Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting CALLING OUT ALL OIL STARVATION VICTIMS

So it just happened to me and I wanted to get a showing of who else has fallen victim to this engineering flaw.

please let me know what your end results were as well. i.e. I got a new engine and Ford picked up the bill. OR I traded the contour in as is and got a different vehicle.

By the way, if any of you that have had the problem could email tmauger@ford.com and give him your VIN# and your case history of the problem that would help get it noticed. He works at SVT and seems to want to help get our problems heard.

Thanks

how did yours end up happening? like speed, type of driving, and what kida oil were you using? Good luck working with that guy!

Yeah, I need to know this. Exactly how hard and how long and how often are you guys pulling these right hand turns? I'm almost afraid to dive into a turn.

I just remembered this at the END of a long right-hand sweeper I liked to take in my Zetec becuase with a brush of the brake at the end the car goes into a niiiiice little drift, so I just did it with my 76k-mile Duratec and then I thought "OH ****!!!" and took it easy. This is a 270-degree ramp and I had the tires whinnying the whole way. If I did any damage, how would I know?

What, did Robert Yates design the oil pickup for the Duratec?

I should be getting my tour back today.I had the same problem,Ford paid for it.How it happened to me was a hard right getting on the freeway at 65mph.Oil light flashed then constant,then CEL.End result was a spun bearing.My next step after I get the car back is the Accusump!

Keep the list going. Mine happened on a 5 second 270 degree right hand sweeper entering the Highway. I was trying to keep pace with an Audi A4 in front of me. 41k miles I use Penzoil. CEL came on and the knocking started about a mile later.

Coors & PPG, what was your oil level? RPMs? Also, type of oil & filter? Just keeping track..

Thanks, & sorry about the luck guys.

oil level was half way between full and fill. RPMS were about 5800. I think 10w30 penzoil and not sure about the filter.

Oil level was 5.8 due to change on the previos morning. 5w30 Motorcraft oil.(don't shoot me)Fram filter. R's about 5.5k. 2nd on ATX. HEAVY throttle. $hit filter,too heavy on gas,low gear,hard right,=NO GOOD.

This whole oil starvation thing is still very mysterious to me. I mean I've taken hard sweeping right hand turns before, nailing the gas. In fact i do it several times a week on a nice exit ramp that's about 100 degrees coming home from work. I always keep the oil level at the top of full (easy to do since my car never burns any oil).

It just seems like there must be more to the situation than meets the eye. With all the Contour V-6s out there, and people autocrossing, it would seem that there would be more of these problems than we see. I think we need a bunch of failed engine teardowns to see what the common thread is on the internals. Something internally must fail for this to happen. I mean before the turn and the bearing spins.

Stingray,

I do exactly what you do - I have a sharp 90 degree right-hand turn that I take at about 80km/h two-three times per week. No problems yet - car is still under warranty and I have that blanket though.

just my personal opinion, but I think that with every hard right if you are not running a full amount of oil you have the possiblility of spinning the bearings. It could just wear away little by little and finally it is the next right hander that does you in. Not always happening all at once but a cumulation of many times. I don't know we'll have to see when they get my engine apart.

Hmm i dont know.. Do you race your car alot?? Do you floor it from everystop light?? I did with my old SVT and I blew my engine. I think this whole right hand turn thing is BS. I have taken plenty of sharp right and left hand turns. I have had no problems.

good call......i could see it happening...but with 55000 on the clock, a vortech blower, and MANY hard sharp fast turns in my area.......hhhmmm maybe ppl are just having bad luck....i ALWAYS make sure my oil is right on the full mark when im out though

"I think this whole right hand turn thing is BS."

Sorry but I do not. I talked to alot of racers, SVE people etc about this. Too many cases involving basically right offramps. Not quick right turns (not even soloII) but typically long sustained right sweepers with high RPMs and a flicker of low oil pressure light too late. This strongly suggests insufficient oil at the oilpickup. Yes, it does not occur everytime someone does this, may be a cummulative injury as Coors said, or involve the g forces attained , the angle of the road, the actual level of oil in the pan.

Solutions,
1) Accusump (probably best & most expensive). If I ran track I would do this.
2) Baffeled oil pan - Kit $125 from SHO -Shop. Best veiwed as partial protection. Under racing conditions still had some oil pressure flux without Accusump but baffels reduced it.
3) Just avoid high gs & RPMs on long right offramps. Short hard right turns are fine, but 5-10 sec of 1.0g+ could cost a motor.

The other issue involving spun bearings is crank whip (see recent threads re "dual mode damper"). This is for the ones that did not involve high gs. Separate issue with a different but effective solution.

Dont shoot the messenger, dont like it any more than you but with the appropriate fixes the Duratec should be "dura"ble. Or you can blow me off and ***** & moan.

Well, my engine failed after a dealer replaced the front main seal and oil pan gasket. I have a feeling that they did not install the damper correctly on my car, because I noticed a power loss as soon as I picked it up. 15 miles (no right or left turns other than normal in town corners) later the oil light was flashing and the engine was knocking.

For a complete run-down on my situation, click here and here .

just got the quote from the dealership
they suggest bottom end longblock replacement to the tune of

$6134.67 parts and labor.

Delightful isn't it

But Ford is paying right - because you obviously can do alot better. Terry H. IIRC said he could get NEW 3.0L long blocks (including heads)for $2000. Probably could have the 3L ports polished & move your SVT cams, intake manifold etc + installation for under $2000. Basically, a blown 2.5L out of warranty is mearly an excuse to get a 3L.

What we need is MORE left hand on ramps

I take ramps fast all the time, never had a problem yet, It is related, but its like the hit or miss quality with the cr in general, I have a "young" motor, (21000) but I have zero problem out of the car. (gonna go find some wood)

No, Ford is not covering it. This is why I need to prove my point to them. It is easy to just let it go if it is still under warranty but I am 8 months or 5k miles over my warranty. I was never offered an extended and didn't bother to look into one until it was past due. Might be an excuse for a 3L but still need a good mechanic since Terry is 2500 miles away unfortunately. Although for what ford is charging me I could probably fly Terry out, house and feed him while he installs the engine and then fly him home.

Ford is not covering it! How far are you from the SHO-Shop (its somewhere in Ca)? They can install a new 3L short block with your 2.5 heads for aroud $3500 IIRC. Terry can ship the 3L longblock to them as well. Check out these options before giving 6K to Ford. Good luck.

Coors,

You need to go back to your dealer and explain to him that this type of failure is not something that just happens OVERNIGHT. Being only 5000 miles out of warranty, is not a good enough reason to deny your claim.
STRONGLY SUGGEST that he contact his FORD Field Service Manager and ask if FORD would approve of the engine being rebuilt, for customer satisfaction reasons.

Do what I do. Say to your Service Manger, "Excuse me, but if you CAN'T Approve the rebuild of my defective engine, lets ask someone at FORD, who has the authority to APPROVE IT, and it won't cost YOU or YOUR DEALERSHIP a cent to try."

Make sure that you know when this FIELD SERVICE MANAGER will be at the dealership. YOU NEED TO BE THERE TO TALK TO HIM.

His decision will determine if FORD will or won't pay, and his decision has no affect on your dealer's status with FORD.

DON'T GIVE IN TO THESE BA$TARD$.


Pete...

Coors,check PM's,2.5 repair $1000 labor + parts.Long block 3.0 @ $2000 etc etc check mail!

Thanks for all the advice guys. The next step is going home and coming up with maintenance records to show them. I'm not sure how accurate some will be since I did some of the oil changes and I don't think I saved my receipt to pepboys for the parts.

Terry: All pending on how the dealership responds, you could very well be getting a call from me to work something out with the 2.5 or 3.0L

Thanks again gents!

Coors, sorry to hear about this. I'm just wondering, did they say anything about your KKM, resonator, dynomax, etc? They didn't try and pull any of that BS did they?

Thanks.
No they didn't say anything about that stuff. As well they shouldn't.

That's good. If anything the KKM and dynomax help prolong the life of the car. Doesn't have to work so hard to inhale and exhale.
Good luck.

My 2.5L bit it after a sharp right hairpin. Oil was 5W30, at the low end before add. Rev's were about 5500 being held through the turn. Low pressure light came on and the revs droped. After that noticed a 'ticking' from the engine, when the engine was turning 2800+ RPM with little load. Changed the oil the next day. Then the day after that, the ticking got louder, then it was knocking, and then the power droped and I started heading for the sholder.
The engine was at 148,000miles- regular oil/filter every 3000-3500 miles. only other failure was the POS waterpump at 115k, impeller cracked in two, right down the center.
I loved my contour but after I bought it in 96 for $23k - optioned out SE - and now I can find them in the paper for $7000, its going to cost me almost as much as the car is worth to fix it. Local shop wanted $6500 to put in new long block,so I got a 60k mile 2.5l from a local yard for $1300, then they wanted $3500 to do the swap for me ?!#* - So now I am putting in the engine, and as soon as I get the engine in- I am seriously looking at getting out of the contour club!

Nothing personal, it's a Ford Thing!

sorry to hear about your Tour. By the way you were telling the story it sounded action for action the way it went down with my car. I'm really having a hard time believing that the sweeping right hand corner is just a coincidence. Good luck with your car.

I was told by a Duratec engineer that the best thing that we could do for cheap is run a half quart over the full line- that should help-
FYI the oil pan in the duratecs is about 3/4 quart too small for the motor because so much oil stays up in the cams area- gets too much air in it and then when you need it its still up there trying to get back to the oil pickup -
so run a 1/2 quart high and it should be ok.

Me like what me hear. I've been running six myself, since 6.5qts sounds a little high IMO, but this definitely sounds like a cheap, good precaution for those who like to hang those righthand corners tight!

I thought overfilling was bad for the engine? Puts too much strain/pressure on it or something. Is this safe to do?

Thanks,
- Zack

I know after I get this sucker fixed I will be over filling the oil 6-6.5 qts. It is an expensive lesson to learn though.

Good info Horse! Did the engineer have any comment on the crankshaft areating the oil at the 6.5 quart mark - is this likely to happen? Did he have any other comments about this? I have been running 6.0 myself, may have to go to 6.3.

Just wanted to update. Ford has offered to pay for half of the costs so I gave them the go ahead today. Full engine replacement with radiator, waterpump... the works. Not sure if I'll hang on to the car after the work is done, but I guess I have a little time to think about it. Should be back on the road in 3-4 weeks. Thanks everyone for your support.

Mine just went out tonight! How much are they charging you? Will they do that for me?

I just suffered from a blown engine yest. when i went on an on ramp, one i go on all the time at high speeds, the light flicked on real quick. But the engine didnt blow for another 15-20 miles. Now i take this ramp everyday at high speeds oil was fine jsut checked it the day before. now it looks like mud.

I run 6 qts of oil in my SVT and have taken this one ramp (26mile to M-53, in MI) HEAPS of times at at least 0.8G going right, as fast as I can, with my tires on the limit of adhesion (squealing). No problem as of yet. I think the fact that I have a sway bar (keeps car flatter) and the fact that I run a fulls six quarts in it helps. But who knows?

Does anyone have the actual number of contours that have blown their engines?

Last time I tried to figure it out is was around 20 on this board. But I know it's more than that.

If you have a good guess or know that number please post it.

Coors, got the number for Ford that I can call regarding them paying for half also?

Make that 21!! My 98SVT with 46,000 died last night.

"I think the fact
that I have a sway bar (keeps car flatter) and the fact that I run a fulls six
quarts in it helps."

Sway bar! Very interesting thought Aussie - I've been thinking about this starvation issue for a year and did not think about keeping the car move level. It sure cant hurt..

call Ford customer Car 1.800.392.3673 and file a complaint. They will contact the Service manager at your local dealership and then tell you to get your records in order and fax them over to the service manager. It is scary the number of Tours that are going out right now. I am going to forward this link to Troy at SVT and also try to get it through to John Colletti the head over at SVE.

If you have or have had a blown engine, keep posting, it's the only way to get this recognized.

Thanks everyone,

Chad

I blew my engine on my old 95SE with 95K on the clock back in June.

Since I replaced the engine and sold it to someone else, could I get a reimburement from Ford?

I was driving any sweeping turns - engine just blew without any notice. And the oil level was high enough, so oil starvation was not the problem here.

i think my motor is about to blow... from what people have been saying by the noise... its ticking pretty bad now. so im guessing ill be joining the blown motor club!

Having it looked at before it goes could save you a lot of money and time. Avoid damage to the block. Keep us posted.

I wonder as well, what about the years of the cars? I autocross all the time, hard hard rights. My car has also been known to burn a little oil runs about a half quart low at times. BUt I have pushed it hard very very hard through right handers, even had the ass end swap with the fron end on one autocross track but I have never had a problem.

Oh well as long as they are picking up the bill!

Update: Talked with the dealer today and the car should be ready in a week. I will give them the Great turn around award. Which is nice since I'm driving around in a 4 banger Cavalier. (No offense to Cav drivers, just not my cup o tea).

I am keeping on Ford to find out what is happening to my old engine and what they might find out caused the thing to blow in the first place. I'll get back to the thread with any info they pass on to me.

Haven't heard anything back from Troy at SVT yet (sent him 3 different emails) Hopefully he is just busy and will respond soon.

Keep us updated on what happens for those of you with recently blown Tours.

Ladies and Gentlemen, That was a horrible end to such an important thread...

And the worst part is she's probably fat, ugly, and has no people skills.

Where is a Moderator when you need one?

I lost a motor at 85k. #6 con rod bearing spun, most likely due to lack of oil there. Same symptoms everyone else reports. Knocking under light load, turning louder, then it died. Ran regular dino oil. Died after a long steady drive- NY to CO straight. Worked OK for the next two weeks, but was makin' the "noise". Replaced out of my own pocket w/a 96' motor.

Hope this helps...

link man you got a live one here.
did someone say stalker???

Thanks for the post Bicycle019 every post helps and we need to keep track of these engines blowing. Hopefully Ford will take notice. I would say hold on to your receipts, you never know when there will be a recall.

well mine is officially gone.... found out today and ford is going to replace it but they want to see recites (sp?) for oil changes. i have to dig them up some how

What happened since the last time i checked the board? hey Rick (yonker?) if that was you you're embarrassing me! Knock it off!

Coors while you are at it, ask them about the "dual mode" damper and why Cougar and Mondeo got them but Contour did not. Ask them if crank whip is a good thing. Ask them if the spun bearings might not be related to "whipping cranks" and if perhaps they could fix that problem before a bunch more persons need new motors. And a bigger, baffeled oil pan would be nice while they are at it.

Good news is my father was able to push an email through to John Colletti and he is aware of the blown engine thing. He said they did not know of any problems with the 2.5 before but they will look into it. I guess time will tell if anything is going to be done. We might just be a few of the unlucky people who got bad engines. Don't know, but would like to find out. I'll keep this thread updated with any new info.

so any idea what the final number is to this point of bad duratec motors? i mentioned it to the service manager where my car is... he was also saying synthetic oil isnt any good... it doesnt help as much as claimed

I updated Troy at SVT's email address at the beginning of this thread. Seems I had an old address listed before. He was nice enough to call me at work and find out what was going on with the car. Talked briefly about what went wrong and he is going to give the dealership a call. Honestly, he stated that there might not be much he can do but would try anyway. Also let him know if the engineers do take a look at the engine and find anything out to give me a call or email with any info that might come from that.

He did recomend for those of you that like to drive really aggressive or race, that baffling or an oil pump system would be a good idea for added security. He also mentioned he was a little weary of putting extra oil in the car due to the fact that whipping/foaming might occur.

Overall I would say it was nice to receive the personal call from Troy at SVT to let me know the emails and this thread have not gone unoticed. That's it for now.

WTF? Ford isn't going to pay for anything! I have to pay $5000 for a motor on a car with 68,000 miles on it!

Just got off the phone with Ford and still can't get help. Anybody know what my next option should be?

Bend over and grab your ankles? That's what I did. Nassar isn't that big, no matter what you have heard.

Did you already call Ford Customer Care to see if they could lend you any assistance? 68K is not that many miles and your engine should not have gone. Email Troy at SVT. Call Cutomer Care and make sure and talk with the Service Manager at your dealership. That is about all I could advise. good luck

Damn, I am amazed at everyone who has blown these 2.5's.

Blew mine last year, spun bearing. It's not an SVT, I would've been even more p!ssed.

Let's keep raising hell.

O PLEASE! You know why he's saying that?! Cause he can charge you $6500 for not using it! He's a pirate - go somewhere else.

I love running my 2.5 at 5.5 - and it loves running there too! Do it all the time. But I'd be afraid to do it with dinosaur juice in it.

If its any help,we would gladly repair/rebuild any 2.5 Duratec that is out of warranty.I'm sure we are more cost effective than your dealer.Can also get you new engines cheaper etc.Regards Terry Haines, HMS Inc

I wish I still lived back in michigan

did i havew a problem with my engine? of course in january at 80000 i had to exchange the engine for a new one, well it's november and allready i exchaned fuel injectors, valves. i mean come on i paid over $3000 for engine and allready i have problems with it the engine that i bought had 40000 on it. THIS IS GETTING REALLY ANNOYING< and i allready started thinking about not getting another ford as long as i can leave

95 contour 2.5 V6 DOHC

Like I said,you where to send it......

Where is that?? Any good FORD SHOPS?