Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting HELP !! Blown SVT engine, what to do ?

Any oil in the coolant? It had to go somewhere ... totally different failure mode tan mine FWIW - mine ran until the day it was pulled (just not very well and for not much longer).

OK, It sounds more like a valvetrain problem (finger followers/lash adjusters/cam) than the whole engine being toast.I will PM you a company that could move the car to Mi.FWIW I have had cars here from Tx/NJ etc and engines & transmissions from all over.We try to work to help our customers and explain the 'guts' of any problem.I know the distance is a problem but we offer the best(be it the smallest !) specialist Contour shop in the USA...my 2 cents!!! Terry Haines, HMS Inc

The clicking/tapping could be a bunch of things (injectors also come to mind). The valvetrain could have gone south due to lack of oiling, but the "sludgy" nature of the oil raises other questions. A blown head gasket can cause a leak between coolant and oil passages. Was the coolant clean? Up to level? How recently had the oil been changed? No oil can cause an engine to seize, which is somewhat consistent with the shut it down then froze totally.
The other question in my mind is that the ticking is consistent with reported water pump failures, which seem to be the number one cause of engine failure on this board. Lack of cooling allows metal to expand, and can cause rotating/reciprocating components to weld togethor, freezing a motor. Its possible that you had an oddball failure (warped head/blown headgasket) of its own accord, or a problem with the previous oil change, but if the coolant is clean, try pulling the water pump belt, and turning the snout by hand. Loose shaft? Funny sounds?
If the engine heat seized (rotating assembly will not turn, then a new short block probably is the best route. The fact that it wouldn't turn over after the problem is not really consistent with a valvetrain problem (bound valvetrain can bind the crank through the cam chain, but the cam chain sprockets have keys which are supposed to shear). I would expect louder noises if the valvetrain bound but the keys did not shear.
If the water pump is trashed, document the daylights out of it, because the number of reported problems is starting to sound like a class action, which could help in the long run.

Thanks for the comments, Carl and all. I am formulating the steps I need to take .... I know I can't/don't want to leave it at the dealer lot, I don't think I trust em as far as I can throw the car .... trying to decide if I should have it sent home or figure out now where to have it fixed and not have to double-move it.
I am contacting the Wash. DC/northern VA audience to see if any of them are capable and willing to completely diagnose and fix my beastie. Thanks again all, I will be back later.

hello I am in the same boat, my mechanic said today that my engine seems to have #1 cyl. no compression,3 possible connecting rods bent. he wont touch it so I need someone who can work on it, Protech said they dont want to do a 3.0L conversion. I was driving one day and heard a light clicking sounde like a valve job. I drove it to work one day and it went crazy,the tapping got super loud an the check engine light started flashing,sounded like monkeys under the hood with hammers. any way I have the money to fix ,but I am a firefighter in the Air Force and am deployed in GA. and I am going to the big sand box in a few

HMS Inc, 616-874-1148 in Mi

brokesvt,
That sounds almost EXACTLY what happened to me and my SVT -- the only difference is, I had NO warning light come on, like you did.
I've had others telling me that Ford refuses to foot any part of the bill with such a problem. But I say -- if I had it maintained, if I had the oil change done very recently, and had just checked things a couple days before it happened, and then NO warning light come on, then how the heck am I supposed to know ?!? I mean, give me a break !!
Many have told me that Ford has given them the runaround, failed to answer letters and emails, refuses to absorb customer costs, etc. etc. If Ford is going to simply kick people to the curb on this matter, then I say -- those who are in the same boat oughta get together and back Ford into a corner they seem to well-deserve ! How about it, all ?

If you go to the forums section of www.blueovalnews.com, you'll see that there are some Ford techs who want to sue Ford. A major issue is that Ford has cut its book rate on warranty jobs.

brucer, thanks for the comments. I tried your link, but the page that opened said, "The page cannot be displayed. The page you are looking for is currently unavailable." Maybe the site was down for maintenance or something.

Take out the comma at the end.

TB