Think I Threw a Rod....

[Sheepdog]

i think it.....and it happens.
sometimes i just have to look where i want to go, and i end up there by some magical force.

That would be funny, but I have been to so many fatal motorcycle collisons, and even when I didn't go to the scene, I have been asked by our traffic division to perform forensic examination of motorcycles involved in fatal collisons because of my background, and I see the same two things, over, and over, and over- attempting to use the rear brake while in motion, and not knowing how to effectively and accurately steer the motorcycle.

The needless loss of human life is a tragedy...

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[FoD]

Here's Rod getting thrown...clear pic too!

 

[HenryMac]

thats probably not an accurate assumption

the damage we see could very well be after a part failed from oil starvation
if the oil flow stopped, the whole intake/exhaust valve system is at risk of failure.
from the timing chain, to the tappets and the valves.
the drive home would have been sufficient to spread the damage all around.

Perhaps, but the failure you are describing would likely show up in more than one cylinder.

I get why Project Midnight drove it after the oil pump light came on. But expecting Ford to determine why the engine failed, after driving it while it was eating itself up is probably not even possible at this point.

Maybe a company that specializes in such tear downs could determine that, or the R&D folks at Ford that do destructive testing on motors, but a technician at a car dealership? Probably not since it was driven after failure.

 

[TORQUERULES]

Interesting you bring this up. I am reluctant to stray from Ford's recommend oil specifications yet the owner of UPR told me a 'heavier' oil specifically synthetic - would make my engine run smoother.

I'm a little confused ?

In my case I am seeing less dilution of the oil with the 5W-40. I know a lot of Ecoboost Mustang guys as well as Mazdaspeed guys run a 40 weight oil and it seems to help. Rotella used to be big in the Mazdaspeed community.

 

[JAKE2.3]

Couple things. First off, @TORQUERULES is bang on about the spark plugs. When you tune these motors, definitely go one step colder on the plugs. Most tuners require it. I went with the new rutheniums from ngk in my mustang. Great plugs. Pricey, but great.

Second: I will always recommend a catch can on these motors as well. I know there's some debate there, but I stand my ground on that one. Not sure if OP has one or not, I can't remember.

LSPI: Very much a problem on these motors. And I suspect it will continue to claim victims in this manner in the future. These motors hate to be lugged. I was always very diligent about not lugging my mustang motor. After I tuned it, and started monitoring my knock counts, I was shocked to see my driving habits were still inducing knock. I now rev it a touch higher in highway gears, downshift more often to avoid it. Essentially I had to adjust my driving habits to avoid it.

I hate how much these trucks lug the transmissions. I drove yesterday coming into town, let off the gas a bit down to 25 mph and still in 7th gear at 1000 rpms. It's insane. I'd like to see that drop back a couple gears and raise the rpm's a bit. All it takes is a quick stab at the throttle, a slow shift on the transmissions part, and boom. Textbook lspi.

Again, I'm no expert. Just have a little experience with this motor in 2 different vehicles now. I think there could have been a lot of factors playing into this blown motor, and we may likely never know the true cause. I only ramble on so that maybe others can avoid the same misfortune.

 

[TORQUERULES]

Couple things. First off, @TORQUERULES is bang on about the spark plugs. When you tune these motors, definitely go one step colder on the plugs. Most tuners require it. I went with the new rutheniums from ngk in my mustang. Great plugs. Pricey, but great.

Second: I will always recommend a catch can on these motors as well. I know there's some debate there, but I stand my ground on that one. Not sure if OP has one or not, I can't remember.

LSPI: Very much a problem on these motors. And I suspect it will continue to claim victims in this manner in the future. These motors hate to be lugged. I was always very diligent about not lugging my mustang motor. After I tuned it, and started monitoring my knock counts, I was shocked to see my driving habits were still inducing knock. I now rev it a touch higher in highway gears, downshift more often to avoid it. Essentially I had to adjust my driving habits to avoid it.

I hate how much these trucks lug the transmissions. I drove yesterday coming into town, let off the gas a bit down to 25 mph and still in 7th gear at 1000 rpms. It's insane. I'd like to see that drop back a couple gears and raise the rpm's a bit. All it takes is a quick stab at the throttle, a slow shift on the transmissions part, and boom. Textbook lspi.

Again, I'm no expert. Just have a little experience with this motor in 2 different vehicles now. I think there could have been a lot of factors playing into this blown motor, and we may likely never know the true cause. I only ramble on so that maybe others can avoid the same misfortune.

Taller tires can also add to the issue by essentially making the overall ratios higher. I HATE, HATE, HATE the lugging. Torrie at Unleashed said he can work on this some more for me, but it will take some datalogging, etc. to find out exactly what conditions it is more prone to doing this and change its behavior. This transmission has different tables for different conditions. The truck needs 4:30 gears minimum in my opinion...

I find myself selecting a lower gear manually quite often to prevent lugging.

 

[Racket]

Has anyone speculated on an issue with an injector?

 

[TORQUERULES]

Has anyone speculated on an issue with an injector?

Possible, but I would think it would have thrown a code.

 

[JAKE2.3]

Taller tires can also add to the issue by essentially making the overall ratios higher. I HATE, HATE, HATE the lugging. Torrie at Unleashed said he can work on this some more for me, but it will take some datalogging, etc. to find out exactly what conditions it is more prone to doing this and change its behavior. This transmission has different tables for different conditions. The truck needs 4:30 gears minimum in my opinion...

I find myself selecting a lower gear manually quite often to prevent lugging.

Torrie is the one doing the tuning on my mustang, and in my opinion, he's absolutely wonderful. The mustang being a manual though, I have fewer lugging issues. I really wish I could have gotten the ranger in a manual. I find myself locking out the upper couple gears all the time to help with lugging. I could tune the ranger and smooth some of that out, but I haven't decided on tuning it yet.

 

[TORQUERULES]

Torrie is the one doing the tuning on my mustang, and in my opinion, he's absolutely wonderful. The mustang being a manual though, I have fewer lugging issues. I really wish I could have gotten the ranger in a manual. I find myself locking out the upper couple gears all the time to help with lugging. I could tune the ranger and smooth some of that out, but I haven't decided on tuning it yet.

Torrie has addressed some of the lugging with his base tune, but it is still there and crops up for myself living in WV (mountains and hills everywhere). For more level areas, what he has done is pretty good and would be a fit for many folks. I just know lugging is bad... His tune is nice and smooth and really gathers speed quickly without being harsh and overly dramatic. You can tell it is much more refined that others.

 

[TORQUERULES]

Torrie is the one doing the tuning on my mustang, and in my opinion, he's absolutely wonderful. The mustang being a manual though, I have fewer lugging issues. I really wish I could have gotten the ranger in a manual. I find myself locking out the upper couple gears all the time to help with lugging. I could tune the ranger and smooth some of that out, but I haven't decided on tuning it yet.

I emailed Torrie today about what I am looking for as specifically as I can. Sport mode seems to be perfect other than overly aggressive rpm holding for normal driving, so I told him that if tweaking Normal mode is too hard then a copy of Sport with less aggressive rpm holding would do. I could keep it from going into the overdrives until at least 2000rpm and normal throttle (1/4 or less) I would be happy.

 

[JAKE2.3]

I emailed Torrie today about what I am looking for as specifically as I can. Sport mode seems to be perfect other than overly aggressive rpm holding for normal driving, so I told him that if tweaking Normal mode is too hard then a copy of Sport with less aggressive rpm holding would do. I could keep it from going into the overdrives until at least 2000rpm and normal throttle (1/4 or less) I would be happy.

I wish ford was listening to this ha. This is exactly how I think it should feel. Maybe I should just bite the bullet and tune it. So far I'm loving his e30 tune on the mustang. Tons of power, but so smooth in delivery.

 

[JTDay]

This truck is my first automatic vehicle and while I think the 10 speed is pretty sweet (S mode is really impressive), I really think these trucks would be awesome with a manual. The lugging is pretty eye opening as far as gaining a better understanding of why the new oil formulations (or maybe just the new tests) are so critical with balancing protection and fuel economy. In the MS3, I just did the standard no WOT before 3k and never in 5th or 6th unless I was already at a speed that justified it (too fast for me these days). I had a stratified e30 tune on that car and the only knock events I ever had were very minor spool induced knock and the weird massive counts of part throttle knock that everyone said wasn't an issue. I'm nervous to look at the Rangers logs now. It sounds like the LSPI on these things might be a rod buster unless you are pretty diligent with monitoring logs and sensors in real time.

 

[TORQUERULES]

I wish ford was listening to this ha. This is exactly how I think it should feel. Maybe I should just bite the bullet and tune it. So far I'm loving his e30 tune on the mustang. Tons of power, but so smooth in delivery.

Lol. I hear you. I have the E50 tune as well as his other octane tunes for the Ranger. I run 93 mostly. I have found that E50 and 93 Performance are very close in power for most daily driving so not having to mix is nice. 1/2 throttle up to WOT is where the E50 shines. The engine does run cleaner and there is less in the catch can which is very interesting...

 

[TORQUERULES]

This truck is my first automatic vehicle and while I think the 10 speed is pretty sweet (S mode is really impressive), I really think these trucks would be awesome with a manual. The lugging is pretty eye opening as far as gaining a better understanding of why the new oil formulations (or maybe just the new tests) are so critical with balancing protection and fuel economy. In the MS3, I just did the standard no WOT before 3k and never in 5th or 6th unless I was already at a speed that justified it (too fast for me these days). I had a stratified e30 tune on that car and the only knock events I ever had were very minor spool induced knock and the weird massive counts of part throttle knock that everyone said wasn't an issue. I'm nervous to look at the Rangers logs now. It sounds like the LSPI on these things might be a rod buster unless you are pretty diligent with monitoring logs and sensors in real time.

The only logs where I saw very little if any knock retard was with the E50 tune. 93 is pretty good as well, but the OAR has to be .96 or above for this to occur. If it is lower then you will see a lot of timing pulled. Maintaining a good OAR is key to not only power with these engines but also safety.

These engines operate on the edge of knock. Its a crazy concept, but it is a reality for many small displacement forced induction or high compression engines nowadays. No matter the manufacturer. That is why finding a good tuner is key. When I actually heard pinging with the 5-Star tune that is where I drew the line.

I am actually not sure how bad LSPI is with the 2.3 Ecoboost, but with any engine like it there is the chance. I do not think it is any worse than other engines that are similar. It may actually be better. Eco-Boom seems to be less likely that some of the issues some poor Mazdaspeed owners have had to deal with.

BTW, Stratified tune for my Mazdaspeed here as well...

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