Another Head Thread (LOL)

[CaptRon]

Well, after running the truck with a rough idle, missing in more than one cylinder, check engine light on, and poor fuel mileage, I finally pulled the heads at 120K mi. It took 3 hours to get down to the short block and the heads on each side were cracked......imagine that!!! LOL. Of course, the cracks were in the weak spot between the valves on three of the cylinders. Bought NEW heads from Odessa cylinders. Couldn't be happier with the price at $410/pr and the service was very good. From paying to getting them at the house....4 days across the country. I bought a Fel Pro upper gasket kit $60 (eBay), some anti- seize, black RTV, and miscellaneous parts that I would replace since the front of the engine was apart and those parts hadn't ever been touched. So, long story short, 12 hours total time from before to after .Truck runs better than when i got it 12 years ago with 27K mi on the ODO. For those of you who might be doubting yourselves on doing this fix, get a Haynes manual and it is a great tool.
I mentioned I replaced some other parts. Those parts were:
water pump
belt
hoses (all)
plugs
coil pack
wires
coolant
fan clutch
air filter (after market)
misc. gaskets

Things cleaned because they were taken apart anyways:
Throttle body (very dirty!)
intake
MAF sensor
injectors

I want to thank everyone for all the great info on this forum. You guys kick butt and I will try to answer whatever I can, if needed. I would like to get a bigger truck (F350) as I pull a camper and will be getting a bigger one in the future, but, I love my Ranger and it does everything I ask. Before the head change, the only thing I have had to replace in 120K mi has been the alternator. I change the oil and filter at 5K intervals with just regular oil.....nothing special.

Like a dummy, I didn't take any pictures, DUH!!! Sorry about that, but you guys have seen cracked heads and engine blocks before.

 

[will2045]

glad to hear it went well, which heads did you get? I'm having issues finding a used set to use that arent cracked. Im running the 422 cam with the 988 springs i dont know if the springs matter depending on a head but curious if you had a link i googled odessa heads and nothing came up that really looked right. thanks.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

What was your total cost?

Richard