I got a question.
Say a 2013 F-150 comes into the shop with 41,000 miles and a seized engine.  Still under warranty.

Does Ford just toss a new engine in, or does the old one get torn down and inspected first?

The reason I ask.

There is an old fleabag around town that came in to the shop asking for a few gallons of used engine oil.

Turns out he never checks his oil and ran it dry and ruined the motor, and he wanted to dump some used oil in it so they wouldn't know it got ran dry.

This guy is tighter than bark on a tree and I imagine the truck has only seen one or two oil changes in 41,000 miles.

No car or truck should run dry in only 41K miles.

He never changes the oil.  For all I know the it took 37,000 miles to empty it out.
This guy is a complete moron, he won't fix anything until it won't move anymore.

Former tech here, the engine will be torn down to find the cause of the failure, if the dealer doesn't do it they risk getting the engine charged back from Ford.

Most of the times the dealer will just replace the block, known as a short block, if the engine is really fucked, they'll replace the whole engine, known as a long block.


ETA: they'll probably ask for maintenance records

I currently work at a ford dealer as parts and service director.  It will be torn down and inspected.  If it is a lack of maintenance issue the warranty will not be honored.

That's what I was hoping.  Lol, he deserves it.

thats embarrassing

you won't change the oil in a truck? for 41,000 miles? That's ridiculous. He deserves to have the dealership fuck him on this one.

I had a friend that, in his words, refused to pay someone to change the oil on his charger R/T, but couldn't get a jack low enough to get under and get it off the ground so he could do it himself.

Didn't change the oil for ~25-30K miles (he doesn't remember how many) and pop went the engine.

I have never to this day let him forget it.

Even with old oil in it it will be obvious to the techs there if it was ran dry. They will ask for proof he had his oil changed regularly (another benefit of only using a dealership for work)

Then again you could call the dealers around you and give them a heads up.

And how exactly are they "fucking him"

He did it to himself

How does that work if you do maintenance yourself? I change my own oil but never keep the receipts. I've got a log of when I change the oil, but that would only be worth the paper it was written on. If my engine went kaboom under warranty I'd be fucking furious if they denied the claim because I couldn't "prove" I changed the oil.

Keep better records then. If it appears the engine has not been taken care of they will ask for it. "Usually" engines that have been regularly serviced are clean on the inside.

Put yourself in the dealers shoes, if someone came in with a bad engine and you asked them for proof they changed the oil and they had none, would you do the repair anyway risking the manufacture may not pay the claim to the dealership and it will effect how much you get paid? No you wouldn't. Why would you expect someone else to?

Another reason to use the dealership for service work. They have all the proof you would need and in most cases they will "go to bat" for you with the manufacture reps if there ever is a problem because you "are a good repeat customer of the service department" not just sales if you bought it there.