Lifter and Cam Issue on 7.3 Godzilla

[dadej]

It is very sad to see that Ford would allow this to happen but the big three have been producing junk for years and the public continues to buy the product. I live in central Nebraska where we see some salty roads. The bodys of trucks are rotting off ten year old trucks on all of the three.


I own a twenty year old Honda CRV with 300K on the clock. NO body rust or engine work. Sorry to say but this is why the big three needed a bailout in 2008.

[Jabber Jaw]

WOW!!!!
Interesting reading!
Wonder IF, & HOW BIG the problem will be in the RV "gas" coach industry?
Drove one of the new 7.3's in a new coach. Was impressed.....
BUT....glad I have a tried & true V-10!
Good Luck to the owners, & maybe it will not be a big problem! Time will tell!

[Rob_M]

Originally Posted by dadej

…….
…..Sorry to say but this is why the big three needed a bailout in 2008.

Just a reminder that only 2 of the big three needed a bailout. Ford (Bill Ford running things I believe) declined to accept government help.

Unfortunately Bill Ford is not currently running the show at FoMoCo. Quality doesn’t seem to be job1 any more.

[Deznut]

Farley knows he has a problem...hired new Quality Czar
https://www.bronco6g.com/forum/threa...20Free%20Press.

[jaydee325]

Originally Posted by Deznut

Farley knows he has a problem...hired new Quality Czar
https://www.bronco6g.com/forum/threa...20Free%20Press.

Another viewpoint from someone who has covered the auto biz for years.

I will not comment further other than to say that I do truly wish Ford turns things around.

Rants - Autoextremist.com ~ the bare-knuckled, unvarnished, high-electron truth...

[TCollins]

How big of a nightmare is it going to be to get these engines worked on? Many dealers don't have facilities large enough for motorhomes and others flat out refuse even if they are listed on the Ford site as servicing motorhomes.

[EyezOpen]

Originally Posted by F4Gary

Pretty sure FORD doesn't make those lifters. Most likely and aftermarket manufacturer.
Your warranty will fix the lifter problem

The above is quite accurate. This lifter issue is becoming a industry wide problem. I enjoy tinkering/ hotrodding BB engines, quite expensive lifters from very prestigious mfgs are failing across the board is occurring. Along with flat trappert cams are almost assured to fail no matter what break in procedures are used.

It seems to be offshore manufacturing or source material. It's becoming a very bad look.

[Rob_M]

The EPA and the bean counters forced the steel industry offshore where they are allowed to pollute 100 times worse and produce inferior product. My uneducated opinion.

But I see it in the industry I am in where steel fatigues and fails and when cut apart shows signs of impurities that should never be there if it in fact it meets the specifications it was supposed to pass.

[SergioP]

Originally Posted by EyezOpen

The above is quite accurate. This lifter issue is becoming a industry wide problem. I enjoy tinkering/ hotrodding BB engines, quite expensive lifters from very prestigious mfgs are failing across the board is occurring. Along with flat trappert cams are almost assured to fail no matter what break in procedures are used.

It seems to be offshore manufacturing or source material. It's becoming a very bad look.

All 3 manufactures have lifter problems. Dodge with the Hemi motors have had them for years. GM trucks with cylinder deactivation since around 2013, cam and lifter problems. Ford with the 5.0, V10’s, with cam followers, and now the 7.3 with lifter/cam problems. If Toyota and Nissan have these problems it doesn’t seem as common.

Not sure why they all have problems, but my guess is the oil change interval is too long, along with cheap oil, eventually lifter, cam wear shows up and it’s over. The GM trucks seem to have very early failures, under 10k miles. Then other ones go 60k without problems. My BIL has 60k on his 2014 GM truck without problems, but he changes his oil every 3-4K miles, with GM filters and the recommended oil.

There’s plenty to read on all the truck forums about this problem.

[George Schweikle]

Correct that Ford didn't take the bailout. Bill Ford hired Alan Mullaly from Boeing during this time but he is gone. A fascinating read is
American Icon: Alan Mullaly and the Fight to Save Ford Motor Company

https://smile.amazon.com/s?k=america..._ts-doa-p_2_13

Originally Posted by Rob_M

Just a reminder that only 2 of the big three needed a bailout. Ford (Bill Ford running things I believe) declined to accept government help.

Unfortunately Bill Ford is not currently running the show at FoMoCo. Quality doesn’t seem to be job1 any more.

[Psneeld]

Originally Posted by Raines

Totally agree with you. This issue is not some secret oil conspiracy related issue. Its a simple "oh we can save $1 if we use this cheaper part? Perfect!! What could go wrong?!!" That new engine has had troubles since day 1 and doesn't look to be stopping anytime in the near future. I will be sticking with the tried and true v10 for as long as I can.

Do you have a credible source citing or verifying the statement "That new engine has had troubles since day 1 and doesn't look to be stopping anytime in the near future"?

It doesn't seem to match up with the readings and research that I have done. Two of the many quotes I have read go like this.... "The issues with the Ford 7.3 gas engine are minuscule and largely nonrecurring." and "While there have been a handful of complete engine failures recorded, we believe these to be anomalies. We expect the 7.3 godzilla to be a strong engine capable of surpassing the 300,000 mile mark and maintaining reliability under heavy towing."

Sure there are engines with issues..... but how many issues per mile driven? Any tangible statistic that interested people might get a better feel for just how well the engine is doing?

Maybe the issue is just too new to have much written about it? Or is it to few?

Lots of reasons to like the V10...but I see no reason to be wary (yet) of the most recent batch of V8s now that several years have passed since their debut.

[2cyber71]

Back in 1999 when I bought my 1999 Southwind Storm 30H it was the first year of the Ford V10. I think it was 310HP. Everyone was excited. It performed great, so did my 2004 Southwind 32 VS with the Ford V 10. Today, when a new motor is out there, I say beware of disaster. It,s just isn’t the same. I have to include Freightliner and Cummins too.
Beware, poor uneducated engineers are on top of the pecking order, all good ones died off or left. It’s all mediocre at best now.

Honda & Toyota aren’t any better with their disaster engine upgrades.

Add Mercedes too with the 4,000 towing limits on the Sprinter B chassis, nuts! Did they ever think they needed a 5,000 towing?

Let’s add Dodge in there with the worst trannys out there.

That’s the number #1 reason I bought the Wrangler with the V6. I’ll gladly pay extra for it. And I did. In 2022 it was an extra charge.
Darn, if I can have my old 400 ISL back I Would pay extra for it, oh it was back in 2007, Winnie charged $10,000 for the upgrade from the CAT 350.

[sibe]

The V10 has been a work horse BUT it has its demons,, the sparkplug issues,, a few 2-3 designs.. and we hear now of big fails in whats left of that ole steads..

So it stinks but overall the new godzilla if a good unit, teething pains for sure...

[mack73]

I assume no one here has had this issue?

A couple of the theories rolling around are long service intervals (past oil's life), lots of idling at stop lights (variable oil pump is not supplying enough) and high RPMs

In our world though these seem to be less concerning. Normally we time out on the oil vs miles (change every year), tons of highway vs stop and go, and due to the tuning there is little reason to go past 4k anyways

Anyone know if there are any internal changes for the F53/F59 use vs the SuperDutys? And I guess I'm going to add a blackstone oil analysis to my yearly changes to watch for anything bad starting to happen