Broken Rod... Need help ASAP...

[Broken Cobra]

I got my Cobra a few months ago. My only mods on the car are a K&N filter and a superchip. The car hass 7700 miles on it. On thursday night I did some high speed freeway races and by the time I got home my car was making a clanking noise down by where my transmission is. I thought maybe it was from a loose bolt somewhere.

I took the car to the dealer on friday and asked them to look at the car and tell me what's wrong. The dealer calls me back a couple hours later and tells me that I threw the rod in cylinder #7 and that they found the chip in my car and it voids my warranty. They also told me that the car needs a new engine.

They blame the chip for the broken rod. I think that's BS. I have 6000+ miles on the chip. Why would it break now? with all the modding that people do to their cars as far as headers, exhaust, pullies, chips, and S/C upgrades and they don't have problems.

The dealer tells me that a new Cobra engine is $11,000 and there is a $4,000 labor fee to swap engines.

I feel like I am being royally screwed here. I desperately need some good advice from all you guys here. please...

 

[03DOHC]

Sorry to hear about your misfortune.

 

[Hunter]

Dude, you should have taken out the chip before you took it to them. I bet your screwed. Sorry to hear that.

 

[95snoozer]

take the chip out and take it to another dealer.(tow)
hopefully they havent red flagged you.:nono:

 

[03DOHC]

PM me your VIN and I'll have it run.

 

[Intense]

i'm sorry to hear that. you guys know that a chip will void the warranty so why do you expect ford to fix the car? it doesn't matter if the chip caused the problem or not, you had the chip in and it voids the warranty. that is the risk you took. as far as the estimate quoted, it sounds high, but i wouldn't expect it to be cheap either.

I'm sorry guys but to think Ford is going to warranty your car after you mod it is stupid and somewhat arogant. you know damn well what's going to happen and you pass the blame on ford. THINK BEFORE YOU MODIFY.

 

[03DOHC]

Originally posted by Intense
i'm sorry to hear that. you guys know that a chip will void the warranty so why do you expect ford to fix the car? it doesn't matter if the chip caused the problem or not, you had the chip in and it voids the warranty. that is the risk you took. as far as the estimate quoted, it sounds high, but i wouldn't expect it to be cheap either.

I'm sorry guys but to think Ford is going to warranty your car after you mod it is stupid and somewhat arogant. you know damn well what's going to happen and you pass the blame on ford. THINK BEFORE YOU MODIFY.

Actually the law states Ford can't void your warranty just because you put an aftermarket part on it. This subject has been discussed before.

 

[Intense]

sorry dude, you are right only if the aftermarket part has no effect on the claimed problem. and a chip will have a direct effect on the engine.

 

[ntechnic]

I’m sorry to hear about this dude. Your best hope is that 03DOHC’s system search comes up without your VIN being flagged.

If you are flagged, you’re screwed. Mods do NOT automatically void your entire warranty. Mods void the warranty on parts they can conceivably affect. If you change the bushings on your suspension mounts and your convertible top hydraulic pump dies, there is no way to make a connection. But, since a chip changes your air/fuel ratio and spark timing, it is quite possible that the chip was a factor in the engine damage.

As an aside, that’s why I don’t like off the shelf chips. You never know when the tolerances in your engine are stacked up in the worst case scenario. I always recommend only custom chips where the tuner uses a 3rd or 5th O2 sensor to ensure a safe tune.

Anyway, if you are hosed on the warranty, and you have been flagged so that no dealer can help you, you might want to consider a non-Ford shop. If your engine was knocking, but still running, i.e., you hadn’t actually thrown a rod through the block, it can be repaired without replacing the whole engine. A good shop should be able to save you some serious scratch by just rebuilding your bottom end.

That way you don’t have to pay for a whole bunch of hard parts you don’t need.

Good luck.

 

[03DOHC]

Originally posted by Intense
sorry dude, you are right only if the aftermarket part has no effect on the claimed problem. and a chip will have a direct effect on the engine.

I know, like I said, we've discussed this at length before.

To simply proclaim that the rod failure, assuming the story is true, was caused by the chip and therefore we wont look any further is wrong. What if Ford discovers the bearings are defective from the factory in the future? Sorry Mr. Customer you have a chip and we're going to bend you over. Yeah, that works.:rollseyes

 

[03DOHC]

Unfortunately, that's the way it works most of the time.

 

[Intense]

yes it does work. that's the way it works. i don't care how much it's been discussed. if it did have a bad bearing, it doesn't matter now b/c it has a mod that directly affects the engine. there is no way "mr. customer" can prove the bearing was bad before the mod. discuss that.

 

[03DOHC]

Yeah OK OJ.

 

[Intense]

don't flame me Nichole. if you know so damn much you should represent him, for justice.:rollseyes i deal with this everyday. his only chance is to bitch and complain until ford is tired of hearing it. and it's a maybe at best.

 

[03DOHC]

So that must mean you're either a mechanic or a service writer huh?

 

[Intense]

i won't discuss how i make my living.

 

[Lomancobra]

Originally posted by Intense
i won't discuss how i make my living.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[larryc7777]

Since quite possibly you might be looking at legal litagation to get the work done under warranty, I would take the car to the most reputable mechanic you can find & have him disassemble the engine to find what actually happened. I have a little trouble buying into the "chip broke a rod" senario. I would believe that a chip caused a hole in the piston, or burned the top ring land, or melted the spark plug electrodes, but a rod bearing would require quite a bit of detonation to cause failure & that detonation would have left it's "mark" on that piston. If you have evidence of detonation on that piston top, then you might be screwed. BUT, I don't know if I would take Ford's word about what they found inside the engine. Sorry about your situation, but look on the bright side. Used Lightning engines don't cost $15K to buy & have installed. Be the first on your block to have a 5.4 stuffed in your Cobra.

 

[Sailing2Smth]

Originally posted by 03DOHC
What if Ford discovers the bearings are defective from the factory in the future?

thats exacly what i was thinking, but unfortunately he went there with an aftermarket generic chip installed. but i highly doubt that u would have to replace the block b/c u said that u drove the car to the dealer and just heard a clanking noise. in that case thats all that would have to be replaced, not the entire block. post some more specific info so that we may help u better, but i hope it all works out though.

 

[JoeAsheville]

I'm really waiting on what 03 DOHC can find out...if it's been flagged (I'm pretty sure it has, but I hope not) then that's a tough diagnosis to swallow.

This is the number one reason why I'm limiting mods...hope it all works out for you.

I heard something on the 'net that sums things up quite well (with apologies to certain groups of course)...arguing on a message board is just like the special olympics. You may win, but you're still retarded...:shrug: