kleen Syn blend 5w30 for 5k OCI’s
 
Zee09 said:
Disagree completely
You doubt but don't know.
So you are going to swear the quick lube places used the right weight of oil , proper approvals, quality oil filter..lol
Most of them don't even change your filter if they can get away with it. This oil isn't coal black yet. Keep it in there.
Hardcore quick lube customers usually mark their filters before the service. You know how many catch the scam. Many. While others don't care.
Plus the owner could have at least used a Ford dealer so he would have a trail. Sounds like he was part of the problem.
Click to expand...
I wasn't bringing up operational issues with quick lubes. That's a different matter altogether.
This engine requires standard 5w-30 conventional which is probably the most common bulk oil on tap at a quick lube. Even the "lowest quality" API certified 5W-30 should be a perfectly serviceable oil in this application.
 
The Critic said:
I wasn't bringing up operational issues with quick lubes. That's a different matter altogether.
This engine requires standard 5w-30 conventional which is probably the most common bulk oil on tap at a quick lube. Even the "lowest quality" API certified 5W-30 should be a perfectly serviceable oil in this application.
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Understood.
I thought Ford uses ss 5w30 blend like on everything unless you pay up.
 
The Critic said:
Seriously doubt there are any significant differences in "quality" between different brands of API certified conventional/syn blend oil.

The issue is probably linked to the length of the intervals, not the oil.
Click to expand...
I never mentioned quality. I said certain brands tend to discolor metals.
 
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