I have to disagree on a technicality. The head design of the 1999 and 2000 2.5L Duratecs was fingered as the most probable cause of oil starvation and the consequential spun bearings. That head design had only 2 return ports per head, with none at the back of the engine (facing the driver's side of the car), leading to oil pooling in that part of the head during sustained, high-G right-hand turns. When oil pools, it's not returned to the oil pan, and eventually the pan runs out of oil, leading to a drop in oil pressure at the crankshaft (main and rod) bearings, which lose their oil film the quickest, and metal-to-metal contact and paperweight making ensues.
The revised baffling in the updated oil pan helps more efficiently make oil that does return available to the pickup, but the flaw in the design is still present. That's probably why no 3L Duratec and all 2001+ 2.5L Duratec have that third oil return port in each head.
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Originally Posted by skater
I didn't see this directly answered: the early oil pans are prone to allowing oil starvation during right turns, which leads to a spun bearing. It has happened to several people here. As Wade said, there have been several revisions to improve the baffling to prevent this problem.
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