Be very afraid boys and girls!!!
Well, after 39K nearly trouble free miles, I left Colorado for California and it turned into the vacation from hell.
Made it to Dillon CO, secondary cooling system empty, trans temps getting high, no power. Summit Ford in Silverthorn CO tossed on a new secondary cooling lower hose clamp that someone forgot to install, filled me up with coolant, washed the truck and camper to get the coolant off and put me back on the road!
Somewhere in Utah I noticed a sharp rap on the windshield. Thinking the car in front of me kicked up something, I eyeballed the windshield for a fresh nick saw nothing kept on trucking. Now anyone who travels I-15 towards Vegas know the wind can really blow. Pulling an 8K TT that is shaped like a couple of sheets of plywood in the wind really asks for a lot of power. Outside temp approaching 90, head wind, the radiator fan starting cycling which really howls when you’re asking for boost, the transmission shifting down to 3<SUP>rd</SUP> at times, man!
Still, the truck seemed to be down on power and just didn’t sound right. So at next fuel stop (drinking diesel like crazy, maybe 7 or 8 mpg and only running 60-65) I popped the hood. There staring me in the face was the reason for the windshield rap. The washer spray nozzle on the right side was GONE! The washer hoses were dangling, and melted! Next I noticed the intake resonator (that funny shaped black plastic piece plugged into the intake tube) was completely melted down. Further examination yields a ton of soot all over the hood and everything else under the hood. Then I noticed the apparent culprit. The EGR exhaust tube between the manifold and the EGR controller had failed at the joint of the expansion joint and the stainless tube. Great, 1000+ degree exhaust leak under the hood, a lot of other stuff melted/destroyed and heat soaked. Funny (NOT), no CEL. May have thrown a code, but, no CEL!!!
Now I’m camping in the Wally World Parking lot, first day of my vacation has gone to hell and the truck is going to be in the shop, no joy here! My XYL is not a happy camper!
Called the boys at Parkway in Cedar City the next am, took the truck over, their head diesel mechanic could only say ‘Holy Cow’! They managed to get in almost all the parts needed to get me on the road on an ‘emergency’ dispatch. Two days later, back on the road, still needed a couple of damaged, but functional parts replaced, but agreed to take it in to my local dealer on return from vacation to get the repair finished. The mechanic told me that Ford has seen a ‘few’ of these failures. Oh-oh!
Fast forward to today. Truck at dealer, (3<SUP>rd</SUP> day). Certainly the bottom side of the hood needs repair from heat damage. Inner and outer hood separated from the assembly glue cooking and falling out. Paint starting to flake on underside of hood, top still looks okay, but no trust there. EGR actuator to be replaced, and anything else cooked.
Just glad the thing didn’t catch fire! Funny thing, when I was looking at 2011’s, my spidey sense went off on the EGR exhaust connector tube. I remember thinking that if that thing failed, the top of the motor would be cooked. Yikes, premonition came true!
Don’t know if I’ll ever trust the thing completely again. Just praying that this failure was a manufacturing defect and not caused by heat cycling of the part.
My advice, check that EGR exhaust tube OFTEN!!!!

Hole in the hood!

Exhaust leak!


Meltdown!!!!!

 

WOW !!! just WOW !!!

 

Yeah, no kidding!

Man, sorry to hear of your troubles but I'm glad you're all okay. Keep us posted on this. I'm curious to find out everything they have to replace as a result.

 

My goodness. Glad y'all are okay. But what a way to ruin a vacation.

 

I wonder if monitoring EGT's would show something like this.
I have been saying the truck is smart enough to know what's happening and owning the CTS is just a fun toy.
But if EGT1 only reported a few hundred degrees in these conditions when it should be 700+ then it would be a good sign of an issue.
I wonder...

 

Huh...when I read the title I definitely wasn't thinking exhaust leak. Glad to hear that it was relatively minor and that the dealers took care of you! Never heard of this kind of failure before, so with any luck it will be a rare thing.

 

So, it wasn't that anything was loose or not connected correctly, but that the connection just flat failed? Scary. And sorry that it happened while attempting a vacay, sounds like you could use another one!

 

Simply failed at the joint between the expansion joint and the riser tube from the exhaust manifold. D'OH!

jammer Truck too hot to handle!

 

Sorry to hear of the failure but do appreciate you sharing the misfortune.

Now I guess I also need to check my truck to see if all my cooling hose clamps are in place.

I'm with Tom in wondering if the Insight would have given a clue something was wrong with the EGT1; I am only monitoring EGT1 and EGT4, and have yet to tow with the Insight.

Hope that is the last of your troubles.

Did you smell diesel exhaust while this was happening?

Thanks for sharing,

Bob

 

Sounds like what happened to me on my trip to Boston. Are you talking about the metal tube with like flex tube on the passenger side of the motor? If so there is a bolt and a bracket that hold that tube in place. My bolt was missing which let the tube move and crack in the flex tube part of it. I will try to post pictures. Im in the Mustang now.

Tim

 

Very interesting!!! The mechanic in Cedar City told me that when he did the repair, one of the riser tubes bolts was also MISSING!!!

Hello Ford, do we have a problem here????

I strongly suggest that all owners get out a flashlight and check for missing bolts!



jammer

 

Sorry to hear of the bad luck, especially on a vacation! It's convinced me to pull the trigger on an Edge CTS, been looking for an excuse!

Guess the good (?) news if there is any, is that there was no fire. That would have been much worse. Glad to hear no one was hurt.

 

Is this the bolt your truck was missing?

 

My truck did the same thing at 4,000 miles .I noticed the engine was getting louder and louder until it sounded like a dirt track car , made it to dealer and the same pipe as in your pic had cracked and sooted the underside of hood and melted the hoses for windshield washers .they fixed it and no more problems 34,000 miles now.

 

Wish I knew for sure.

Thanks for the feedback!

jammer

Checked my other picture and the bolt missing on my truck was where the bracket bolts to the motor. Wondering if heat cycles is loosening these bolts!!!!

jammer

[URL="[ame=http://www.flickr.com/photos/77918746@N02/7188575351/][/ame]"]http://www.flickr.com/photos/77918746@N02/7188575351/[/ame]