UPDATE on Jan 13, 2010: See Post #356 for new pictures and notes from Ford


I'm sick to my stomach right now. My truck is a bone stock 2009 F-350 with 50,000km on it (30,000mi). The truck has been used 90% on the highway and 10% on remote off road sites. All regular maintenance has been performed at the correct interval.

The truck had just finished a 1000km highway journey and was parked over night in very cold weather (-35C). The next morning the truck would not turn over. It was towed to the dealership and they said cylinder #7 was completely full of water which had frozen solid to the point that the motor would not turn over! None of the other cylinders exhibit any sign of water penetration. The dealership says the engine warranty is void and I am now on the hook for a brand new 6.4L on my 1 year old (almost to the day) F-350.

The dealer found no traces of water in the fuel. How the hell did water get in there, and how the hell is this MY FAULT?!?!

 

What was the dealers explanation for voiding the warrenty? Got a tuner on the truck?

 

This is when you call the Ford number in your owners manual. If you don't have a tuner there is no reason for the warranty to be voided... if there's no water in the fuel it's not the fuel station's fault either.

Are there any traces of water anywhere else? When you tried to start it did anthing else get busted?

 

Truck is bone stock. No tuner or anything. Dealer asked if it was submerged...and of course NOT! And...well good luck finding open water at -40C!

 

Call the 1800 number and get ahold of Ford and keep complaining.

If the truck had been submerged wouldn't there be water in the other 7 cylinders? Also if it was that cold, could your coolant be to blame? Only way in I can think of is thru the head gasket.

Unless you got pretty crafty with a syringe and catheter tube and worked some fancy faniggling past the turbos and valves?

Only other thing I can think of, and this may be a little far fetched, is scavenging. Perhaps (this is a long shot) as you shut it down that single cylinder sucked in snow thru the tail pipe and it vaporized/ liquified and somehow got sucked in.

I mean there is only 3 ways in: intake valve, exhaust valve, head gasket. Honestly thats freaking wierd.

 

If they think is was submerged ask them how you get water in only one cylinder and not the other 7.

I'd think the head gasket on #7 and allowed the coolant in there. The heat from the cylinder being hot may have boiled off the glycol and allowed the water to freeze.

Get in contact with Ford.

 

We can't get into legal stuff here, but suffice to say that you should be prepared to do so.

They said no water in the fuel, something which you would definitely be responsible for, which leaves coolant. It would be a simple test to check if the ice was from injected water, or was from engine coolant. Was that test conducted? If it is coolant, a strength test needs to be performed. Are you certain that the proper concentration of coolant was maintained? Are you certain that only Premium Gold coolant was used?

They may argue that you parked it in -30 weather, and didn't plug it in per the owners manual. If the coolant freezes in the block, that might push it into the cylinders.

I would like to know for sure if it's coolant. It could be argued that a leaking head gasket hydrolocked the cylinder. Ford should cover that.

I don't know what else to say except that I feel for you, urge you to stick up for what's right, and let us know what happens. This is not how we like to meet new users on FTE.

 

just looking at the pics it would appear to me to be a head gasket failure. Get ahold of ford and I would also want to inspect the headgasket.

 

Been in contact with a couple 'higher ups' at Ford and they are 'looking it over'

 

i would bet the dealer see's $$ signs from you and think it is a good opportunity

 

Not certain that only Premium Gold was used, but the coolant level is routinely checked and if it was ever topped off, it wouldn't've been any more than a cup or two and definitely would have been the correct concentration... would that amount of the 'old' green stuff be a significant enough amount to cause the problem? The latest oil change was done that day and they would have tested the coolant as well to which there is a record of that (I'll have to find the document). If the coolant had been overfilled would this make it more prone to pushing up into the cylinder had it not been the right concentration? It was definitely -40 or less that night which explains why any water would freeze, but to separate from the glycol and then freeze?
Will find out about performing that test.

New member yes, but been on here 'lurking' many times before.

 

Why is the coolant in the water passage clearly green, and the water in the CC is clear? Maybe the picture's fooling me though.

 

$24,000 for the new motor.

 

i would never utter the words wrong coolant. pics to appear to be green...you might wanna just wait and see what happens. BTW Napa sells the correct stuff.

 

You said bone stock, so no zoodad mods or intake changes. Did you drive in a heavy snow storm before shutting down?