Warranty claims on lubricated engine parts

[Islandvic]

Has anyone on this forum actually made a warranty claim on their vehicle's engine (specificaly an oil lubricated part, ie bearings, pistons, crank)

There is much talk about warranty denial b/c of wrong oil use.

I'm not doubting that, it's just that most warranty claims either I have made, or family/friends have made were usually electrical, or mechanical (non engine related) or recalls.

I want to here the horror stories of failed pumps, cranks, rods, gaskets, valvetrain etc etc all while under warranty!

Transmission fluid lubricated tranny parts too!

 

[Larry the Cable Guy]

I had the automatic transmission replaced in my '02 Toyota Tundra at 53,000 miles. I have heard that the overdrive planetary was problematic in the 2000 through mid 2003 models and was improved.

I have heard of several others with the same problem at almost the exact same mileage.

Steve

 

[Ray H]

There was quite a "spirited" discussion on the BITOG "Mechanical/Maintenance Problems, Tips, & Tricks" forum six months ago concerning a Ford motor home chassis that was used to haul four dirt bikes and their associated support equipment. The owners' daughter is apparently heavily into competitive racing, and during the season, the family goes from meet-to-meet, living out of the motor home and hauling the bike and equipment trailer. The owner admitted to typically pushing air at 70-75 mph on the road. The Ford modular V8 motor, under factory warranty, took a crap shortly after a meal stop (crankshaft seized and spun a bearing if I recall correctly). The chassis selling dealer, and Ford both refused warranty service because the engine had gone >7,000 miles without an oil and filter change. ("Severe service", which I think Ford would've had no trouble establishing at trial, calls for 3,000 mile oil and filter changes.) After fooling around for a several months and talking to a lawyer (who characteristically told the owners they had a sure-fire case . . .), Pensky (who actually owned the dealership though it was listed under a fictitious name) came forward and "offered" to generously supply a new motor at his own expense if the owners would pay the installation costs. Grudgingly(!), the owners accepted the offer - the motor was listed at over $10,000.00, the installation cost, $2,000.00. My own suspicion is that Ford really foot the cost of the motor, but by having Pensky magnanimously "offer" a motor, the company was able to avoid both litigation and any admission of fault in case the jury found for the plaintiffs, and still make the problem go away. I was, and still am, of the opinion that the vehicle owners were going to have an uphill battle in court, and if they got anything, it might just as likely've been apportioned at the whims of the judge's opinion of percentage of fault against both parties.

 

[joee12]

I had some valvetrain issues with my 2000 Mazda B3000. You can bet that I had to provide receipts for oil and filters, as well as the maintenance log to prove I had been changing the oil whithin the recommended intervals. Mazda recommended 3000 mile severe and 5000 normal oil change intervals, and I kept mine at 3000 since I tow a boat. I don't want to open the debate back up, but IMO, it is not worth fooling around with OCI intervals during a vehicle's warranty. JMO, Joe

 

[Doug Hillary]

Hi,
I am sure that Tooslick will be able to document the Warranty statistics relating to a certain oil that he believes "shears" excessively

According to him they must relate to excessive valve train wear and there will be thousands of them - Ted..........

Over to you Ted!

In heavy diesels most warranty issues relate to design "refinement", the use of incorrect fluids (coolants/oils), poor servicing practices and incorrect UOA interpretation
Engine electrics claims are usually caused by third party suppliers and mounting issues (brackets/belts etc)
Over many many millions of kms and nearly two decades these were our ONLY claims;

Turbocharger (3)(modifications and after limited recall)
Camshaft (2 in one engine) (soft lobes (1) and then wrong Dealer fitment practice (1))
This was the subject of a non-intrusive inspection of the production numbers on the camshafts/gears
Seals (6) These were camshaft seals and modified models were retrospectively fitted

Oil related issues on this type of engine are (usually);
a) the use of non specified/Approved oils (resulting in sludging and/or piston/bore issues or excessive oil consumption)

b) extending OCIs without using UOAs
(usually sludging or excessive consumption)

c) failure to act on UOAs that indicate "issues"

d) and etc.

With c) above the oil ususlly gets the blame but there are ALWAYS major contributing factors that exonerate the lubricant

IMHE engine makers require absolute evidence of servicing practices, lubricants (receipts etc) and etc - much is taken from the ECM today. These engines cost in excess of $A45000!!

Regards
Doug

 

[farrarfan1]

I had a camshaft fail on a 1978 Ford Fairmont while under warranty.When I picked it up the service manager asked what kind of oil I had in it because the mechanic that worked on the car commented how thick it was.I proudly told him 20W50 to which he replied that was too heavy.He told me to use nothing heavier than 10W30. For some reason I can remember him saying that in the future cars would be using really thin oils. I've often wondered if he ended up in Ford's upper echelon since he was right on the money about his prediction.

 

[oilyriser]

A piston broke in my Subaru, at around 18,000 miles, well within the warranty. It would actually still run with one piston gone, the connecting rod thrashing around in the cylinder, and a crack in the block. The knock was quite impressive. The dealership wanted to see my maintenance log. The engine was spotless inside, proving regular oil changes. It may have been a bad casting.

 

[MN Driver]

From forums with cars that have the 3.4L engine, there are many people getting their Lower Intake Manifold gasket replaced once they find a huge milkshake of coolant mixed with their oil. One person recorded a video of what his engine sounded like when his engine was filled with coolant.

All I have to say is you could hear a ton of ticking, pinging, and knocking, and sloshing. He did it because he decided that after 12,000 miles of owning his car he hated GM for making something that couldn't last 12,000 miles. He knew that it would be covered under warranty so he drove it to the dealership after he made the video to get it fixed. He went from dealership to dealership telling people who were driving in not to buy this perticular vehicle brand while his engine sounded like complete junk. Strangely it survived all this but he was filling coolant every 100 miles. He brought it to the dealership later and they fixed the gasket for him. It managed to last until 2,000 miles after the warranty when the gasket failed suddenly and dumped his engine full of coolant. He tore down the engine and took pictures of the inside. It makes the sludge pictures on this forum look like nothing, these pictures had clumps of sludge that looked more than an inch thick on the parts inside. He ended up finding the same model vehicle in a junkyard that had been totalled, except the engine was a 2.2L I4 and he took all of the supporting equipment(electronics, wiring, etc.) and swapped it in, now he is happy. I would've just taken the warranty repair at the first sign of any signs of coolant loss or coolant in the oil and saved the money and effort...

 

[Doug Hillary]

Hi,
Ted - we're still waiting for you to publish the valve train (and etc.) warranty details for the certain oil that YOU believe "shears excessively" and causes excessive wear

It should be easy for you to access this widely non existent data Ted - we wait............!

Regards
Doug

 

[Jimbo]

The transfer case in a V-10 Ford SuperDuty grenaded after only 750 miles towing a boat, well under the rated maximum towing capacity. The factory-fill ATF was in there along with a million small metal pieces. Ford supplied the servicing dealer (out in the desert, not the selling dealer) with a new unit and approved labor under warranty without question.

 

[1sttruck]

As I recall we had repeated oil leals at both the engine and transmission oil pans on a 99 Taurus, and just at engine on a 93 Taurus. It took three trips to get it fixed once. I just had a yoke vreplaced on the transfer case of a Dodge truck, under warranty, as the dealer noticed that it was leaking. I had an extended warranty on a Yamaha RD400, and it went thru shift return springs about every 20k miles.