2 Oil Changes on Carfax in 70,000 Miles—This Lincoln’s Engine Came Apart Full of Sludge
A 2021 Lincoln Aviator engine with just two oil changes on its Carfax in about 70,000 miles came apart caked in sludge, with a spun bearing in cylinder six.
Eric Berg of the YouTube channel I Do Cars took the 3.0-liter twin-turbo EcoBoost V6 apart after it came back to a salvage yard as a core. It arrived with no story attached. To trace it, he used the partial VIN stamped on the block, got the full number and pulled the car's history himself.
He only had to pull one valve cover for his answer. "This looks terrible for 70k. Terrible," he says. "I've seen engines with 250, 300k that look 10,000 times better than this."
Five Years Old and Finished
It got worse the further he went. The screens on the variable cam timing solenoids were clogged, the oil filter was loaded with what he took for finely powdered bearing material, and metal had settled on the flat surfaces inside the timing cover. The bottom of the oil pan looked painted silver.
The fatal failure was the rod bearing in cylinder six, which had spun. Even so, the crank and block held up better than he expected, and he came away impressed with the engine itself, if not its owner. "It's amazing, really, what these engines will tolerate," he says.
In fairness to the last owner, Carfax only shows what gets reported. Berg points out that home oil changes and some shops never appear, and he guesses this engine really got three. He doesn't blame the design either, saying this "isn't a great example to judge a 3-liter EcoBoost by."
Two of the engine's cam timing solenoids, with deposits built up around their screens. Image Credit: I Do Cars via YouTube
The Check He Says Could Save You $15,000
His advice is aimed at anyone buying a used car with a thin service history, and it's a quick one. On most modern engines with variable cam timing, a solenoid can be pulled without opening the engine, and its screen catches whatever is floating around in the oil.
If the history looks patchy, he wants inspection shops to pull one and look. A clean screen is a good sign. A clogged one could "save a customer from a $15,000 repair bill."
He used the same trick years ago on the VTEC solenoids of old Civics, when friends were buying them. A dirty screen meant they walked away.
