AND NOW THE REST OF THE STORY....

[black99lightning]

I'll steal the line from Yowen about not being insensitive, but if I recall the facts your car was tuned.  You also went WOT from a dead through atleast 2nd into 3rd in below freezing temperatures until the motor popped.  In your original thread I advised you to remove the video and the thread itself, as it was incriminating.  Kinda like a thief videoing his latest heist.  Did anyone ever verify if the motor did indeed grenade, which is my assumption based on the loss of power and oil getting on the turbo causing the fire?  I'm sorry for your loss but to blame the manufacturer is ridiculous.

I'll give you a couple of my personal experiences.   I hurt the motor in my first Shelby, '09 GT500.  I had a tune from one of the most reputable tuners in the country, VMP.  Burnt up the 2nd plug on the pass side, and guessing I broke a ringland.  I traded the car for $27K last year, retail was $35-37K at the time.  I did disclose to the dealer it had a knocking noise on startup that went away about a minute or two after running.   I'm sure they fixed it under powertrain.  On my '04 Cobra I was lifting the heads under boost.  The car was tuned by RWTD, and had a ported blower and full exhaust.  Sold it for $15K when it easily would've sold for $22-25K at the time.  On neither car did I blame FORD for my misfortune, nor the tuner.  I did try to get Ford to warranty the '09, but in the end I knew it was my $$, and my fault.  These unfortunately are the risks we assume when we modify our vehicles from stock then beat on them.  If you want reliability buy a 4cyl accord and leave it stock.

If you do indeed report this to the NTSB, make sure you let them know the circumstances.  Ditto with bad mouthing the manufacturer on the internet. 

Modding is a pay to play game for sure. All the points you make are definitely valid, and I agree with every one.... 

However they are kind of based on the assumption that the tune was at fault. You knew the problems you had and sometimes parts just fail.  The cause of this engine fire and the popping sound will never be known I guess... because right or wrong (no judgement) Ford declined to investigate it (which may have been the best for Dean)....
If it's reported to the NTSB they won't likely take any action unless multiple similar reports are made... like the recent Tesla battery fires where it took three similar.  But if there's a possibility of an inherent risk (and I'm not saying there is) that report is the only real avenue to discovering it for the safety and benefit of everyone. Of course it's not even our choice.

Just a little different perspective, I think.

Not really trying to go and forth with you, but in his original post he doesn't state that his car is tuned.  He states the Airad didn't cause the problem and that Ford agrees to that.  And that Ford is a terrible company for not standing behind what he clearly knows was a modified vehicle.  What get's me, is that maybe noone remembers the original thread or do they all want to jump on the f**k Ford bandwagon?  I feel bad for the guy, but in the end it was never Ford's problem to fix.  The car is modified.  This is the chance we take.  I'm sure LMS would tell him to pound sand also.

[BiGMaC]

      

[BlueSHO]

black99lightning I'm with you on this one. That pop i heard on the video WAS under full throttle. Ford saying the airaid was not the cause means they were somewhat looking for a cause. Don't know if they looked at the pcm or not since a lot of under hood wiring was burnt up. I can't tell you how many of my Lightning buddies in years past tried to get engines replaced when they blew them up from modifications and were denied. I'm sure Tractorak will enjoy his Jeep.

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[SHOdded]

Still like to know what happened and if it was preventable, either by driver input or by component upgrade along with the mods/tune.  If OEM "accessory" parts like fuel injectors and coils are pretty much at their limits, for example, we need to know that.  How much "slop" is in the design vs production.

[SwampRat]

Still like to know what happened and if it was preventable, either by driver input or by component upgrade along with the mods/tune.  If OEM "accessory" parts like fuel injectors and coils are pretty much at their limits, for example, we need to know that.  How much "slop" is in the design vs production.

How heavily modified/tuned  was this SHO ?  WOT from a dead stop and what was the outside temp? Was the car up to normal operating Temp ? WHY WAS THE VIDEO BEING DONE TO BEGIN WITH ?
It's begining to look like at least some of the blame might fall on the owner ?!?

[black99lightning]

black99lightning I'm with you on this one. That pop i heard on the video WAS under full throttle. Ford saying the airaid was not the cause means they were somewhat looking for a cause. Don't know if they looked at the pcm or not since a lot of under hood wiring was burnt up. I can't tell you how many of my Lightning buddies in years past tried to get engines replaced when they blew them up from modifications and were denied. I'm sure Tractorak will enjoy his Jeep.

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk

Yep.  I look every winter for the Noobs with Lightnings that feel they have to race people in the middle of winter, only to throw a rod.  I have a buddy that has done it twice.  The 2nd motor was supposedly built?

[DJE624]

IIRC there was a spark plug change not long before the incident.  I still think it was a plug or a coil. 

[yowen]

I was under the impression this car was stock, aside from the air intake, is that not the case?

Regardless, once again, this is exactly the type of reason we carry insurance, because unless there is a pattern of EcoBoosts catching on fire, Ford cannot be expected to be responsible. The problem here is that the fire is of an unknown cause, Ford has to either take all unknown fires seriously, or NONE.

If I were Ford I'd opt for none as well, because it would open them to all kinds of attempts at fraud. Drivers are legally required to carry insurance, in this case the owner was lucky enough to receive $7.5k OVER what he owed. I'd say that is a VERY good outcome. The only better outcome would have been EVEN more money over what was owed.

Someone mentioned this is the cost of modding a car, things can go wrong.... I say this is simply cost of owning a car! Sometimes they get totaled, and it sucks, but that's life sometimes.

[Brucelinc]

He had a 91 Octane tune from LMS.  He had also purchased a 3 bar but I don't know if he ever installed it.  He indicated both of those things in another thread.

My first reaction when I saw this thread was, "Why the hell is he mad at Ford?"  Of course, we were not privy to the conversations he had with them but, as Yowen and others have said, a car fire of "unknown cause" is for the insurance company to handle.

I  don't know if the engine actually blew up, but if it had and there was NO fire, Ford would have been within their rights to refuse to warranty it if they discovered the tune.

[TSS]

I don't like Ford Customer service that much either, but I had the same reaction as Bruce:  "Why are you mad at Ford?".......I think in the end, the  result here, Insurance covering, was just and appropriate.   If he had NOT had the fire and the engine just blew up, I think he would have been in a more difficult predicament.

[BiGMaC]

I don't like Ford Customer service that much either, but I had the same reaction as Bruce:  "Why are you mad at Ford?".......I think in the end, the  result here, Insurance covering, was just and appropriate.   If he had NOT had the fire and the engine just blew up, I think he would have been in a more difficult predicament.

TSS... from your special training... is that because of the ECU being fried (destroying evidence of the tune and/or prevented Ford investigation) ....or because the fire caused liability to fall to the insurance company. Interested in your educated opinion.  TIA

[TSS]

No special training  for this    - auto  insurance usually covers automobile fires and damage - even if it is your own fault (so long as it is not intentional),  but they don't cover a blown engine.  If they did, nobody would buy an extended powertrain warranty.

If he had simply blown the engine, I don't think his insurance company would help.  So....if no insurance and no Ford help, it would have been a worse predicament.    The fire was a good thing IMO.

[black99lightning]

IIRC there was a spark plug change not long before the incident.  I still think it was a plug or a coil.

A dead coil or plug wouldn't have caused that.  If it did throw a rod, detonation would've.  Tune typically leans out fuel trims, more boost, timing adjustments, throw in frigid dense air.....boom!

[Brucelinc]

Complete speculation on my part but....if one of the plugs was not installed properly (cross threaded, for example) and the compression actually blew it out, I suppose the hot gases from the combustion chamber could have caused the fire.

In any case, the insurance company really stepped up to the plate here with that settlement.  I agree with Todd.  The fire was a good thing under the circumstances.

[Tractorak]

Let me answer the why am I mad at Ford question.... Because I do not think that the tune (91 Livernoise) was the cause of the failure and if they were able to determine that what I did would cause such a problem then I would have accepted my fate. However not wanting to investigate and not speaking to me about it along with the attitude at the dealership caused me to have a not so lovely feeling for FMC. My mods were 91 octane, airaid and the one step colder plugs gapped at .30. I was using a dash cam because I bought the Gopro 3 from Costco and I drive around a lot and I have caught some pretty interesting stuff with it like my car catching fire for instance. I used to own a heavily modified WRX for 7 years I drove it hard and I had done all the work myself and I never had any failure. As far as wide open throttle before the incident yes I aggressively left the light and it was approx 13-15 degrees outside on a fully warmed up engine. There is no external evidence of an engine grenading and there was no rod knock while I was driving it to the parking lot. There was also no oil leaking on the ground either. I do not know where the oil was when the dealership told me there was evidence of an oil leak. In closing I am more than willing to accept blame when it is my fault until it is proven that it was something that I had done I reserve the right to be pissed.