check out grooms engines. They are based out of Nashville I believe. They send you a new engine, and you send they old one to them. They also come with a lifetime warranty. I put one in my old toyota and it worked out great. I just looked them up they are in Nashville and their number is (800)950-7711

 

My sister blew her jeep up in North Carolina a month or two ago. Luckily they were on their way to their friends and her friends dad knew a mechanic. But the bad thing was it was a rod knock and he said it was 3000 plus labor. That was for a 4.7 v8. We got a used motor back here in michigan for 2000 plus labor. Saved almost a grand up here then down there. I dont know what it is down there.

 

Kaw, Did you say how many miles you had on your truck? if you did, I missed it.

oh, IMO, go with a reman engine, well worth the money. and if it is only a shortblock that you need, and not a complete engine, a reman short block may be an option.

Also, (not to pour salt in the wound, but learn from it) did you watch your oil level between changes? I notice my 2004 5.4L uses about a quart in 3500 miles. No smoke, just gone. I end up adding a quart before 5k. 1 quart low puts the oil level at the ADD mark on the dipstick. Low oil levels can cause the oil to bake in and to the engine, especially dino oil. and the increased friction raises engine temps. creating a two-fold problem.

 

I know the national chain I've used puts the 5W30 in it, but I've never looked closer than the weight to see whether it's synthetic or not. Idiot that I am, I've been assuming they're using mfgr recommened oil.

Sigh.[/quote]

THEY SHOULD PUT 5W20 OIL IN IT. USEING 5W30 WILL CAUSE OILING PROBLEMS. I WORK AT A DEALER A REMAN 5.4L SELLS FOR $4200
3YRS/100,000 MI. GOOD AT ANY FORD DEALER NATION WIDE

 

I'd be calling the national chain that put the wrong oil in......

 

Hell, if you want to keep it forever buy a crate engine like they threw in my other 08. they have NEW long blocks available, but I don't know the cost as the dealership put one in my 08 but screwed up some other stuff doing so.

Personally, as I said before, I'd get the dealer to pay it off and buy a new one from them. You'll get 3k if the BB is 13k.

 

I learned years ago to do my own oil have been for the last 15 years that i have been driving. I never took my truck to a place to have the oil done. About 5 years ago a girl i was dating needed an oil change so i say yes ill do it but i was busy so i said just take it to jiffy lube.. So she dose and they see her come in do the oil change. Now she pays and goes out to the parking lot and looks (tought her well) They never changed the oil filter. Just dropped some oil put a little new back in and charged her. Now she and i were pissed she goes back in and tells the mananger and he was shocked.. She said look the filter has the date on it where my B/F changed it last. Your lying to me.. Needless to say the oil was re done and was done for free. (Moral of story ) unless you watch them do it you have no idea what if anything they are doing. Do the oil yourself this way you know what is done and done right.

Mark

 

Thank you all for your advice!

To answer a few questions:
75,000 miles

I randomly check the oil level, and understand I should do it more often. To date it hasn't needed additional oil, but I can't say this is true for every one of the 75,000 miles. This could certainly have been a contributing factor. The oil change places have never reported that it's been low, but they may not always check before draining.

Checked the oil change records I could find. Most did use 5W20, one used 5W30. Could be another contributing factor. I should have looked and verified each time. Lesson learned.

I also went back through my repair records and found that something was replaced every year I've owned this truck, outside of brake pads, tire and oil. So much for my concept of less of a chance of a break down during the early years

I used to routinely change my oil, oil filters and air filters but enjoyed having someone else do it for me over the last 5 years. Looks like it's back to doing it myself. I'll save 20 bucks a pop, and $7500 over the life of the vehicle, no?

Paid to have the POS hauled to Ford's service center. I have a receptive ear there, but am not counting on any help. Regardless of the cause (5w30, dino oil, etc.) I'm still stymied as to why I did not get an indication of oil pressure drop or temperature rise from the sensors.

Wish me luck.

 

The oil pressure gauge is a dummy, If your engine has over I think 7 psi, it registers normal. Just because the oil pressure is low, doesn't mean the engine temp would be high. you would expect it to be, but not necessarily a trait of a low oil pressure problem. Maybe the oil pump failed????

 

Along with what Muddedprairie said, are you sure they actually changed the oil or just added some to make it look good. It could be that the oil was never actually changed and just gummed up from being in the engine too long. I used to work for a VW/Subaru dealer, one had one car come in with a blown engine when we dropped the pan we had to cut the oil out it was like tar, the owner said he always had a chain do his oil change and he never checked it.

 

No, no way to be 100% sure they actually changed it. Just an optimistic belief in honesty. Will probably do my own changes from now on.

More info on the diagnosis for failure:

Engine is knocking from bottom and top end. A sign of bearing failure. Cylinder #4 has no compression and cylinders #8 & #2 have low compression. There are DTC's (diagnostic trouble codes) stored in the vehicle's computer for engine timing which definitely indicates

What causes bearing failure?? Can you tell I'm not mechanically inclined? :-)

 

Lack of lubrication causes bearings to wear prematurly or even gall/sieze and spin. Same with rings, lack of lubrication will cause the cylinders to score and scorch.

 

5w20, 5w30, cheap oil, expensive oil..none of that is likely going to cause your engine to fail like it has. Something else has happened here..maybe the oil pump failed, maybe the oil was never actually changed?

The main reason I do my own maintainence is so I know it is getting done.

Good luck figuring this out.

 

This.

I was going to suggest rebuilding the original engine because you're going to need rebuilt heads too, but with the damage you have, you need a replacement complete engine. This means a used engine from your local 'auto recycler'.
Something went fundamentally wrong. The cheapest 5W30 or even 10W30 on the market, if changed regularly with a new filter, will not cause such a failure. You may get 150,000 miles instead of 250,000 miles, but it will be a slow death. All new engine oil sold meets the minimum standards, making it ten times better than any premium oil of just a few years ago. Suppose, just for the sake of argument, that your oil change joint was using recycled oil in your truck instead of new oil? Even that may not account for such a failure. I'm inclined to agree that either the oil was sometimes not changed at all or the oil pump failed - maybe both. The oil pump can gradually lose pressure as it wears prematurely from bad oil. Low oil pressure won't turn on the warning light until it gets very low, but it could have been running at a max of, say, 15 psi without tripping the alarm. The bad oil could have caused the sludge build-up and worn out the oil pump which led to the catastrophic failure. Just a guess from a long way away.

 

No way to know for sure at this point.

Final diagnosis: engine is knocking from bottom and top end. A sign of bearing failure. Cylinder #4 has no compression and cylinders #8 & #2 have low compression.

Will be changing my own oil from now on to eliminate that as a future cause.

Ford has renewed my faith in them by helping to cover the cost of putting in a remanufactured engine.

Thanks to all for your comments and suggestions!