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CMJeepster

Tell me this ain’t a manufacturing defect.

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4 minutes ago, AVB-AMG said:

@CMJeepster:

Woah.....  Hold on there!  Let’s not get carried away.....

IMHO, the MCA has some of the most passionate and interesting automobile aficionados in American car culture, centering around an important iconic vehicle.  Don’t sour on one of the most active car clubs and its enthusiastic members.

AVB-AMG

P.S. - You and your wife may want to consider test driving a new or used BMW X5, as a possible replacement for your Ford Explorer....;)

Yeah, I'm not giving up my MCA membership.  I still have, and always will have my Cobra.

 

I'm very wary of buying used foreign vehicles.  We're looking at some equivalent domestics.

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21 hours ago, GRIZ said:

Flywheels are usually nodular cast then machined.  Strength?   That's the same manufacturing technology Ruger uses for frames and crankshafts in engines.

 

I'm no metallurgist, but aren't you confusing a type of iron with a casting process?

Nodular cast iron is a type of iron that is rich in graphite. It is also known as ductile cast iron which has more impact and fatigue resistance than must regular types of cast iron.

Ruger uses investment casting, also known as the lost wax process and I can find nowhere that says Ruger is using nodular cast iron in their casting process. I don't know what carbon steel they use, but I believe that they are using 4140 stainless when doing their investment casting of stainless steel firearm parts.

@CMJeepster - Why did Ford deny any coverage - simply because of the time element? I would have expected that they would have offered to participate in the repair, but I'm surprised that they outright denied any coverage. Things have changed since I was in the business.

Adios,

Pizza Bob

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3 minutes ago, Pizza Bob said:

@CMJeepster - Why did Ford deny any coverage - simply because of the time element? I would have expected that they would have offered to participate in the repair, but I'm surprised that they outright denied any coverage. Things have changed since I was in the business.

Adios,

Pizza Bob

Bob,

They offered ~$700 on the $2,600 bill for this repair, then the automatic transmission fluid pump went DAYS LATER, so that's another $1,700, of which, we're still negotiating with Ford and the dealer.  I'm letting my wife handle this as she's build a network with folks from both Ford corporate and the dealer.  I will only get involved when it's time to play bad cop.  You know what I do for a living and who I do it for, so you can see why I remain in reserve for now.  Ha, ha, ha!

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3 hours ago, Pizza Bob said:

I'm no metallurgist, but aren't you confusing a type of iron with a casting process?

Nodular cast iron is a type of iron that is rich in graphite. It is also known as ductile cast iron which has more impact and fatigue resistance than must regular types of cast iron.

Ruger uses investment casting, also known as the lost wax process and I can find nowhere that says Ruger is using nodular cast iron in their casting process. I don't know what carbon steel they use, but I believe that they are using 4140 stainless when doing their investment casting of stainless steel firearm parts.

@CMJeepster - Why did Ford deny any coverage - simply because of the time element? I would have expected that they would have offered to participate in the repair, but I'm surprised that they outright denied any coverage. Things have changed since I was in the business.

Adios,

Pizza Bob

I'm probably misusing nodular which refers more to the alloy.  My casting knowledge is pretty old.  Nodular iron is an alloy that disperses the stress lines throughout the metal. This can make the part stronger than many steels. There are specific alloys of steel and aluminum that have been developed that do the same thing.

Investment casting is the method of casting.  You can get a part more finally dimensioned part without many of the imperfections you get with other casting methods.

So yes you're correct. I wasn't trying to say Ruger uses iron.  The alloy they use must act like nodular iron and disperses the stress lines in the final product.

So yes @Pizza Bob, I wasn't trying to say Ruger uses iron.  What I should have said is they use an alloy that casts like nodular iron.

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9 hours ago, Zeke said:

I know what @gleninjersey would recommend as a replacement...

I generally would recommend a Pontiac Grand Prix for an inexpensive used car (3800 engine is AWESOME)......BUT since this is an SUV.

I would look for a low mileage pre-07 Tahoe or Yukon.  LS engine and before GM started using Active Fuel Management (AFM) / Displacement On Demand (DOD). LOTS of problems with AFM on the 07+ years.  

The pre-07 Tahoes Yukons are easy to work on for those that want to do their own wrenching, parts are relatively inexpensive and plentiful and it's not unusual to get well over 300k miles out of them.  And the ride.  It's like driving your sofa! So smooth and comfy.

If you are on Facebook you can join a Tahoe/Yukon/Suburban group to learn more about them.  

New GM is junk.  I wouldn't touch their 3.6L V6 engine or any V8 with AFM.

FYI - A mechanic friend steered us to the pre-07 Tahoe / Yukon and I did a lot of researching before purchasing an older vehicle.  Same mechanic friend also.highly recommended Toyota.  He has an older Suburban.  Swears by the them.  Says pretty close to Toyota reliability.

 

Good luck.

  • Haha 1

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Sorry to hear about your problem. 

We had similar happen.  2012 Buick Enclave we purchased in 2014 feel to pieces at 115k.  Crack in engine block, bad front axle, bad Catalytic Converter.  Biggest piece of garbage we EVER purchased.

I too tried raising it up the corporate flagpole.  They don't care.  Best we were offered was $2k towards purchase of new GM vehicle.  Told them what they could do with their $2k offer.

We will never buy a newer GM again.

I feel your pain.

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13 hours ago, gleninjersey said:

I generally would recommend a Pontiac Grand Prix for an inexpensive used car (3800 engine is AWESOME)......BUT since this is an SUV.

I would look for a low mileage pre-07 Tahoe or Yukon.  LS engine and before GM started using Active Fuel Management (AFM) / Displacement On Demand (DOD). LOTS of problems with AFM on the 07+ years.  

The pre-07 Tahoes Yukons are easy to work on for those that want to do their own wrenching, parts are relatively inexpensive and plentiful and it's not unusual to get well over 300k miles out of them.  And the ride.  It's like driving your sofa! So smooth and comfy.

If you are on Facebook you can join a Tahoe/Yukon/Suburban group to learn more about them.  

New GM is junk.  I wouldn't touch their 3.6L V6 engine or any V8 with AFM.

FYI - A mechanic friend steered us to the pre-07 Tahoe / Yukon and I did a lot of researching before purchasing an older vehicle.  Same mechanic friend also.highly recommended Toyota.  He has an older Suburban.  Swears by the them.  Says pretty close to Toyota reliability.

 

Good luck.

Thanks for the advice, but the wife wouldn't go for something that old.

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i have never seen a flywheel or flexplate(correct term for this part with an automatic tranny) fail like that. i have seen round'ish cracks/breaks caused by vibration and it would fail around the flange. i have seen cracks spider outward towards the ring gear(which is not part of the flexplate in many cases, but rather welded onto the flex), but i have never seen a nearly perfect square such as this. i would be very interested in hearing the symptoms before this failure, as they will give a clue. and there were symptoms before this failure. this couldn't just happen overnight.

 

 that all said.....before i read the op, just looking at it, it almost looked like someone took a cutoff tool to it.

On 3/3/2020 at 3:37 PM, silverado427 said:

I would say it might have had some kind of vibration ( balance )  issue

those normally cause round'ish or outward bound cracks

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i'd also like to see a picture of the other side. that looks to be the crankshaft side.

 

i saw one post you mentioned that the tranny pump blew its load. i'm wondering if that had been failing for awhile, moving, wobbling and putting pressure on the flex by way of the torque converter.

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1 hour ago, 1LtCAP said:

i'd also like to see a picture of the other side. that looks to be the crankshaft side.

 

i saw one post you mentioned that the tranny pump blew its load. i'm wondering if that had been failing for awhile, moving, wobbling and putting pressure on the flex by way of the torque converter.

This is the only picture that we have.

 

We also had no warning.  She came home one night complaining about a noise.  I went outside and started it.  It sounded like a cement mixer, so I shut it down and had it towed to the dealer.

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FYI - Many Toyota's are made here and are more American than many "Domestic" vehicles. 

I believe newer vehicles come with a breakdown on where their parts are sources from, where production & assembly take place, etc.

Something to consider.

https://amp.usatoday.com/amp/1545074001

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14 hours ago, gleninjersey said:

FYI - Many Toyota's are made here and are more American than many "Domestic" vehicles. 

I believe newer vehicles come with a breakdown on where their parts are sources from, where production & assembly take place, etc.

Something to consider.

https://amp.usatoday.com/amp/1545074001

I'm well aware of that, but it's something that I can't get over.

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Not uncommon especially is some one was doing transmission work on it. One of my friends just had GMC van trans in and out twice one year later making knocking noise when started up rev engine would go away ended up being same problem you have there thinking bolts overtightened or was pried on.

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1 hour ago, tony357 said:

Not uncommon especially is some one was doing transmission work on it. One of my friends just had GMC van trans in and out twice one year later making knocking noise when started up rev engine would go away ended up being same problem you have there thinking bolts overtightened or was pried on.

The tranny didn't get yanked until after the noise started.  Once they fixed that, the pump went.

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1 hour ago, tony357 said:

Not uncommon especially is some one was doing transmission work on it. One of my friends just had GMC van trans in and out twice one year later making knocking noise when started up rev engine would go away ended up being same problem you have there thinking bolts overtightened or was pried on.

flange bolts being over tightened really wouldn't make a square break like that. pried on possibly, but again, too square. i did notice though that the one line seems to head out towards one of the converter mounting holes.......

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