The problem with Ford's "innovation" is they don't back it when the design is faulty. And this design is well known to be faulty.
They essentially use customers as beta testers. Which, frankly is what my own industry does, so it's seen as "normal" these days -- but it's not technically right.
Complain about Chevy all you like (and I do, too) but that "truck hasn't been updated in forever" issue also means you know exactly what you're getting.
The class action on the spark plug debacle was enormous on this engine and I'm amazed the cam phaser thing never turned into one. How in the hell do you screw up a spark plug and metallurgy in a business you've been in for over 100 years, making internal combustion engines?
Not that class actions really help anyone, they just pay the lawyers.
That said, everyone knew by the time we bought this truck (including us) that the only engine worth a damn in the 2008 range of years was the 5.0. So we knew this was coming.
I'm not worried about it. Pay the "stupid tax" of buying another "Ford innovation" where the customer pays for the design mistakes eventually, and move on.
The truck is sound and these two repairs are likely to keep it going for lots more miles. Next up is the transmission in all likelihood and there's no signs of that problem yet. Slam another 50,000/75,000 miles on it and when it starts to misbehave again turn it into a plow truck.
Ha. A Lincoln bling plow truck for the driveway will be cute.
50,000 miles for her is only 1.7 years. All county roads at 50 and highway miles. Nothing hard on the truck at all. Transmission will easily do that, even a Ford transmission. She never tows or carries loads with it.
30,000 miles left in it would be .10/mile. Not great but not awful. 75,000 more would make that .04/mile for these two repairs. It'll likely need something major again in about 50K at the soonest.
So the numbers work to repair it. If it makes it to 200,000 it's trash at that point. Or plow truck.
If she didn't like the thing, it'd be an immediate as-is sale and move on to the next truck for her. She likes it, and has kept it immaculate inside, so she said (after I showed her the numbers) that she's keeping it for the long haul. Her call. It's fine numbers-wise either way.
We both loathe debt and don't want to pull from savings (or work 80 hour weeks) to buy another (unknown condition) used or new truck right now.
Will reassess in two years as long as it behaves until then. And frankly if it craps out inside of two years and 50,000 we can afford to park it dead and deal with it on our own terms or work on it ourselves then. Just not while 3-4 funerals are going on.
