xtac1080
Member
- Thread starter
- #1
Hey all. Trying to figure out what could have caused the failure of my '15 5.0. Car has 75k miles on it, bought it back in '18 with 12k on the clock. Only mods are an MGW short shifter and a couple basic suspension items (sway bars, poly bushings, Steeda engine mounts, etc).
I was driving to work Tues morning on city streets at ~30-40mph and was coming up to a red light when the CEL started flashing & RPMs dropped quick to around 400-500. I stopped at the light and gave it a bit of gas to keep it alive and pull over to the parking lane (T-intersection) when I heard metal pinging & smelled rotten eggs like fuel was getting dumped into a cylinder. Barely made it to the parking lane & the engine quit with a horrible metallic thunk. Instantly checked oil level and it was at capacity. Didn't try to start it again & had it towed back to my garage. Pulled codes with IDS & only had P0300. Had a chance to pull all the plugs today & found #7 with the side electrode missing & part of the porcelain missing around the central electrode. Scoped the cylinder and did not like what I saw. The piston appears to have exploded. I changed the plugs ~1500 miles ago, all Motorcraft gapped & torqued to spec. I didn't notice anything unusual on the old plugs, and only changed them as a maintenance item. Scoped the other cylinders & it appears that #7 has more carbon buildup comparatively, although it *could* just look that way since it's shiny from all the fuel it absorbed. There is quite a bit of what looks like carbon or oil at the base of the spark plug threads on #7 as well (not sure if that's from the explosion or oil was seeping into the cylinder somehow?).
Sorry for the long story, just looking for what all your thoughts are on the matter & what could have caused this so unexpectedly, and finally how to possibly prevent it in the future. I know 75k is kind of up there in the mileage, but I always maintained it religiously. Oil changes @ 50% life remaining using only MC 5w20 & MC filter. Can't say it wasn't driven hard, but it's been babied more often than not. The CEL light has never come on in all the time I've owned it, except for bulb check!I I know I'll have to probably tear the engine down to get a definitive answer, but just wondering what your thoughts are on the matter. I've never had a motor just give out like this without some sort of telltale beforehand.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
I was driving to work Tues morning on city streets at ~30-40mph and was coming up to a red light when the CEL started flashing & RPMs dropped quick to around 400-500. I stopped at the light and gave it a bit of gas to keep it alive and pull over to the parking lane (T-intersection) when I heard metal pinging & smelled rotten eggs like fuel was getting dumped into a cylinder. Barely made it to the parking lane & the engine quit with a horrible metallic thunk. Instantly checked oil level and it was at capacity. Didn't try to start it again & had it towed back to my garage. Pulled codes with IDS & only had P0300. Had a chance to pull all the plugs today & found #7 with the side electrode missing & part of the porcelain missing around the central electrode. Scoped the cylinder and did not like what I saw. The piston appears to have exploded. I changed the plugs ~1500 miles ago, all Motorcraft gapped & torqued to spec. I didn't notice anything unusual on the old plugs, and only changed them as a maintenance item. Scoped the other cylinders & it appears that #7 has more carbon buildup comparatively, although it *could* just look that way since it's shiny from all the fuel it absorbed. There is quite a bit of what looks like carbon or oil at the base of the spark plug threads on #7 as well (not sure if that's from the explosion or oil was seeping into the cylinder somehow?).
Sorry for the long story, just looking for what all your thoughts are on the matter & what could have caused this so unexpectedly, and finally how to possibly prevent it in the future. I know 75k is kind of up there in the mileage, but I always maintained it religiously. Oil changes @ 50% life remaining using only MC 5w20 & MC filter. Can't say it wasn't driven hard, but it's been babied more often than not. The CEL light has never come on in all the time I've owned it, except for bulb check!I I know I'll have to probably tear the engine down to get a definitive answer, but just wondering what your thoughts are on the matter. I've never had a motor just give out like this without some sort of telltale beforehand.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
Sponsored
