EcoBoost Top Engine Oil Leak

[JournaL]

2023 Ford Maverick Tremor. About 12.2 K miles.

Noticed oil puddles on the ground for the past few days. Popped open the hood and the top of my engine is coated with oil, with some collecting in the plastic cervices (sorry, photo is a little dark) and some oil spray on the hood. Oil level is in a good range.

Looked some things up, there is a reddit post about a valve cover gasket defect with a similar presentation to mine, and two Ford Maverick Ecoboosts catching fire from the engine compartment area. No smoke, no weird smells that I noticed.

Oil is dark brown (probably around 7000K from last oil change), not super thick/thin, and smells a bit like gas, but it is direct injected engine with a turbo. I haven't gotten oil analysis yet following my 1st oil change with Pennzoil Ultra Platinum to see how much fuel dilation, wear metals, TBN, or viscosity is left but that is on the to-do list with this upcoming oil change.

Dropped it off at the dealer at the Tow Lot, with appointment in 2 weeks for diagnostic oil leak, recall, and oil change.

Real annoying... Didn't expect this so soon. I drive alot of highway miles and maybe 30% mountains, but still.

Got a rental car for the next 2 weeks, and then hopefully get a dealer loaner/rental once the diagnostic evaluation shows something that is repairable under warranty.

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[DJTremor]

I thought the oil was supposed to be changed every 3-4k miles.

 

[JournaL]

Ideally. The real answer varies. I was planning on changing the oil once the winter season is over.

7-10K is the range the dealer states for synthetic engine oils. Certain motor oils such as Amsoil and Pennzoil Ultra Platinum have a slightly longer life due to additives to keep the viscosity and TBN at a good range. As I said, it was my first time using PUP on this engine so I need to analyze the oil to determine a reasonable oil change interval for this engine based on my oil, my driving, weather etc.

 

[Jeff D.]

Hopefully the delear can get the problem squared away and have you back on your feet quickly. I also hate having something so new need to be torn apart right away.

My personal experience has been that the dealer might fix one problem but causes other problems in the process. Not routing wires correctly, items left loose, etc. Hopefully your experience will be different.

I have used that Pennzoil Ultra Premium for years in my other vehicles and never had anything negative from it. I believe it is quality oil.

Good luck!

 

[Montana]

Well, from the pics your dipstick is not fully seated... There's a start (/s... I hope)

Let us know what they find. I use PUP and all is well so far. I change every 3-5k or twice yearly minimum. It's definitely quality oil for the price comparable to Rotella T6 Multi-Vehicle and just below Amsoil in most testing - which considering the price difference makes it a great medium.

Are you sure you didn't overfill?

 

[Scott Asheville]

Thanks for sharing, OP. I was curious about your search results, so I also Googled and found this. Caught my attention for sure. Not gonna panic - there are almost 200,000 ICE fires each year. But I'll open the hood now and then. Anytime you have gasoline and hot oil flowing through various tubes and gaskets that can fail, some of us will get hit by it - just statistics in action. Please keep us posted on this thread about how it goes. I'll watch this thread for your findings.

https://www.mavericktruckclub.com/forum/threads/my-ford-maverick-ecoboost-caught-on-fire-and-exploded-.32298/

The poor guy posting this thread caught a lot of heat. This forum is merciless.

 

[Montana]

Thanks for sharing, OP. I was curious about your search results, so I also Googled and found this. Caught my attention for sure. Not gonna panic - there are almost 200,000 ICE fires each year. But I'll open the hood now and then. Anytime you have gasoline and hot oil flowing through various tubes and gaskets that can fail, some of us will get hit by it - just statistics in action. Please keep us posted on this thread about how it goes. I'll watch this thread for your findings.

https://www.mavericktruckclub.com/forum/threads/my-ford-maverick-ecoboost-caught-on-fire-and-exploded-.32298/

The poor guy posting this thread caught a lot of heat. This forum is merciless.

Well, it takes a special kind of stupid to add enough oil to cause an engine fire (especially considering the oil was clearly overfilled and leaking all over the place because of it) and also use 5W-20 in a 5W-30 engine that is turbo charged pushing 10k oil changes (this aint no turbo diesel)... That's why his Maverick caught more heat than he did.

The criticisms were justifiable and well deserved.

 

[JournaL]

Well, from the pics your dipstick is not fully seated... There's a start (/s... I hope)

Let us know what they find. I use PUP and all is well so far. I change every 3-5k or twice yearly minimum. It's definitely quality oil for the price comparable to Rotella T6 Multi-Vehicle and just below Amsoil in most testing - which considering the price difference makes it a great medium.

Are you sure you didn't overfill?

Will do!
The dealer filled the oil at the first oil change, and when I checked it after the change it was at a good range.

Yeah I took these pictures after I checked the dipstick (hot engine) and waited for the oil to cool and recheck level again.

 

[Shakesbear]

I thought the oil was supposed to be changed every 3-4k miles.

This ain’t 1975 anymore Toto

 

[Tiger Dude]

I thought the oil was supposed to be changed every 3-4k miles.

Nope

 

[beef]

Nope

google eco boost engines and you will see it is best to change oil every 3 to 5 thousand on these engines, known fact.

 

[NoVaJimmy]

Ideally. The real answer varies. I was planning on changing the oil once the winter season is over.

7-10K is the range the dealer states for synthetic engine oils. Certain motor oils such as Amsoil and Pennzoil Ultra Platinum have a slightly longer life due to additives to keep the viscosity and TBN at a good range. As I said, it was my first time using PUP on this engine so I need to analyze the oil to determine a reasonable oil change interval for this engine based on my oil, my driving, weather etc.

When you get your UOA results pay close attention to viscosity, flash point and fuel dilution. Blackstone labs loves telling people to extend their intervals despite these data points being way out of spec. I've been a member on various Ford forums for my Focus and Escape and the people who failed to acknowledge the fact that the ecoboost needs fresh oil with a within spec flash point and viscosity were the ones who wound up with engine failure, mostly in the 75k-100k mile range. Flash point is especially important, once oil starts burning off in the piston rings due to out of spec flash point no amount of seafoam/lucas/B-12 treatment will free them up and it's only a matter of time until the engine fails.

 

[Ford Motor Company]

2023 Ford Maverick Tremor. About 12.2 K miles.

Noticed oil puddles on the ground for the past few days. Popped open the hood and the top of my engine is coated with oil, with some collecting in the plastic cervices (sorry, photo is a little dark) and some oil spray on the hood. Oil level is in a good range.

Looked some things up, there is a reddit post about a valve cover gasket defect with a similar presentation to mine, and two Ford Maverick Ecoboosts catching fire from the engine compartment area. No smoke, no weird smells that I noticed.

Oil is dark brown (probably around 7000K from last oil change), not super thick/thin, and smells a bit like gas, but it is direct injected engine with a turbo. I haven't gotten oil analysis yet following my 1st oil change with Pennzoil Ultra Platinum to see how much fuel dilation, wear metals, TBN, or viscosity is left but that is on the to-do list with this upcoming oil change.

Dropped it off at the dealer at the Tow Lot, with appointment in 2 weeks for diagnostic oil leak, recall, and oil change.

Real annoying... Didn't expect this so soon. I drive alot of highway miles and maybe 30% mountains, but still.

Got a rental car for the next 2 weeks, and then hopefully get a dealer loaner/rental once the diagnostic evaluation shows something that is repairable under warranty.

Can you send over a message with your VIN and the name/location of the Ford dealer you are working with? I would like to look into this leak concern on my end.

 

[fossil]

my magic 8 ball thinks it's a turbo oil line easy fix

 

[Decayed]

google eco boost engines and you will see it is best to change oil every 3 to 5 thousand on these engines, known fact.

IIRC the manual says 10k. I do mine 5k because I stop and go a lot. Oil is much better these days than 20 years agoi.

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