“I think I threw a rod” Season 2... ?

[HenryMac]

This is the messed up part John, I have a Ford Performance exhaust, and they won’t install it... I have to pay for a new stock exhaust, that I’m going to take off anyway, to install the Performance Exhaust, made by Ford. This has been some of the frustration with this whole process...

Sure, I can see how that would be like pouring salt in a wound.

With all the people replacing their stock exhaust... I gotta believe you can find a take off locally. Put the word out. Maybe talk to your tuner and he can hook you up with a prospective customer that's getting ready to make some mod's.

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[VAMike]

You notice how expensive Ford's is compared to third party? Presumably they charge enough to cover any warranty claims while keeping a profit margin.

 

[cbull]

I know there is a part to this I have not read into. But I'm getting the basics.
Engine blew, and know one knows exactly the cause. Since 5 star was mentioned let me share my experience. Don't know anyone from 5 star, may be great people and make great tunes. But I would stay away from their tunes, me personally.
I bought a tuning package from them about 3 years ago for a 2011 f150 6.2, loved that truck by the way!
Never felt completely satisfied so I bought a tune from SCT, was much happier with that tune. Later decided to have a guy a couple hours away build me a custom tune with his dyno and experience.
We tested all the tunes and he was able to improve a bit. Didn't really gain much but got the satisfaction of knowing what my horsepower and torque was and that the engine was running properly. What we had found from the dyno was that the tunes from 5 star tuning were lean, lean enough, if I would have pulled something heavy or spent much time racing up and down a track I probably would have melted the engine down, it was not a good scenario. Now the SCT tune was near-perfect and he wasn't able to gain much over that tune. We actually lost a couple of horsepower but gained about 8 foot pounds of torque more.
I suppose it's quite possible that five star makes good Tunes and have a lot of happy customers, I can't say yay or nay, but in my case their Tunes were not safe for me to run in that truck.
So since the tunes you were running were from five star my guess is that the Tunes we're not safe for your engine and therefore the cause of your failure. Could have been something else but quite likely based on my experience with them.

 

[Hack_Actual]

DAMMIT! I made it all the way through Sharknado only to find out the end was a cliffhanger and I had to watch Sharknado 2 to get closure... Well, at least the sequel had the pictures promised in the original! ?

@Project Midnight, my man, glad to see that everything eventually worked out for you and that you're getting truck back. Especially happy to see that @Stage3Motorsports turned out to be the good guys most of us thought they were.

Seriously though, no trilogy man, we've all had enough Sharknado...

 

[Project Midnight]

Me too. For all we know it could have been low on oil or had the wrong oil.

Ford did the oil changes, and I switched to full synthetic after 5,000 miles... Ford never mentioned low oil levels, no check engine lights, etc, as an issue... but if an oil pump is going out, is there a failure lamp for that besides “RED LIGHT< LOW OIL PRESSURE”... I feel like the oil pump went south, and a blanket sweep of “all the mods” covered them.... which again, I knew what I was going into to make my truck faster... sometimes, “you have to pay to play”. Just Don’t blanket sweep me with “all the mods”... just saying

 

[Project Midnight]

DAMMIT! I made it all the way through Sharknado only to find out the end was a cliffhanger and I had to watch Sharknado 2 to get closure... Well, at least the sequel had the pictures promised in the original! ?

@Project Midnight, my man, glad to see that everything eventually worked out for you and that you're getting truck back. Especially happy to see that @Stage3Motorsports turned out to be the good guys most of us thought they were.

Seriously though, no trilogy man, we've all had enough Sharknado...

LMAO Justin ? Some times I watch Sharknado... It’s been a shark fest lol

 

[Project Midnight]

LMAO!!! I know... it’s coming ??

 

[TORQUERULES]

Ford has made a point of reinforcing ringlands on the 2.3 EB. The 2.3 is more likely to toss a rod before a piston falls apart. Every engine has a weak point.

Perfect storm

It is nice that our longblock assembly has more in common with the Focus RS than the Mustang and other 2.3 Ecoboosts. Beefier and lessons learned form high power applications...

 

[TORQUERULES]

LMAO!!! I know... it’s coming ??

Best forum gif ever.

 

[Project Midnight]

I’ve noticed a lot of engineers, retired etc, are monitoring this thread, some seem Ford related... so when you look at these photos, what are you visually looking at, to determine what failed?? By all means, please school me, I’m asking sincerely... What are you guys looking at, with these photos, that make you comment the way you are... I’m extremely curious to see what you’re seeing... I just want to seize an opportunity to educate myself... If some of you could explain??

 

[dtech]

gotta save some stuff for season 3

 

[HenryMac]

Project Midnights truck was making 304 hp / 370 ft-lbs of torque... at the wheels. That's about a 60 hp increase over stock.

Ford Performance tune is 315 hp / 370 ft-lbs of torque... at the crankshaft. That's about a 45 hp increase over stock. Ford Performance Parts Ranger Tune Spec's:

A stock Ranger Lariat put down 243 rear wheel HP and 267 rear wheel lb-ft on the Hennessey Performance Dynojet chassis dyno. This Ford is conservatively making 270 HP & 310 lb-ft torque at the motor. 2019 Ford Ranger Baseline Chassis Dyno Testing

 

[TORQUERULES]

Ford did the oil changes, and I switched to full synthetic after 5,000 miles... Ford never mentioned low oil levels, no check engine lights, etc, as an issue... but if an oil pump is going out, is there a failure lamp for that besides “RED LIGHT< LOW OIL PRESSURE”... I feel like the oil pump went south, and a blanket sweep of “all the mods” covered them.... which again, I knew what I was going into to make my truck faster... sometimes, “you have to pay to play”. Just Don’t blanket sweep me with “all the mods”... just saying

By the time the "idiot light" for low oil pressure goes off, it is often low enough to cause damage or the damage is already done. Don't take offense to the term I used, this is what us older 50+ guys often call lights that substitute a proper gauge.

Every truck should be riddled with gauges, just like a performance car. The engines in both are worked much harder than your average grocery getter.

 

[HenryMac]

By the time the "idiot light" for low oil pressure goes off, it is often low enough to cause damage or the damage is already done. Don't take offense to the term I used, this is what us older 50+ guys often call lights that substitute a proper gauge.

Every truck should be riddled with gauges, just like a performance car. The engines in both are worked much harder than your average grocery getter.

With all the technology already in the truck... you should be able to select whatever gauges you want via the menu and have them displayed on the center screen.

Yeah, I know there aftermarket versions available... I'm just saying it should be available on the stock truck.

 

[Vitis805]

so when you look at these photos, what are you visually looking at, to determine what failed??

The rod separated itself from your crankshaft and then went through your block...the massive hole that drained all your oil is what gave you your low oil light, not an oil pump failure. In my experience, a rod failure like this indicates a detonation problem, and to me, that would be LSPI (as mentioned above) or a tune that was too lean. Once you start building an engine, it has always been my knowledge to have the tune built to your specific table on a dyno. Mail-in tunes scare me for this particular reason.

Other common reasons for catastrophic engine failure are dropped valves. This is exactly what it sounds like. When you mis-shift or hold on to a gear too long and bring it past redline for too long, the weakest link will fail and that is usually the tiny little valve and not the huge connecting rods and bolts. The valve will quite literally drop or stretch into the combustion chamber, make contact with the piston at high velocity, and become shrapnel inside your engine.

There are a lot of variables, but my history in amateur motorsports has shown these two reasons to be the most common cause of failure. Oil pump failures were rare, even in older cars pushed to the limit for hours. With all due respect and friendliness I highly doubt your brand new and robust oil pump failed on your average commute.

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