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Ford investigating engine failure of 13 West Palm Beach patrol cars

KayGee

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Ford investigating engine failure of 13 West Palm Beach patrol cars

excerpts from the article:
West Palm Beach City Administrator Jeff Green said the cars affected are the Ford Taurus Interceptor and the Ford Explorer Interceptor with a 3.7-liter engine.

Officials pulled other cars and looked at them and saw similar problems, each time oil showing up on the air filter.

Of its more than 150 cars in the fleet, officials brought 60 vehicles in for a closer checkup, all of which are less than 3-years-old.

More than half had been checked as of Friday afternoon, and thirteen of them had the same engine problems.

Ford is taking some of the engines to Detroit to have them analyzed, which could take up to a month.
 



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Interesting... This is the agency my buddy works with done in West Palm.
 






This failure mode is intriguing.
 






So oil on the air filter, and then what? "The engines fail" Fail how?
 






Interesting.

I’m left wondering...where did the oil come from? The engine through some weird malfunction, or botched manufacturing/install on the filters? Guess that’s why Ford brought a few home with them.

Can enough air to run an engine pass through an oiled up filter?
 






I bet PCV oil is getting into the intake tube, then, when the engine is turned off gravity pulls oil down onto the filter. Is the intake tube uphill from filter to intake manifold?
 






People usually pay good money for an air filter with oil on it. I've been told it's an improvement to performance..

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:popcorn:
 












I bet PCV oil is getting into the intake tube, then, when the engine is turned off gravity pulls oil down onto the filter. Is the intake tube uphill from filter to intake manifold?
I would say it's more of an over pressurization of the crankcase from piston/ring blow-by. Enough build up of oil on the filter is a tell tale sign an engine is on its way out (worn out). Usually there should be some other signs (performance hit, odors or smoke from burning oil, etc...).
 






Looks like bad fuel (diesel) may have damaged the engines enough to require replacement.

Bad fuel? More West Palm police cruisers sidelined, Miami-Dade worse

excerpts from the article:
Meanwhile Miami-Dade County Police Department has 60 cars with identical problems, The Palm Beach Post has learned.

Both departments found diesel fuel in supply tanks that were supposed to have unleaded fuel in them. Both use related suppliers.

The problems cropped up for both departments in the past couple of weeks.

The engines in question are high-performance ones, made for police cars, and the cars are all two years old or newer. The issue, still being diagnosed, has to do with oil levels and corrosion in the Ford Taurus Cruisers and Explorer SUV’s, City Administrator Jeff Green said.

After the two cars were towed in, mechanics found oil was getting sucked through the air filter and into the engine air intake.

The problem was subtle enough that “check engine” lights didn’t come on and officers couldn’t detect a change in performance. In some cases even the dealership mechanics didn’t spot problems but police mechanics who’ve been dealing with the issue did.
 












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