Does anyone know if Ford has published any corrective actions for the 5.0 Engines? I have a 2013 FX4 - F 150 that was misdiagnosed by the C.Wimberly Service center. First they told me that my "engine was bad" ($11,000) then they changed the story to "it has a bad head" ($8,000). After 6 weeks of listening to "We can't find parts", I showed up with a flat bed, and took the job away from them. Upon arrival, I discovered Ford wanted to sell me a new engine so bad, the service center left my valve cover off, exposing critical engine components to the outside weather. Can You Say....Sabotage? After disassembly, it was clear that the only thing wrong was a factory defect. After correction of the defect, and reassembly, I've put over 10,000 miles on that same engine and it runs just fine. I'm looking to add a pickup to the fleet, and before I commit to another Factory Order Rolling Defect (FORD) I need to see the factory isn't still building the same engine with the same defect. I have a video of this incident, and the factory defect, however the MP4 format will not allow me to share it here on this forum.

 

This is new info for me, have not heard of a problem. I put 85,000 on a 2011 before trading it for my current 2014 that now has 82,000. Both trouble free. I don't recall anyone else having a major issue such as this. What specifically was wrong with the engine?

 

So ... What was your defect?
.

 

Check out carcomplaints.com. You'll find there are several pages of Ford customer complaints of similar issues with Ford Engines, and very poor dealer response. The Eco Boost tally's up to be the worst. I posted all measurements, and detailed photos there of bent intake valves, and a few exhaust valves too. Clearly, that's why Ford wanted to replace my entire engine as to cover up the root cause coming directly out of the factory, by installing Chinese valves to save money. Some say, I caught Ford "Red Handed". The dealer leaving my valve cover off was intentional sabotage, and in the right courtroom.....criminal, The video I have won't lie, and I'm saving that for a.....slam dunk, when the opportunity presents itself.

Bottom Line - Fords solution would have cost me somewhere between $8,000 - $11,000.....while correcting the root cause was only $865.09 and a phone call to Summit Racing. If this is Fords New Business Model.....then it's: Nah Nah....Nah Nah. Nah Nah.....Nah Nah. Hey Hey...Hey....Good Bye. After what I found, with my own eyes, it will take a pile of corrective actions from the Ford Factory, acknowledging/correcting the defect, to change my mind.....and I do mean a pile of paperwork.

 

I looked at the site and when I compare the number of problems listed each year with the hundreds of thousands of F150s sold, the percentage looks pretty good to me. Just don't see a reason to get excited about calling it huge failure. Now if I'm one that is having a problem and Ford does not step up for repairs, then I am upset with their customer service. That does not make it an epidemic or catastrophic failure of the model.

 

As Joe asked, exactly what was the defect?

 

That's just 1 website, and is probably not a good way to accurately measure Ford 5.0 Engine Failure Percentages. I could agree with you if it was only 1 valve out of the 32 installed, but is wasn't, and those of us with over 30 years experience as a journeyman mechanic - we call that kind of evidence, a "trend" especially after discovering the problems that others have had. My 2004 F-250 with the 5.4 Triton didn't have any Chinese valves in it. 180,000 miles and still runs very well, I've replaced spark plugs in it 1 time.

If poor customer service is an indicator of the direction Ford Motor Company is heading, Nah Nah....Nah Nah..... Nah Nah.....Nah Nah..... Come on Jim, Sing it with me.

 

Are you avoiding the question about exactly what the defect is?

 

I think he is. He's starting to sound like a troll.

 

I'm sorry if you missed the smoking gun in this thread, I found several of the valves that were installed in my 5.0 were of substandard quality, and way out of tolerance, resulting in premature failure. Evidence suggests they were probably made in China. Fords Fix.....ranged between $8,000 - $11,000. My fix....$865.09....and a phone call to Summit. I've put over 10,000 miles on it since reassembly, and now that it's been repaired to a higher standard, I'll probably drive it another 100,000 miles. Before I add another Ford to my fleet, all I want to know from Ford is.....are you still manufacturing the 5.0 Engines in the same substandard manner? If the answer is NO, we found this problem too.....I'll be willing to look at all the corrective actions (from 2013 to 2019) the factory has taken to prevent this reoccurrence - if the answer is YES....Ford is not acknowledging any problems with the 5.0.....then it's bye bye to any future Ford purchases.

 

Gm is probably using the same valves. Maybe Toyota isn't. Reminds me of back in the 80's when many industries were buying substandard bolts. Even the nuclear plants were using these bolts because they were certified to meet the required grade. A co-worker's wife had a mid-size leased Olds or Buick that had broken head bolts. Neither GM nor the car co. that leased the car to them took any responsibility. None of the car companies will take responsibility for their design flaws if there is any way they can get away with it. My vintage truck had a cable that held the spare tire that would break and drop the spare on the highway and it did break and drop my tire somewhere. the NHTSA tried to get Ford to replace the cables with the improved design but Nope.

 

Exactly what did you do to fix it?

 

I resurfaced the heads, and replaced the all substandard valves. $11,000 vs $865.09.

 

I spent 36 years in manufacturing, so I think I can safely comment on this one. First of all, "substandard quality" is not the same thing as a "design defect." From all of the evidence you've presented here, it sounds like you got part of a batch of bad valves. That's a failure of the Procurement / Purchasing organization for sourcing from a supplier who cannot meet design quality standards. Or, you might get me to admit that it's a failure of Incoming Quality Assurance to catch the bad valves before they made it into the manufacturing process. A design defect would negatively impact a large number of engines with the exact same symptoms. From all of the (limited) evidence you've presented here, yours was an isolated incident. For instance, the 2003 Ford 6.0 Liter Powerstroke diesel had a number of design defects. The original Ford Pinto had a design defect relating to the location of the gas tank. Notice how those sound very different from your issue?

To ask / demand all of the "corrective actions (from 2013 to 2019) the factory has taken to prevent this reoccurrence" is pure folly. If you know anything about manufacturing, you would know that all manufacturers utilize "continuous improvement" programs to surface and address quality problems as well as cost down opportunities over the life of a product. So the number of engineering and process changes to the 5.0 liter motor over that time frame would be huge. If "defective valves" were indeed identified as either an isolated or systemic quality problem, I'm sure corrective actions were put in place.

Finally, to suggest that there is "criminal" activity on the part of the dealer in that they left the engine partially dis-assembled after taking it apart for diagnosis is stretching it more than a bit. They left it apart because their diagnosis said they were going to have to replace it. Would you be willing to pay them to put it back together? I doubt it. At best, one could possibly claim that they used bad judgement.

I'm sorry that you had to spend so much time and money to fix your truck. I'm also sorry that the dealership you took it to bungled the problem diagnosis. That said, I think you're blowing this thing way out of proportion.

 

This is the best reply I've seen yet - thank you. It's obvious now that Fords continuous improvement program has failed miserably, where its suppliers are concerned, and bad judgement in the service centers is just plain unacceptable. This information will go a long way, as I shop for my new truck. Thank you again for assisting me in this decision.