Engine Collapse - 1.6 TDCI (2010) + pics

[A_Jobson]

Just thought I'd ask if any other Focus owners have had this issue...

Basically I was driving about 10-15mph over a those raised rumble strips within a town centre and stopped at traffic lights just after. The engine sounded like it was going to stall and as if I had a boy racer exhaust fitted. I pulled off the road (with some loud scraping and banging sounds), opened the bonnet, only to find the engine had collapsed on the passenger side!

The screws are still in the engine mount, but the actual metal appears to have broke off from the engine block? - I'll post pictures later today).

It's a Ford Focus 1.6 TDCI 2010, with only 54K miles on the clock. Getting fed up now, had the timing belt changed at 30K as that was about to fail...should a car so young have such problems?

Got towed to the local Ford garage and it's now waiting to be looked at tomorrow. Whilst in tow, again those scraping and loud banging noises were even more noticeable.

I have no idea what damage this would have caused, or the cost to get it repaired...if it can be repaired at all!

Has anyone experienced or heard of this happening?

Edited May 2, 2016 by A_Jobson
Added Photos

[simcor]

How long are the mount bolts? It looks like the mounts bolts have been possibly put in with the wrong length bolts as they should screw right into the mount thread and it does not look like they have, therefore over time put stress on the casting and eventually broken off. Bolts for engine mounts are usually at least 2-3" long sometimes even maybe 4" off hand.

If someone has taken the mount off for work and put the wrong bolts in then that could be the cause or if the threads have been stripped then it could happen I suppose.

It looks like most of the metal mount is still attached to the engine and very little left on the rubber mount in your picture but hard to tell, can you get any better pictures of the mount and from underneath as well?

It may just be unlucky and the casting has failed it can happen but not what I would say very common.

As for damage you will need a new mount, and check everything else that has been dropped or twisted, but you can move and engine up and down a fair way off its mount without doing too much damage. Looks like your driveshaft is covered in grease so that will need looking at too possibly replacing, check of hoses etc that could  have been damaged as well.

 

[TomsFocus]

Does that mount have to come off for the cambelt change on these?  If so, looks like someone may have messed up putting it back!

Of all the faults I'm permanently dreading on the DV6 I haven't been expecting the engine to fall out though!  

[simcor]

Actually thinking about it, it looks like the bolts have sheared off and worked loose, they are bolted from the bottom with lock nut on the top, so short of a bolt fracturing it really should not happen. I would say the bolts have somehow fractured, leaving part of the stud of the bolt with the lock nut in tact, over time the bolt that was left in the mount has vibrated loose and unscrewed itself, once the bolt had gone the thread that was holing it together eventually gave way causing the fracture of the casting.

However if that was the case I would have expected you to have noticed vibrations from the engine or  a rocking motion of the engine and knocking noises, usually when an engine mount has gone it is pretty obvious.

[Dee_82]

The Engine mount on both the body and the section on the engine both need removed to do the timing belt, I cant for the life of me work out how they would have buggered it up though, they would need to have been pished to get it wrong.  My guess is, unless you got Jimmy from the house next door to change it, its been compromised in casting. just a matter of time before it went... or over tightening

[A_Jobson]

Sorry for not getting back to this earlier, I have been so busy with work and ensuring I have a car in the mean time. Also, I didn't receive any notifications or emails for some reason.

The car was towed to the local Ford garage and has been there ever since 1st May! Basically, so far all engine mounts and torque restrictors have been replaced. Unfortunately, the passenger side drive shaft was crushed...this is where the delay is. The garage can't get a new drive shaft anywhere, apparently they are also on back order at the factory? I have been told an aftermarket option is there, which is also cheaper, but I don't think it would be worth going for a cheap (but major) part? As the engine is apparently running well, once the drive shaft has been replaced, it can then be test driven. The garage advised the gearbox "looks" ok as there are no cracks or leaks. A concern I have is the deep exhaust sound it made at the time, I hope this is just down to the engine being misplaced without damaging the exhaust.

As for cost, I'm yet to be told...dreading to know how much all of this will come to!

Thanks Dee_82 for that advice. The fact it had to be removed when the timing belt was replaced is a concern...although this was all also done at a Ford garage, I've got a thing where I won't let anyone else do such major work apart from Ford themselves. Who knows, maybe they did screw up but how would I go about proving that?

Simcor, thanks for your suggestions. The bolts do look short in the pictures, but I never thought about that at the time. Do you have any examples of what it should look like? To be honest, the intercooler pipe was rattling off something for a week or so before this happened, but that was the only rattling I noticed. However, I did see a small wet patch on top of the rubber where the mount is, looked like oil. I didn't think anything of it, could this be a sign of failure? I have no idea how oil could have got there.

TomsFocus, that's exactly what I was thinking...how many problems does this engine have?? :|

I hope this is the last of the problems with this car, as I really do love it!

I'll be back with an update :)

[Dee_82]

Ive had that little damp patch on the top of mine as well,im not sure if its weeping some kinda of fluid or something is dripping on it, I cant work it out, that part is a problem part, ford have redesigned the mount as many times as there are letters in the alphabet but from what I gather none were because the cast broke in two.

It does just look like the bolt hasn't gone in far enough but that shouldn't have been an issue, when removing it your just undoing the two nuts which allows you to take the mount off the car, you can then take the section off the engine block, with the two bolts still attached.  how much of your bolt is poking up above the Nut?

 

 

[A_Jobson]

I would maybe get someone to look at it, as you don't want to suffer all of this. I certainly wish I didn't ignore it! Unfortunately, I only have those pics to go off as at the time I didn't think of looking at why it happened before it went in the garage...I was too shocked! :|

The good news is I finally got my car back, after 4 weeks of waiting for the drive shaft!

All mounts/torque tensioners? were replaced and the drivers side drive shaft at a cost of £994. I can see what is meant about the redesign of the mounts, as the replacement looks slightly and stronger (hopefully)!

I did attach a Spider Tuning box to the car about a month - 2 months before this happened...could that have caused the mounts to fail?

[madmole]

That mount has broken at the tip of the bolts that were too short. If they had been full length they would have stripped the thread lower down, but didn't. this is solely the fault of whoever put the wrong bolts on when the cam belt was done, or didn't screw the right bolts down fully

You shouldnt be paying a thing for this

 

[iantt]

there not bolts, there studs and nuts.

[A_Jobson]

How would I be able to go back to the Ford garage who changed the cam belt, with a case against them? I've thought about this a lot, but have no idea how I'd get anywhere with it [emoji53]

I would really like to get the the bottom of why this happened...I hope it would help others too!

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[Dee_82]

First port of call is the CAB, citizens advice is free, they will have a good understanding of your rights and will help you draft your letters to the garage.  My only fear is that the burden of proof lies on you.

 

http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/advice/how-do-i-complain-about-poor-garage-service

[iantt]

I know exactly what has happened, studs are fitted to the engine side of mount, when removing the nuts the studs can come out with nuts, nuts are supposed to be replaced. So if you have donr job properley the nuts would have been removed off studs, studs re screwed back in fully.

Then mounting refitted, new nuts fitted and torqued.

What looks likes happened is nuts and studs removed with an air gun, then refitted the same way but the air gun has rattled the nuts further down studs before studs have had chance to screw fully in engine side of mount.

So only a few threads in but nuts tight.

[iantt]

Check if you have 2 nuts on your invoice.

[TomsFocus]

I've got one of these mounts on order to replace my leaky one.  I don't use air tools but am I likely to cause the same issue with handtools??  Also if you know what the nut torque should be that'd be great...  

[iantt]

Nope, the studs may or may not unscrew with the nuts, the nut torque is 80nm.

[Dee_82]

When I had mine off the other month the stud just stays still, torque it up and she's all good, can't imagine that would be a problem unless the nut is firmly rusted on?

 

[A_Jobson]

I'm still looking into what case I may have with all of this, so thanks for the advice Dee_82!

I am a bit concerned about the angle the mount has been attached though. I didn't think much of it, but it's really playing in my mind.

As you can sort of see from the picture, it doesn't seem to sit right. Should I be worried?

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[A_Jobson]

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[TomsFocus]

Why is that pipe capped off on your coolant tank?  Don't think it is on mine.

Anyway, glad I read this before doing it, just using a normal ratchet the stud got stuck on the way back and nut wound on further, noticed immediately and backed it off, tightened stud then both nuts to 80nm, sorted.

[A_Jobson]

Hmm, where should it go to?

Ahh that's good, pleased you got yours sorted :) Does it sit at a similar angle though?

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[TomsFocus]

Yeah it sits at an odd angle, not sure why but that's how they're made.  Will check coolant pipes next time I'm under there.

 

[A_Jobson]

Ahh yeah I can see yours is the same, I think I can finally put my mind at rest!

Hmm I see what you mean by those coolant pipes. Looking forward to your update on those! :)

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[Dee_82]

Tom, look back at his first photo, the pipe that is attached is much smaller, looking at mine both of the pipes go to the right side of the engine bay along the front, one of the pipes goes off to the top side of the thermostate the other one heads down to the radiator.

somethings been fiddled with an replaced / bypassed.

 

[TomsFocus]

Mine is the same as yours Darren, either the OPs has been changed or they changed the pipes on later models.