I have been a long time F150 owner this my fifth one, my first being a 89 strait six. My grandpa always had one and I’ve kept the Ford tradition going in my family. I believe they are the best.

Anyway this latest incident has me shaken in my belief in Ford. I hope there is a realistic explanation. I just bought a 2011 F150 XTR with 62,000 Miles in May of this year, one owner, clean title, beautiful truck. Runs perfectly no issues all summer I put 2500 miles on it. Then driving home from work last week I pull onto the highway accelerate and I hear a noise, clunk, not too loud, and all power is gone, engine light came on, it felt like the motor just dropped. I pull over on highway and oil is spewing out the bottom. Long story short it’s at the local shop and they tell me there is a hole in the side of the block.

I basically drove this truck for five months and it blew up. I can’t believe it. I do not have a extended warranty, wish I bought that and it’s past drivetrain warranty. I just can’t believe this motor would blow up with no sign of the impending calamity.

Now I am going to put a new motor in it as I see no other recourse. I want a brand new one. My mechanic says he can put a new long block with a 3 year warranty from Ford in it for $9000, labor and everything out the door. It seams a bit high but it’s a brand new Ecoboost motor. When he takes the blown one out we should be able to determine what and why it happened.

I am wondering if anyone has any thoughts of what could have happened?? Is there a better course I can take besides forking over the $9000? If I put this motor in am I going to have my dream truck for the next ten years??? Also is $9000 way too much to pay? I trust my mechanic but I have never paid to replace a motor, never blown one either. I feel it’s worth the money if it’s like a brand new truck again, I think.

I am just not sure if I can trust it without knowing it’s not going to happen again. It’s a lot of money to fork over into s truck that I thought was going to last me ten years. I’m so bummed and depressed without my truck.

 

Really sorry to hear about the engine. But buying used, you don't know the history. I would be a little afraid to buy a used turbo because so many reprogram them for higher boost. One other consideration is that it needs frequent oil changes because the oil gets diluted with gasoline. It may not have had as many oil changes as it needed. Again, I'm sorry you are having this issue.

 

That is tough luck. I too wonder if the oil had been changed often enough. Ford says 10,000 between changes but I would change between 3500 and 5000. This is due to gas diluting the oil.

 

Are you running the stock tune or an aftermarket one? Bad tunes are rod killers.

Did you have the condensation issue around this time? Sucking water into the engine will kill rods in a hurry. If you haven't done so, drill the intercooler ASAP. The 2011s suffered from this the most.

I personally wouldn't spend the money on a new motor, especially at $9k. There are lots of used ones out there for 1/3 of that. The 2011-2012 are interchangeable, look for one of them or a quality reman unit. Consider throwing a set of timing chains on it while it's apart. A lot of the used motors are sold as complete with turbos, HPFP etc. You could end up with a big pile of parts to either keep for spares or sell to recoup some of the money. If you end up selling most of the parts you could get a pretty good chunk of change.

Oil changes wouldn't make a rod break. It might cause wear on the bearings. Low oil pressure could make one spin but that typically makes a lot of noise before letting go. I've driven 50 miles with one like that with the engine still running.

 

My heart goes out to you as well.....the complexity of the EB engines is such that if even a mis-fire happens and the ECM safeguards don't respond fast enough (mili-second), you can easily end up with the type of failure you have experienced due to the high boost levels these engines run.

 

The YM 2011 was not a stellar year for the EcoBoost. They were most prone to stalling when the intercooler would collect condensate and then when you hit the gas to get on the hiway or pass someone, the water ended up going thru the engine. That may be what happened to yours. Ford fixed the issue with making the coolers smaller and limiting air to it. Some folks drilled a 1/16" hole in the bottom of it to drain the water. Regardless, unless you are totally upside down in the truck. I'd be looking for a new one. The old Ecoboost isn't near the engine of the same size 2017 Ecoboost. A lot of the issues with the old Ecoboost have been fixed including the carbon build up in the intake. The completely new 3.5 EB engine now carrys 2 separate injection systems-direct injection and sequential. It runs mostly on sequential but when you need the power, it turns to direct injection. Been a pretty flawless engine so far. The 2.7 has been a wreck and I'd avoid one. Sorry for your problems but there were just too many things in the 2011 model that would make me want to get into a new ride. A new engine with an old intercooler isn't going to fix the stalling or possible hydrolocking. If your truck is as clean as you say, you might be surprised how much it's worth as a trade in.

 

I'd say the carbon issue on the 3.5 has been overstated because of the reputation that early DI motors created. The early VW/Audi/BMW engines would develop a lot of junk on the intake valves and piston tops. I recently borescoped my 2011 with 142k on the clock and the tops of the pistons were very clean, little to no carbon was on any of the intake valves and there was still a good cross hatch pattern on the cylinder walls. Driving style probably has a lot to do with how much carbon develops. I do a lot of highway miles but also put the skinny pedal to the carpet whenever I get a chance. With a sample size of 1 it's not much of real test for the total production but it is worth considering. The only places I have seen with carbon on the valves were also trying to sell intake cleaning services. So I'm somewhat suspicious of their motivation.

 

O.P. I would personally say to ignore anything this guy says about an EB. He gets more excited about hearing a problem with one than the CEOs of GM, Fiat-Chrystler, Toyota and Nissan combined...

 

Were you able to inspect the back side of the intake valves? that would be where the buildup would be if any as well as the intake. There is a reason Ford put both types of injectors on the new Eco.

 

Yes, there is a mirror attachment on the borescope. That allows me to see the backside and stem. They were clean.

There's other reasons for going with port and DI. The port has lower emissions in some driving conditions.
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