Ford Ranger - Oil dilution

Jim G

Member
Location
Staffordshire
Hi all,

I was just after a few opinions regarding a problem I've got with my Ford Ranger. I feel like the dealer and Ford are taking the mick, but I aren't getting anywhere.

It came up with a "Powertrain malfunction / reduced power" message in July, so took it to the dealer who said it needed an oil change. I thought fair enough, and had it done. It came up again in mid September, so took it back and they want to change the oil again at my expense. Its only done 1300 miles since the last change.

I drive 15-20 miles everyday, more than half of which is at 50 to 60 mph. They are telling me these are short journeys and I should expect increased oil changes...

I'm pretty annoyed with it, but is it just the way they are? I'm not getting anywhere with them as it is
 

Jim G

Member
Location
Staffordshire
Contract hire or on finance ? if so talk to the finance company and tell them you will be stopping the payments unless things are resolved promptly .
It's paid for, so I haven't got that option.

Has anybody had any joy getting things like this sorted? It's only doing 20mpg as well, but again they say that is down to my journeys.
 

Jim G

Member
Location
Staffordshire
It was registered in Sept 2019, so I was expecting recalls to resolve the oil dilution and injector problems, but ford say it doesn't need either of them.
 

box

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
NZ
There's definitely something wrong with it and they know it, they're just hoping you'll go away. 15-20 miles a day is a little on the short side but it should still function reasonably well. What was the fault code that caused the powertrain malfunction light the first time?

The squeaky wheel gets the oil....squeak louder. They'd have to be a bunch of idiots to turn away an Ecoblue engine under warranty with an oil dilution problem and call it normal. Try another dealer maybe?

Did you buy the Ranger new?
Did you buy it from the dealership that you've got doing the work?
Have they always done the servicing?
Is it something that's just started happening or has it always been like that?
Have your driving patterns changed lately?
 

upnortheast

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Northumberland
Had similar with nissan van. Story was every time it "regenerates" diesel gets into the engine oil
A sensor alarms when the engine oil gets to a certain level of contamination.
Garage reckoned the renault van had a software upgrade to cover this but the nissan (same van ) upgrade had not been released yet
He says that all the anti pollution regs are forcing engine makers to put stuff on their engines against their better judgement
 
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Jim G

Member
Location
Staffordshire
There's definitely something wrong with it and they know it, they're just hoping you'll go away. 15-20 miles a day is a little on the short side but it should still function reasonably well. What was the fault code that caused the powertrain malfunction light the first time?

The squeaky wheel gets the oil....squeak louder. They'd have to be a bunch of idiots to turn away an Ecoblue engine under warranty with an oil dilution problem and call it normal. Try another dealer maybe?

Did you buy the Ranger new?
Did you buy it from the dealership that you've got doing the work?
Have they always done the servicing?
Is it something that's just started happening or has it always been like that?
Have your driving patterns changed lately?
The fault code was P253F, which is "engine oil deteriorated".

No, it was 2nd hand and hasn't gone back to where I bought it from. I've just taken it to the local main dealer. It has done it twice now, and their attitude is that it is something I should accept. Ford are just agreeing with the dealer.
 
Do you fill up at Tesco?
As the diesel there is missing an additive , I was told this by a long established reputatable independent dealer in Mid Wales
Perhaps you should speak to them
 

Cowabunga

Member
Location
Ceredigion,Wales
These engines have had a lot of injector issues. Leaking injectors I believe and some have burnt pistons out. They had a recall for the injectors at one point but there are fleets of transit vans which have had literally dozens of engines fail. The engine failures were before they were introduced to Ranger, but I'm quite sure that early production Rangers had the injector recall. Check for sure that this was done or whether it was applicable to yours.

I believe the engine failures I mentioned were catastrophic in nature, not trivial. I can't recall for sure but I thing it was something to do with diesel contamination of the lubricating oil causing the wet, oil immersed, internal drive/timing belt to fail
 

Cowabunga

Member
Location
Ceredigion,Wales
Do you fill up at Tesco?
As the diesel there is missing an additive , I was told this by a long established reputatable independent dealer in Mid Wales
Perhaps you should speak to them
That's a load of bull. Tesco diesel comes from the same tank in the same refinery as everyone else's. It meets EN590 specification and that's all that is required. Some brands may add their own additive package on top but usually only on their premium product, where that alternative is offered. Shell used to add some tiny quantity of extra anti-foam and detergent to their diesel, probably mainly acetone.
I get diesel delivered and make sure it comes from the Essar refinery at Stanlow which is always consistently good. It is exactly the same stuff that is delivered to many independents who sell branded fuel in the area, including probably Tesco.
If I had it delivered from the Certas depot to my South, it would be diesel imported by ship to Milford Haven and I have found that to be less consistent and more prone to contamination resulting in shorter fuel filter life. I have no definitive proof of this though and it is only my experience with one or two batches a few years ago. Maybe Tesco fill up with imported fuel that has been refined abroad, I don't know and probably depends on location again. It should still meet EN590 whatever and contamination probably depends a lot on how soon your vehicle is filled after a tanker has dumped its load in the local pump's storage tank.
 

Sebastian77

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Nottingham
There was only an issue with the injectors for engines produced between april-september(ish) 2019. Those have had a "soft recall" aka not a safety recall but Ford will replace them if requested.

The oil dilution is completely different, all to do with diesel being put into the exhaust system to aid Regen, and finding it's way in to the oil. There was a recall from 2019 onwards, they will do an ECU update to reduce the frequency. I'd imagine because the engine needs to be at high revs for a period of time to do a full Regen, that frequent short journeys is causing it to start and not complete regens.
 

Cowabunga

Member
Location
Ceredigion,Wales
20 miles is not a short journey. My Ranger hasn't done a journey of more that 12 miles in at least three years, since eighteen months before Carmarthen mart closed. Not had a single issue with regen and its now seven years old with 70,000 miles of short journeys and cold starts. Lots of towing but only seven miles before a stop to load/unload. Lots of fetching cows from the field to milk and lots and lots of one mile journeys to where my brother and Ranger live. It is a farm truck not a tarmac farmer's truck.

Oddly my older Ford 2.2 turbo in my 2014 Ranger doesn't use much late injection for DPF regeneration but has an 'evaporator' or fifth injector in the exhaust in front of the DPF to super-heat the DPF. Never had the slightest diesel contamination of the sump oil in this engine.
 
That's a load of bull. Tesco diesel comes from the same tank in the same refinery as everyone else's. It meets EN590 specification and that's all that is required. Some brands may add their own additive package on top but usually only on their premium product, where that alternative is offered. Shell used to add some tiny quantity of extra anti-foam and detergent to their diesel, probably mainly acetone.
I get diesel delivered and make sure it comes from the Essar refinery at Stanlow which is always consistently good. It is exactly the same stuff that is delivered to many independents who sell branded fuel in the area, including probably Tesco.
If I had it delivered from the Certas depot to my South, it would be diesel imported by ship to Milford Haven and I have found that to be less consistent and more prone to contamination.
I was told by this guy in motor trade that Tesco save a fraction of a penny per litre by leaving out an additive , had I known this earlier I would not have filled up my Peugeot 307 at Tesco in Newtown which was going perfect before but never went the same afterwards also I have a relation that filled his BMW at Tesco in Welshpool and it broke down at Garthmyl also I remember seeing a Tesco employee at Newtown with a focus which was smoking badly.... I also know someone who has no problem with Tesco diesel
 

Cowabunga

Member
Location
Ceredigion,Wales
It should be noted that Ford service interval for these 2 litre diesel engines is up to 40,000 miles or two years when used in Transit and probably 20,000 miles in Ranger if I remember correctly. So there is something drastically wrong with it if it contaminates the oil and needs 1300 mile oil changes. That's ridiculous. If the DPF was having that much problem regenerating it would have blocked solid over quite a short mileage, possibly every 10,000 miles before major work was required to it.
 

Cowabunga

Member
Location
Ceredigion,Wales
I was told by this guy in motor trade that Tesco save a fraction of a penny per litre by leaving out an additive , had I known this earlier I would not have filled up my Peugeot 307 at Tesco in Newtown which was going perfect before but never went the same afterwards also I have a relation that filled his BMW at Tesco in Welshpool and it broke down at Garthmyl also I remember seeing a Tesco employee at Newtown with a focus which was smoking badly.... I also know someone who has no problem with Tesco diesel
Look, it meets EN590 which is what every engine is designed to run properly on with no issues. There is absolutely nothing wrong or missing with Tesco diesel per-se.
If a vehicle filled up in Welshpool and failed because of it by Garthmyl, it was likely due to dirt or water in the fuel and that was probably due to a fresh load of fuel stirring up sh!t in the garage's storage tank and it being dispensed before it had settled.
Millions of people fill up daily at Tesco fuel stations with Tesco fuel and have zero issues and the shear volume of fuel they turn over means there is far less chance of sediment in their tanks than most rural low-volume garages, such that are left.
 
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