That's the first thing I thought of when I saw it, but IIRC those were intake manifolds. Chevrolet flirted with this for at least a while in the 70's. My Dad had a mid-1970's Nova with a 250 inline 6 with a cast-in intake. The heads on these engines were notorious for cracking. He wound up swapping to a later engine with a separate intake at some point.
Wow, so they are doing a wet belt. That's rare. Almost every manufacturer has gone away from belts and back to chains for durability reasons. Countless engines were turned to scrap when the belts aged and broke. Ford's 1.6 CVH was famous for that. The ECU controlled oil pump is surprising. I have seen the variable displacment pumps before, thinking of some automatic transmissions. But that is a good way to cut pumping losses.
I wouldn't touch that under any circumstances. No how, no way. I work in a field where I am CONSTANTLY dealing with ruined rubber parts that are supposedly "oil resistant", and frequently labeled as such: Buna-N butterfly valves that swell and don't fully close, centrifuge lid seals that turn into some asinine version of bacon, shaker air springs that rot & burst. Rubber simply has NO PLACE in an oily environment if it can POSSIBLY be avoided, and this idea of Ford's is patently RIDICULOUS. IMHO.
I think this is a polyurethane or polypropylene with aramid. these are impervious to oil. Ford has specified a special oil, there might be some bad additives that kill the belt you I would use the right stuff. Rod
You might, the other 99% of the public will just put in whatever oil they want. Wouldn't be the first time a Ford had issues with oil requirements. I can think of some powerstroke diesels that wouold not run right unless they were fed the special antifoaming oil. This is one of those times I might just take that extended powertrain warranty...
"Wet" belts have been around for years. Nothing new, it's just a new application. Ford's been specifying oils for their engines for over a decade, and it's because the engines have been designed to use a specific viscosity rating and additive package. This particular engine has 12K mile change intervals. The problem is that everyone seems to think that they know more about lubrication than the people who designed the engine, and they use their own version of snake oil, then blame the company when it takes a dump.
There may be some quicky lube lawsuits. I know of one sucessful VW diesel. lawsuit against a quicky lube place for the special VW oil not being used, and another where a oil filter came apart, plugged the piston jets and blew a dodge cummins diesel. You use the right stuff, and have no problems good for you. Don't change it at all, like a coworkers kid did, or use the wrong stuff, too bad so sad. I am fond of saying, you can not idiot proof anything, they keep making better idiots. Rod
I just got a bulletin from Ford saying that some aftermarket filters had come apart and clogged the oil feed to the camshafts. They weren't specific as to which brand, but I suspect it's one of the cheaper ones, maybe made in China. My dealer is a half mile away and has a quick oil change facility, so I get it done there using OEM oil and filters.
What if the right stuff isn't available? What do you do then? Such specialized requirements can be a real pain-in-the-ass out here where things are so few & far between.
As long you're aware of the requirement and you're concientious it's not a big deal. Case in point- 2006 VW TDI with "pump deuse" engine. You HAVE to use VW spec oil and the only place I've ever found the oil that meets this spec is the local VW dealer. The owner's manual actually cautions you that this oil is hard to find and recommends that you always keep an extra quart in the car, so that's what I've done since I bought the car. I haven't needed that extra quart in 100k+ miles, but I make sure I have it. That said, I'm sure there are plenty of TDI owners that never opened the owner's manual and dumped whatever was available in the crankcase if they needed a quart.
Hmmm...my buddy has on old V-12 flattie from his '41 Lincoln project that I might try to grab....that or the glass-top rifle case for man-town downstairs.
I see your point, but I would be conscientious enough to avoid buying such a finicky vehicle altogether, unless it was something pretty special. Too difficult to cater to such specialization here in the Empty Quarter. My patience for things that I see as frivolously complicated diminishes each year.