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Issues after Head Gasket replacement (New Engine/Oil Leak)

  • No issues with the new gasket 3+months on

    Votes: 60 64.5%
  • Getting an oil leak

    Votes: 21 22.6%
  • New Gasket has failed also - NEW ENGINE

    Votes: 12 12.9%

Post HeadGasket Replacement Issues - POLL

17K views 40 replies 28 participants last post by  Cheapo911 
#1 · (Edited)
Hi All,

After reading, there seems to be a lot of issues after the Head Gasket replacements with oil leak or the new gasket then blowing 6 months down the track. Maybe us banding together to find out numbers will make Ford stand up and take notice of once again wider issues which is how they finalyl recognised and did something about the Head Gaskets in the first place.

So it would be good to see actual numbers of post recall issues., especially how many new engines they are having to farm out.
 
#5 ·
I'm not sure I'm up on issues, but maybe something like this...

Please only respond if you are at least 3 months past the HG "recall" work being completed...
- No related problems
- Oil leak present, but fixed
- Head gasket failed again, and replaced
- Entire head replaced
- Entire engine replaced
- On-going issue, not yet resolved [don't know how to make this a couple specific issues, if appropriate]

Does that look reasonable? As I had no issues after, I have not followed this closely.
 
#10 ·
Had Gasket C installed last October.

Going close to 1500km since.
No issues whatsoever and better performance than new.
 
#12 ·
Head and HG replaced last June. No issues. Probably 3k miles since. A little bit longer to be sure for myself, and I'll start bolting on parts and tuning the mafk.
 
#15 ·
Well so far the hit rate for post HG issues is almost 25%. I'm not at all comfortable with those figures. Add to that the fact that a proportion of the "no issues" people barely lift the hood let alone get under the car and pull the engine tray and have a good inspection at regular intervals so they wouldnt even know if they have an issue. They hit the button and it starts so "I have no issues". Add to that the introduced latent quality issues that can bite you on the arse a few years down the track because they take time to manifest into a problem and I wouldnt be so overtly confident.
But really at the end of the day a 25% problem rate is a disgrace.

Ciao
 
#14 ·
About one year and ten thousand miles. Oil leak issues throughout the past year and I had to go to another dealer to get it fixed as original dealer was in denial. Oil leak was fixed about five thousand miles ago and has remained dry since. Last week my coolant reservoir went went from full to min and has been steady at min since. I'll be monitoring it a bit more closely now.

I honestly think it's down to the dealer and mechanic to make or break these recalls, and unfortunately some people chose wrong. In retrospect I sure did and should have taken the hint back when they serviced my ST.
 
#16 ·
I don't know Phil, I'm a skeptic like you, although I don't see this as a 25% failure rate. Currently it's only 21%.

The highly limited survey here has a very small sampling size, and only a binary type of response with no specificity. So, in the 21% listed, we're not even sure what kind of "oil" is leaking, where, or how much. Sure, dealerships suck at taking care of their customers, and their techs may not know their butts from a BOV, and this car may be a bit of a "glass cannon", but hey we see that with all cars, performance or not. If we hypothetically factor out only 2 of the "refailures" in our survey, and chock it up to some other non-HG issue we get 15%.

I have a tiny amount of "dusting" at the bearing out of the PTU, and it hasn't changed since the HG replacement, 46,000 miles ago. I've only had a misfire in cylinder #3 due to a faulty plug in that time. I inspect the car every month or so, and my kid does also (Ford service tech).

And I drive my car over 100 miles/day, hard, WITH the infamous Adam Brunson tune.

So, as been said before, drive it like you stole it.

Or go buy a Prius.
 
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#22 ·
So I was checking my oil today, and that looked fine, but I noticed I'm below the min line on the coolant tank. Had the head gasket FSA performed last April. Called the dealer service department, and the advisor said that as long as the oil isn't of a Bailey's color/consistency, I should be okay, but I could schedule an appointment for them to look at it if I would like. It's a closed-loop, pressurized coolant system, right? So the fact I'm losing coolant somewhere should be cause for concern, I would imagine.
 
#25 ·
So I was checking my oil today, and that looked fine, but I noticed I'm below the min line on the coolant tank. Had the head gasket FSA performed last April. Called the dealer service department, and the advisor said that as long as the oil isn't of a Bailey's color/consistency, I should be okay, but I could schedule an appointment for them to look at it if I
would like. It's a closed-loop, pressurized coolant system, right? So the fact I'm losing coolant somewhere should be cause for concern, I would imagine.
they need to run more tests..manually crank the motor and inspect the valves. there is probably a small crack somewhere. loosing coolant is not a normal thing...something is wrong.

my coolant sys passed both cool and hot pressure tests and after hours at idle...no pressure drop. dealer replaced the head. hope this helps
 
#23 ·
Head and head gasket replaced November 2018 at 43,719mi. Now at 48K+ with no issues.
 
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#27 ·
That sucks, it seems the second time they just opt for a new engine which to be honest id prefer if my car was taking in coolant. Who knows what that coolant problem will do down the track e.g rusted piston rings. Good to hear there are no issues since though!
 
#26 ·
Had my HG Recall done at 15k now at 25k noticed a big coolant drop below min line. Refilled and couple of days later dropped again below the min line. I also Noticed the oil leak near turbo line as well. Took it to the dealer for them to look at it. They did the pressure test, and said it passed the test and they’re gonna do another HG replacement with the correct Selant. Hopefully this fixes the leak. Still don’t believe them about the Cooalnt loss. Car has been at the shop for almost a week. Fingers crossed everything is good.
 
#37 ·
About 28k since the HG was replaced. Started losing coolant so took it to dealership and they preformed the standard tests which showed nothing a miss. Got the car back and started recording coolant levels and after 2 weeks I lost around 2 liters of coolant. They said it was #2 cylinder had lost compression. I hadn’t noticed any loss in performance. With that being said Ford is replacing engine this week with a new long block. Does anyone know if a new long block comes with a new turbo also?
 
#38 ·
I’ve been in the market for a used RS & I was wondering if you guys could tell me how to find out if a vehicle has had the head gaskets replaced? It’s very rare to see anything about it on a carfax report & dealers never write it in comments.

It’s my understanding that any RS with a build date before 07/17 needs it done? Is that correct? If the build date on an RS says 07/17 you’re good to go?



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#39 ·
I’ve been in the market for a used RS & I was wondering if you guys could tell me how to find out if a vehicle has had the head gaskets replaced? It’s very rare to see anything about it on a carfax report & dealers never write it in comments.

It’s my understanding that any RS with a build date before 07/17 needs it done? Is that correct? If the build date on an RS says 07/17 you’re good to go?



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I wouldnt say so. I'd be more comfortable with 08/17 or later CAR build date. July 17 CAR build date is too close to the Last ENGINE build date with the old gasket.

Ciao
 
#40 ·
Change my HG at 32K no issues when i had it done only due to recall letter. now at 64K i got a check engine light code P0303 and white smoke out of the exhaust. I call Ford and filed a complaint again. I love this car, but maybe its time to change to a 2.0 block (ST) without an open deck design and get a stage one head assembly, thoughts?
 
#41 ·
Sadly adding my name to this list. Had my head gasket done at 5k miles 4 years ago. Sitting at 12k miles now and I'm losing coolant again and on idle the engine behaves a bit rough. Looks like it failed again.
 
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