Ford 3.5 Ecoboost disaster!

[clinebarger]

Originally Posted by dogememe
Yeah I'm honestly surprised that those Ford water pumps are failing so soon. Sure it's a bad design that when it fails it leaks coolant into the oil but the only water pump I've ever had go bad on me was a 97 Suburban with a lot of miles. I was pushing it hard for a good hour with the speedometer needle buried... On a hot day. Then I got where I was going and the water pump failed as I was parking.

None of my other vehicles has ever needed a water pump... One Dodge, a few Fords, and a bunch of GMs.

So those specific Ford water pumps on the 3.5/3.7 are just trash.



They have a external leak path! Though the coolant has a tendency to evaporate before hitting the ground. I've diagnosed a couple transverse 3.5L's with leaking chain driven water pumps with NO contamination of the oil. Customer complaint were losing coolant.

 

[HonorAndHonesty]

I still have scars from wrenching almost 20 years ago. The life of an auto tech is not an easy one, underpaid, under appreciated and abusive to your body. I got out and got into the electric utility field and work a fraction as hard and get paid hourly. There is a cost to it though.....

I miss the days where I could go home and be done until the next day, and my weekends were mine. The electric utility industry is 24-7-365, it respects no holidays, birthdays or anniversaries. I hate being on call, and I felt more respected as an auto tech. Typically I feel my job now is somewhat safe, but it can be deadly and I always know I could be in the wrong place at the wrong time and get killed, or make a simple mistake and get killed. It can be stressful.

I look back as my career as an auto tech fondly, I was young and there wasn't anything I couldn't do. Nothing intimidated me, I had good days, and bad. My last job I was one of the "rockstars" of the shop. I only considered myself an average tech but in that shop they would give me differentials, transmission work and the drivability issues and all the other "tough" jobs because I was a former dealer tech and wasn't intimidated by these jobs. I felt respected back then even though the pay could have been better. I don't feel valued at all now by my employer but I take a relaxed attitude towards work most days so oh well I guess.

Long story short, go to college kids. Get a useful degree, the blue collar life is not an easy one.