In a recent thread I detailed the issues I was having with my '08 Mustang GT which has 39k miles on it.
Rough idle, CEL on, ran like shit, etc.
According to my local Ford dealership, my camshaft oil solenoid needed replaced. They replaced that, returned the car to me and I immediately took it back as it was having the same issues.
Today they tell me the Bank 2 camshaft phaser(s) need replaced and that is my issue, and assured me that the cam solenoid was also bad.
I inquired as to how something mechanical like this can happen on a car with so few miles on it. He basically insinuated that because I purchased the car used from a Toyota dealer and that’s where I need to take it for routine maintenance to keep my lifetime powertrain warranty active through Toyota, that the oil filters Toyota was using weren’t Motorcraft filters and are the likely culprit as they are “more likely to suck sludge up from the oil pan and introduce it into the engine.”
The service tech explained to me that the Motorcraft filters have a check valve in them that doesn’t allow this to happen (I presume if this is true it means it doesn’t allow the filter to empty back into the pan when the engine is shut off).
Is this true? Google isn’t yielding much. The tech also admitted that it could just be bad parts, but he and I both agree that it seems pretty unusual for both these parts to fail at the same time. This is pinging my bullshit meter but I just don’t know for sure.
Did he offer to sell you a Motorcraft-brand bridge?
It’s just saleswoo. It’s possible you really do have some valvetrain components going bad, but it’s nothing to do with “off-brand” “didn’t buy service it at our department” service.
I told him to go ahead and install one. It’s like $7. I just find this hard to believe that in 30,000 since I’ve owned the car, with regular oil changes every 5k miles that the oil or the oil filter is somehow causing mechanical issues to internal engine parts.
He did also mention that they could be using the “wrong” kind of oil, but I doubt that. I forget what kind of oil my manual calls for but I am pretty sure I crosschecked what the oil type they show on my sticker with what the manual calls for and it matched.
It’s 5-20 weight semi-synthetic oil. I am still baffled by this. Is there any veracity at all to this claim about Motorcraft oil filters being somehow “special” due to a check valve?
No. Ford doesn’t make their own oil filters, in the past they’ve sourced filters from Purolator and I think Wix. Most oil filters have an anti-drainback (i.e. “check” valve) but with some garbage filters like Fram they don’t seal well and let oil seep past and drain back anyway.
Then it was, as I suspected, an asshole move on the service tech’s part to not-so-subtly imply that I may be to blame for the mechanical failures of the camshaft solenoid and phaser because “I possibly wasn’t using the right oil/oil filter”.
And this was from the guy that called me up at 8 in the morning asking me if the genuine Ford key I had given him was “the right key” to open my car as he couldn’t get into it. I forgot to leave him my keyfob and temperatures had plummeted overnight into single digits and the lock had frozen. It took this joker until 11am to get the damn door open just to pull the car into the garage.
Jz, you seem to have a pretty good depth of knowledge about Fords. Is this cam solenoid/phaser issue common with the 4.6l engine? My car is a 2008, I kinda figured Ford had made that motor pretty bulletproof by then, having produced it in mass quantities since the early 1990’s.
Should I be worried about long-term issues with this car? The car is 5 years old, yes, but is still under 40,000 miles. I love the thing and just don’t want to think I am going to face a plethora of engine issues going forward. Freak happenstance?
I’v heard lots of anecdotes about bad cam phasers on various Ford engines, although most of what I heard was with the older V6s in the Escape, but a quick google search turns up lots of issues with 4.6l/5.4l engines too. You can read more into it but it wouldn’t surprise me that your VCT system may be problematic.
While it’s very unlikely that the oil filters are the cause of your issues, just use fucking Motorcraft filters next time. Buy them from a Ford dealer and have them installed yourself if you must. The oil filter is a big visible part that has the big ol’ OEM logo on it, if you don’t use it then every asshole car mechanic will immediately jump on it and claim it’s causing all of your problems because hey, why not? What’s the difference in price between the dealer part and your no-name part, a couple of bucks? Just splurge on the filter and save yourself the hassle, and when you go to sell the car you can show them the OEM filter housing and assure the next owner that you followed the maintainance book to the letter.
But seriously (and I know Jz has addressed this somewhat pointing out that the Ford brand of Motorcraft filters aren’t even made by Ford anymore)…is there any provable increase in anything that would place an OEM oil filter above one I can buy at Autozone? Anything? For my car or…any car?
I am pretty sure you can buy Motorcraft filters at your Autozone, if you want. As has been said, Motorcraft, Wix, Puralator, they are pretty much the same. Conventional wisdom says stay away from Fram, but I am not even sure that is applicable any more (I won’t use them, but that’s just me).
I’d wager that any oil filter you can buy at the Autozone (or Walmart, for that matter) that will be listed as a replacement for the factory filter will have the anti-drainback valve. Toyota filters are no different.
What is more significant, IMHO, is that the purpose of this valve is not what you were told. The purpose of this valve is to keep the filter full of oil so that the engine is not starved for oil when it starts. The oil starts in the pan. It gets picked-up by the pick-up tube for the pump and pumped into the filter. From the filter, it goes to the oil passages to lubricate the various engine parts. Without the anti-drainback valve, the pump has to fill the filter housing before any oil can get to the moving parts, meaning there is a few seconds at start-up when the engine is running with no oil. If you are using the proper oil for your engine, and changing it regularly, there should be no sludge issue, but, more importantly, anything in the pan (sludge included) is going to be sucked up when the oil pump starts pumping and head to the filter; it isn’t going to matter if the filter is full of oil or not. If you are using a quality semi-synthetic and changing it every 5000 miles with a decent filter, your oil is not the cause of your problems.
As far as the 4.6l Ford engine is concerned, I have no idea. I’ve owned two fords, one with a 351 Windsor and one with a 351 Cleveland. Amazingly different engines for carrying the same displacement. I had a buddy with a '66 Mustang that came with a 289 V-8 and we replaced it with a 302. Amazingly similar engines for having different displacements. Yeah, I’m old.
