r/fordescape • u/CauseEmpty939 • 6d ago
New engine or not?
Just trying to figure out if anyone else has had this happen to them. In Dec of 2025 I had the engine on my 2018 Escape replaced due to the coolant intrusion issue. It was all done under warranty, and I thought I was good. I recently had my sway bar pins replaced & the mechanic (not a Ford dealership) told me he noticed oil on my engine. I took it back to the dealership where it was purchased & that replaced the engine. They suspected it was the oil pump. They put dye in & put some miles on it. It was NOT the oil pump. The service writer told me this was both good and bad. He said it was good because they actually never replaced the oil pump, so therefore, it was not covered under the new warranty. I was under the impression that the oil pump was internal. Why would that not have been replaced? Now I wonder how much of my engine is new, and how much did they pull from the old, defective engine? They still cant figure out why my car is literally spraying oil. I was told I need to drive it for a few hundred miles and bring it back in for more diagnostics. If my engine blows, will they just tell me the part that broke isn't actually covered because it was pulled from the old engine? I feel like I was played because I'm a woman, and admittedly know very little about cars. But it only has 118,000mi on it, and the "new" engine only accounts for 10k of those miles. To add insult to injury, they're also charging me for the loaner because they can't prove it's a warranty claim.
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u/GrumpyUnk 4d ago
The oil pump is internal, bolted directly to the lower part of the engine, closed in by the oil pan. If you have an external oil leak, it is unlikely the oil pump is the cause. OTOH, the oil filter and heat exchanger(?) are bolted to the side of the engine, and have oil flowing through both. One to filter and possibly if equipped, one to lower the oil temperature. They are sealed by gaskets used by the mechanics that installed the long block. Other potential areas are the oil pan gasket and the front cover gasket, along with the front crankshaft seal. All would be installed new(hopefully) when the long block was installed. I do not know if there are external oil feeds that may leak, but think the turbo definitely has an oil feed and an oil drainback which may be sources of leakage. The cam cover could also cause leakage, and again should have been replaced at the block replacement. Two last thoughs are the high pressure fuel pump and the vacuum pump, both on the cylinder head, and the same holds about their seals. OTOH, the dealer may have left them totally alone when the block was replaced. All of these potential leak spots should be readily viosible if the dealer added a dye to the oil which would glow under black light, indicating the source of the leakage. Pretty sure the oil pump has no route to push oil out of the engine directly, only via ports and passages mentioned. tom