RE: Gunning the engine...

Tried it.
In N it doesn't respond.
In P it runs up to about 2500 rpm and flattens out there.

My FEH is an 06.

 

Jesse here from cleanmpg. I am sorry to here about your situation. I was just on the phone with Wayne Gerdes. the owner of cleanmpg and he would like you to make a post on his site about your experience. By the way I am an escape hybrid owner. I have a 2005 FEH 4wd with 130k miles on and so far so good with no problems other than replacing the electric water pump at 100k. I bought the vehicle used with 86k on it for 16,800$ back in january of 2008. If you would like you can contact me at 508-468-5463. Go to www.cleanmpg.com, grab a user name and hopefully you will make a posting in our forums as Wayne and the cleanmpg community would be interested in hearing about what happened.

 

[quote=Red;209992]dlucarelli - you did not respond to the question regarding your lube shop doing an engine oil flush. Did they?


quote]


"California NBC-affiliate KNBC reports that "customers across the country" have seen "their engines broke down after having an engine flush" at a Jiffy Lube or EZ Lube store. Undercover cameras caught a Jiffy Lube technician telling a reporter that Honda required the service every 2 years or 30,000 miles on her Accord, when Honda has actually "issued a memo to mechanics advising them not to perform engine flushes. Other major car-makers, including Ford, General Motors, and Nissan have all issued similar advisories against the service."
An engine flush runs solvents through the vehicle's engine, ostensibly in order to break up sludge that builds up over time as an engine runs. "But car-makers say, pieces of that broken up sediment can clog up other parts of the engine and ruin it," according to the KNBC report.on U.S. News and World Report-----"

??????????????

 

Regarding engine oil flushes:

I consider them an irrelevancy... not worth the money, etc.

- If you use good quality oil, don't routinely run extremely hot, and change your oil at a reasonable interval, there is little sludge to flush out.
- When you change oil you are doing a drain & refill. This removes alot of "stuff" instead of diluting it as happens with a conventional automatic transmission oil change where you dump 5 of the 11 quarts in the transmission.
- When you change engine oil it is worth it to allow the engine oil to drain into your drain pan for, say, an hour or more to ensure that the dregs get removed.

As a side note those oil "additives" that you see advertised are similarly an irrelevancy. If there was truly something that was missing from a lubricant, tribologists would change the spec.

You change oil for two reasons: 1. the chemical additive package has depleted & 2. the ability of oil to suspend "ash" in the oil is used up (eg the oil is "full"). Sludge is merely collected ash that has dropped out of the oil because the oil has become saturated. This ash collects in low flow areas like the oil pan.

If you use good oil and change it regularly (to include early if you have a hot summer or heavy work load such as towing) I see little reason to flush the engine.

There is a possibility that the flush will, in fact, resuspend the sludge and send it thru the engine. That idea I don't like.

My engine oil samples tell me that good filters do great work. I'm a believer in bypass filters. The crap ends up in the filter. Go check out "www.oilguard.com" for their setup.

 

As I have driven since this thread was begun, I have drawn the conclusion that there is one driving scenario that just might damage a bearing leading to failure.

I offer the following:
Suppose you are sitting at a stop light or for some other reason are stopped and then need to quickly accelerate from a stop with the engine cycled off. So you floor it... and the engine starts immediately (as it should) and goes to full power.

In just the right setup this might allow a bearing to wipe. Then it is just waiting for the right load to begin slowly, then more quickly, degrading into complete failure.

I accept that this would require just the right set of circumstances, such as a right turn on red into a gap in traffic, but maybe...

Thoughts?

But I believe that the Jiffy Lube issue is more likely. Its just baloney to tell people that a flush is recommended by an OEM.

 

Or, most likely, the bearing manufcturer had one bad apple out of a million bearings produced.

There are warranty limits for a reason. Things break after a while.
This product performed as promised, which was 60,000 miles in this person's case. It was promised not to fail in the first 60,000 miles, and it lived up to that.

 

In my experience (30 years in propulsion plant engineering) when one relies on the "one bad apple" theory, they are accepting the easy answer.

They are avoiding the more obvious things inherent to the recent operating and maintenance history.

 

We inherantly want to feel for the person that tried to faithfully maintain their vehicle, but something went wrong. I have seen too many well intentioned customers, who put their faith in non-Ford/Motorcraft products and service, come back with problems. They thought they were doing what was required, only to find out they had not followed the maintenance rules.

I will suggest again, check the specifications of the products you intend to use and get the warranty statements from your vehicle maintainer. If there is any question they will not be there for you if there is a problem, rethink your maintenance strategy.

98% of the influence over Ford's adjustments out of warranty is controlled by your Ford dealership. They are given a pot of money each quarter and they decide how and when it is used. That is a good enough reason for me to build a strong relationship with my dealer's service department. This process puts the decisions with the people that can see the condition of the vehicle, determine if modifications have been made and check the previous maintenance and repair history. They can judge whether the expendature after warranty is justified, from a loyalty perspective (or would be wasted on a customer that has declared they will never buy another produuct from them).

Ford product quality is at the top of the list, so problems will be rare--- if you follow the maintenance requirements. Know what is required and don't rely on a commissioned sales person to always be looking out for your interests.

 

Hello folks,

Yesterday, while driving at 60MPH down the freeway, we had a catastrophic engine failure in our 2006 Ford Escape Hybrid (75,000 miles), almost identical to what's described here. In our case, there was no warning at all. Then a sudden BANG, warning lights, and get over to the side quickly. I could hear parts falling out of the engine onto the roadway as I brought the vehicle to a stop. The entire undercarriage and back hatch of our truck was covered in fresh motor oil. On having the vehicle towed to the dealer, we're told a piston went through the head, and disintegrating parts shattered the oil pan. The vehicle had been serviced with new oil (yes, from Jiffy Lube) two hours prior. The inspecting mechanic however said he didn't think the oil change had anything to do with the failure.

Until yesterday, this has been the single best vehicle we've ever owned. We're going to replace the engine, and let Ford know about it. Any tips for who to call / report the failure to? We religiously maintain the vehicle, so we're pretty sure it wasn't us.

 

I'm curious how it could be cost effective to replace the gas engine on a five year old FEH with 75,000 miles? Are you getting a good deal on a rebuild?
I think it would be highly unlikely that a Jiffy Lube mechanic would admit fault in causing an engine failure. If you want to get Jiffy Lube to compensate you, I imagine you'll have to lawyer up. Some one could forensically examine what type of oil did they put in, what oil filter was installed, did they change the o-rings, etc.