I took my truck (01 F150 5.4) in for smoking on startup. It would only smoke for a second or two. It was also using about a quart of oil every 1000 miles.

It's over the 36K warranty and it's on the ESP. (I got the truck used)

They found some cylinders with low compression.

Called ESP, they came out and found the previous owner had a chip (don't know what brand) and voided the warranty.

I looked at the pistons and heads; it doesn't look like it was run lean, or experienced detonation. It just looks like a motor that was taken apart after 36K+ miles. You can still see the factory crosshatch marks in the cylinder walls.

Did Ford use low quality oil rings?

I know about the MM act, my dealer is fighting this for me.

Has anyone else had any experience with the smoking, rings, warranty voided for previous owner's chip, etc.?

(Will also post this in Engines forum)

 

Hi PD,

Using a quart of oil in 1000 miles is generally within factory tolerances - oil smoke on start-up is not. It's really not even normal on say, an 80K mile Ford modular motor to puff oil smoke on startup - they tend to seal pretty well and live very long lives with low oil consumption. No, I do not feel that Ford uses "low quality" oil rings, generally speaking.

There were some 5.4's that had some oil consumption issues - one was a problem with a slight casting flaw in the block, for example - usually they'd do a head gasket replacement, and if that didn't fix the problem, then a motor replacement was done. Make sure your dealer checks *ALL* TSB's thoroughly for 5.4 motor oil control complaints.

Your dealer does need to fight for you, of course. In this case, (and this is just my layman's opinion, which is worth zero) ultimately I feel that even if they didn't win a "battle" with ESP, they should still cover the cost for you simply because they sold you the vehicle in that "condition." That being said, the reality is that a chip from virtually any of the "name" chipmakers is not going to cause an increase in oil consumption, oil smoke on startup, etc. - it's probably just being used as an excuse to deny the claim as in the long run, that "strategy" costs them (ESP) less simply because not enough people will go "all the way" to do whatever it takes to fight a wrongful warranty claim denial.

I don't have experience dealing with this type of scenario, where you buy a vehicle that the previous owner used a chip in, and there is a denial of ESP warranty claim to the *subsequent* owner based on that. I do feel that based just on what's been posted, you should not have to pay for the engine repairs when the dealer sold you an ESP and thus represented that vehicle as being eligible for coverage (otherwise you probably wouldn't have bought the vehicle).

Sorry I'm not really much help to you - I just haven't seen that type of scenario before. The only thing I can really suggest is having a conversation with your dealer about ultimately, them being responsible, so your vehicle isn't tied up for weeks or even months over some warranty dispute - they sold you the truck in that "condition," so you shouldn't be further inconvenienced. Don't know how far you'll get with that, but that is one discussion you might want to have (politely, of course - it's easy to get very heated over something like this!).

Sorry I can't be of more help, & hope this ultimately works out in a fair manner..............