Steve Wood here from Mustang Ranch - We have dealt with our friends at Roush with favorable results, negotiating the warranty and technical process.

Mark is a good guy, and I have dealt with him many times on engine issues.

However, as much as a company offers a warranty in good faith, they are beholden to whatever is the current manufacturing status of almost any part.

we have seen with all crate motor and engine builders the opportunity for things to go wrong, and not because of a human or machine error in assembly - the problem was months , if not years before in a factory somewhere, probably not in the 48 states.

It is not because they dont want to , it is usually it cannot be obtained in the USA.
Or quality control on parts from NAFTA isnt as high as it should be -

Case in point Ford had us pull and replace a crate motor of theirs as the center oiling feed hole to the thrust bearing was 1/2 occluded by a bearing surface ( the top of the thrust bearing ) and it went through 2 crankshafts before we were involved.

Turned out that whoever drills the holes was off , and on the BOSS engine block line there are no optical inspectors ( digital cameras that look for proper holes ) and angles - so this one slipped through.

We have many stories like this - the Roush guys, Ford guys and shelby engine guys ( Now under Denbeste ) all want to provide the best motors for our Saturday cars, and they expend countless hours ( and I do mean countless ) trying to get the best products out there for the community.

However, sometimes things dont go their way and they are the victim of a poor part form a vendor that sometimes was made 1 to 2 years before it shows up in an engine. -- if it were a production road car with thousands of examples, running tens if not hundreds of thousands of miles, the feedback would be more in tune with some of the expectations see in notes above.

We are mostly dealing with manufactured antiques, and setting modern expectations on them - I cant think of a better recipe for failing to meet your desire.

well built, competently installed , with good support and with a bit of luck, it is one of the best motoring experiences available anywhere.

--Now dont get me started on crankshafts. -- Rant off.

Steve Wood

Disclaimer - I am no engine expert, lawyer, and very ignorant. Can somebody explain to me what would cause a dog bone to fail. The ones I have seen are pretty stout and I ASSUMED their purpose was to prevent lifter rotation. Looking at retro lifter the anti-rotation bar they have is a fraction of the thickness of a dog bones on the engines I have seen.

MadMax, I didnt know what they were until now either but the do hold the lifters in place then the spider holds them in place... per the info I got.

If anyone is interested I have posted the pic of the piece of the dogbone found in the oil pan and damaged to the cam.

Could be an issue with too much lift on the cam...or maybe it was just a weak dogbone as cast.

Where is the pic?

Click on the portrait pic and the are in there.
If you take your finger and slide it across the cam lobe do you feel an edge or lip at the edge of where the roller rides?
Do any of the other lobes have damage?
Its hard to see the damage on the cam in your pic.

If there is no roughness on the cam the discoloration is irrelevant. If there no damage to cam pull the intake, replace lifter and dog bone and reassemble. About 2 hrs of easy work, your back on the road.

I am just throwing my two cents in. When I worked at Roush I sat across the aisle from Mark. He is a great guy and has been at Roush a very long time. He has been there probably over 25 years. Mark is probably trying his best but from my experience at Roush, he still has to answer to his bosses.

Just so you know, Bob Corn is the CEO of Roush and I would suggest you don't contact him. He is a very nice guy and would probably take your call but he is extremely busy running the race teams and other things. They have people in charge of the crate engine program and Mark is one of them. It is better to work through the proper channels.

As someone that sells products and services, I have to agree with Jamo and say you have to draw the line in the sand.

Regards,

Ryan Hubbard

RodKnock - Glad you got a sense of humour. :) You don't last long here (or in the World) without one.

James - Hope you get this resolved and get back on the road soon.

MadMax, there is palpable damge to the cam. It still requires removing the engine to do it properly...and that still does solve my oil burning problems though :(. Nor does it cover me for $$$ for the whole job. I am a bit more worried about the oil problem after reading the other posts.

Thanks for your Info. Every bit might help. I am still trying to get back to Mark since his last email but to no avail. I have left a few messages (1 a day) to discuss the matter furthur but i keep getting the voice mail. I asked him to try to have this moved up a level for review again. I was hoping Bob might take notice and intervene to give us a hand. I know there must me a line drawn somewhere but my oil burning claims were made to the dealer within the warranty period. It just tough to prove other than having the leak down test that was done after i twisted the dealer's arm.

I've had oil burning issues on my 427SR, but not as bad as some of the posters. The MSD ignition cap had broken the center electrode off and I didn't find this until the engine had 3000 miles on it. I assume fuel wash may have affected ring seal, but I do get compression readings of 170-185psi. Since changing the MSD cap and going to a QF carb with leaner idle and main jets, oil on the spark plug threads is virtually gone. The engine now has about 10,000 miles and burns 1qt./1200 miles. Otherwise it performs well. Is the oil consumption to be expected for these Roush stroker engines?

My 427 SRTW (with 10,000 miles on it) goes through a quart every 1300 miles. The plugs look perfect on all 8 cylinders. No smoke from the exhaust nor internal leaks. All eight cylinders have relatively the same compression.

Therefore, I'm assuming this oil consumption is normal. At least I'm not going to worry about it unless it suddenly doubles.

Have a good look at the intake manifold gaskets when they come off. You can pull in oil with a leaky gasket. Maybe you will get lucky and find that the engine itself (rings/ valve seals) are in good shape.

Swift, I never thought of that but when my dealer changed the plugs after the carb was replaced by roush the all seemed to have the same bad carbon build up. None worse than the others. But I might check into them jsut in case. From what I heard here and about Roush engines 1pt per 1000miles seems "normal".

..yep thats what I would like to "hope" for instead of rings etc. But I am really hoping for Roush to step in and give it a full rebuild!....

My late granddad always said, "If you can't say somethin' nice, then say nothing at all."

My experience with Roush has only been with one SBF.

But with this in mind, I can only say... Roush do have some mighty fine looking valve & air intake covers. ;)

Having been through my fair share of engine problems and put some thought into the situation, here is my simple solution.

The problem usually seems to be that the warranty expires after a year (or two with the bigger builders). With daily drivers that is adequate. However, most of us just put on a few thousand miles a year. So when an engine that is 3 years old with 4,000 miles on it goes bad we have a problem. The builder is completely within his rights to say they are not responsible but the customer has an essentially new motor that has gone bad.

If there was a, i dont know, 5,000 or 7000 mile caveat on the warranty maybe there would be less consumers feeling slighted. Maybe the number is more, i dont know. I dont see why any major engine components should fail within that number of miles. If it does, then there is a problem with the builder or the components they are using.

What should a consumer expect out of their engine? SHOULD this guy be OK with the performance of his engine? Can the builder really say that this is an exceptable out come when buying one of thier products?

PART 2
Well.. I`m Back with and update but not a good one unfortunately.
After haggling with the warranty dept, I fianlly got the to take back the engine for a rebuild. That being said I had to pay for the shipping labour and parts at "cost"..but I would get a 3 month warranty. Once they disassembled the engine the reported "oval cylinders" and confirmed this was not caused by any misuse or abuse on my part... YES my first question was also then it should be under warranty!!..NOPE guess again.

It was recommended to me that the block be replaced along with the rings (kept the pistons).. gaskets etc. All said and done it cost me ANOTHER 4736.50$

I asked that the engine be cleaned and returnes as new.. it came back unpolished and dirty.

I cleaned it and re-installed it. I followed the break in porcedures to a "T" but right out of the gate she was burning oil again. I remained in constant communication with Roush to keep them up to date. I even went as far as sending them a video of the vivid BLUE smoke exiting the pipes on acceleration and when I let off. They did not contest the proof and considering our Canadian climate I kept the engine in and continued to drive it adding oil and gas. I removed it at the end of the season and am ready to ship her back. My dilema is what to do. I dont want this engine back it has a bad omen to it.

Does anyone know why this engine could still be burning oil??? bad intake? seals?? the rings are new... doesn't seem to be compressing in the base... it is burning more oil than before the rebuild. 1/2 pint per tank of gas. I was using the recommend oil weight from Roush 10w30.

Please help, I am getting ready to send the engine back and I would like to hear from any pro engine builders or people who have experience the same trouble. thanks!!!