I have a 2001 Ford escape with 64,000 miles. I have had my oil changed at jiffy lube the last 3 times and they have added 5W/30. My engine is now ruined, per my mechanic. The piston is firing up too high and hamering my plugs. He told me that the oil grade was most likely the issue. The vehicle is undrivable, and there is no longer a warranty on it. have there been any other cases where the wrong oil WILL damage the motor? I have treated this vehicle very well, and have not expected anything outrageous of it. Does anybody have any useful info for me? I am intending to try to get Jiffy Lube to pay for the new motor if i can, but I do need more information before going to them.
Has 5W/30 in a 5W/20 engine ruined my motor?
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Joe, your mechanic is WRONG!!!! There is no way that 5W30or even 15W50 would do that to your motor. The 5W20 is only a gas mileage oil that Ford and Honda use to satify CAFE. Please find another mechanic!!!! Good luck ,Joe
Hummmm other then breaking how does a piston hammer the plugs?
yes, he is a mechanic, but rather than try to sell me an engine, he was more concerned with why it may have happened. I have had this vehicle for 10 months, and have had absolutely no issues with it, it has been a great truck, but about 6 weeks ago, it started to make a ticking noise under the hood. Then 3 weeks ago while acelerating, it shuddered and the check engine light came on. I couldn't get any power. i brought it in to the mechanic, and he thought, but wasn't 100% sure, that it may have been carbon build up. He thought a piece of carbon flew up and hammered the plug shut. i went back yesterday, so he could completely clean the carbon build up out, plus the check engine light came on again anyway and it ran rough. He cleaned it, and took it out for a spin, and as he was coming back, it happened again. definately not carbon! Is this just a defective motor?
Check your ignition system.
I had a Mazda MX-6 and when the ignitor went I thought I'd blown the engine. Check engine light, intermittent loss of power extremely rough running.
Regrdsing the Oil viscosity, Ford has plainly said they are using 5W20 to meet CAFE requirements, end of story.
I had a Mazda MX-6 and when the ignitor went I thought I'd blown the engine. Check engine light, intermittent loss of power extremely rough running.
Regrdsing the Oil viscosity, Ford has plainly said they are using 5W20 to meet CAFE requirements, end of story.
Jo: I have a 2002 Ford Escape and have run nothing in it but Mobil 1 5W-30 since I changed out the factory fill at 5K miles. What was posted above is correct, Ford specified 5W-20 for a slight (very slight) boost in gas mileage. Mazda specifies 5W-30 as an acceptable alternative for the Tribute which is built on the same assembly line and has the identical engine. Find a mechanic that knows what he is talking about. Your current one does not.
So with yours, it was the ingitor? Did it make a ticking noise too? The mechanic says it is metal on metal right now. When my truck starts, the motor shakes the whole car, it sounds much louder than it did. Somewhat like a train.
Not saying your mechanic is a bad dude-but the statement about the oil grade is plain stupid. Look for another mechanic.
Metal on metal.....what metal on what metal???? His statements don't make sense....The gas charge cannot be fireing when the piston is up to high and have that be caused by the oil...now the timing chain/belt could have slipped...and with some motors this can cause verying degrees of piston slapping the valves and having the fireing of the spark plug to occur too late in the rotation of the cam to piston hight.
ok...you'll have to forgive me, I am not a very car savy person. from what he is telling me, the spark plugs are being hammered shut, and his thought is that this is being caused by the piston. What is there under the hood that would cause the spark plug to be hammered closed?
You really need to find another mechanic. Excess carbon just does not happen with all the detergents in the gas and the new oils.
Something must be in the cylinder to hit the plug and close the gap. Probly a screw or washer either fell out of the throttle body or someone dropped it and didn't know it.
I recomend that you don't drive the car as you could break a piston if whatever is in it gets turned just right.
I wouldn't let this guy work on it either.
Something must be in the cylinder to hit the plug and close the gap. Probly a screw or washer either fell out of the throttle body or someone dropped it and didn't know it.
I recomend that you don't drive the car as you could break a piston if whatever is in it gets turned just right.
I wouldn't let this guy work on it either.
Well, I'd be too nervous to drive anyway. So from what i can see here, maybe it isn't shot to **** ? Could i be lucky enough to have it be something less than lethal and maybe less expensive?
jo8397, if this was my Escape I would have it towed in to the nearest Ford dealer and have them look at it. There is no way that using 5W-30 oil would harm or destroy that motor.
[ August 15, 2003, 09:59 PM: Message edited by: Sin City ]
[ August 15, 2003, 09:59 PM: Message edited by: Sin City ]
If your timing belt or chain slipped one tooth, your engine probably would not even start, at all. Sounds to me like you have some sort of foreign object inside a cylinder, or you dropped a valve or something. First, I would find a mechanic that knows what the **** he's talking about. Second, I would have it towed to that mechanic. Don't drive your vehicle if you have a foreign object inside a cylinder which you do; either the remains of a valve are in there or something else. You may have to have a new piston installed in that cylinder along with a rebuild on the cylinder head.
The 5w 30 had nothing to do with it. Was this motor ever ran with low oil level, low oil pressure, or wrong oil filter????
The the 6 weeks ticking noise deal sounds like low oil or valve train failure. I would not have drove it anymore untill the problem was looked at. The noise was telling you something. It could have shot a valve into the piston.
Did the wrench look under the valve cover at the valve train?
I could not see carbon being the problem on a 64 K EPA unleaded gas motor.
I run a shop and have seen two Ford Escapes throw
a rod at about the same mileage (Rod stretch at high RPMs maybe could close a spark plug gap and then "snap"). I have a feeling that these engines may not hold up well for the long haul. At least some of them. Kind of has me thinking!
P.S. NOT TO OFFEND, but in the auto service repair business someone is always trying to have the shop pay for the repairs on there vehicle when something goes wrong. In the business we call it "the last person that touched my car should pay". Many times it is the customers own lack of attention to preventative maintenance, the high mileage of the vehicle, or maybe in the case of the Escape in time it will be found that some of these engines are just failing to soon. What it really is in most cases is the customer is looking for someone with deep pockets to pay for their own misfortune. Examples of the week in my shop: You changed my oil now my gas tank leaks. You guys did a water pump on my vehicle and it never idled this rough before (turned out to be a coil pack, bad O.E. wires and O.E. plugs with 120,000 miles on them). Funny how all the parts failed while in my shop! Or my favorite, a vehicle with front end damage, two miss match fenders and a miss matched hood. We could not get the hood to latch because of the impact damage. Told the customer it would not latch and it was dangerous to drive in this condition. He decided to drive it anyway. Hood popped up, wrecked car and thinks we should pay for $3500.00 worth of damage. Just a day in the life of auto repair. Jiffy Lube may have done nothing wrong, but then they are insured. Right? Just venting and food for thought....
[ August 15, 2003, 11:14 PM: Message edited by: Night Owl ]
a rod at about the same mileage (Rod stretch at high RPMs maybe could close a spark plug gap and then "snap"). I have a feeling that these engines may not hold up well for the long haul. At least some of them. Kind of has me thinking!
P.S. NOT TO OFFEND, but in the auto service repair business someone is always trying to have the shop pay for the repairs on there vehicle when something goes wrong. In the business we call it "the last person that touched my car should pay". Many times it is the customers own lack of attention to preventative maintenance, the high mileage of the vehicle, or maybe in the case of the Escape in time it will be found that some of these engines are just failing to soon. What it really is in most cases is the customer is looking for someone with deep pockets to pay for their own misfortune. Examples of the week in my shop: You changed my oil now my gas tank leaks. You guys did a water pump on my vehicle and it never idled this rough before (turned out to be a coil pack, bad O.E. wires and O.E. plugs with 120,000 miles on them). Funny how all the parts failed while in my shop! Or my favorite, a vehicle with front end damage, two miss match fenders and a miss matched hood. We could not get the hood to latch because of the impact damage. Told the customer it would not latch and it was dangerous to drive in this condition. He decided to drive it anyway. Hood popped up, wrecked car and thinks we should pay for $3500.00 worth of damage. Just a day in the life of auto repair. Jiffy Lube may have done nothing wrong, but then they are insured. Right? Just venting and food for thought....
[ August 15, 2003, 11:14 PM: Message edited by: Night Owl ]
If you might have something in a cylinder, you need to find a mechanic with a bore-scope that can take a peek inside. If you see something you might be able to get it out with one of those flexible, retractible magnetic picker-uppers.
I think you need to understand if the mechanic is claiming the piston is physically hitting the spark plug ( how does that happen????), or an extreme detonation problem.
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