bad head gasket/cracked head???

[jKsled]

ok, so my '96 4.0 just took a dump the other day, and i would like some input if it's worth tearing into it.

the truck overheated, so limped it back to gas station. opened radiator, nothing, absolutely nothing, was in there. filled it back up, drove home. it was running warmer than usual the whole way. also, ran absolutely terrible, could hardly make it up some hills.

got home, and a lot of the coolant was gone again. the truck died almost in the driveway, and we had to tow it the rest of the way. there was a bunch of sludgy, brownish oil on the left side of the engine compartment, like a leak was spraying it all over.

took the oil filter off, there was nothing in there...

started to drain the oil out, and it was the same stuff, brown, thick, sticky.... it was mixed with coolant too.... and there was a LOT in there, thats where all the missing coolant went i guess.

there was no burnt coolant, white smoke, coming out the exhaust.



so, is it worth fixing?? any ideas????

thanks

 

[AllanD]

To Quote Dr. McCoy from Star trek "It's dead Jim!"

Time to go motor shopping.

Personally I recommend junkyard engines, but I ALWAYS get to see the
donor vehicle it came out of.

you need a 1995-2000 engine (sensors and such may need to be swapped over)

And before you say "Id rather have rebuilt or rebuild one myself"
a junkyard engine often costs less than the gasket set for an engine

For the price of a cheap rebuilt you can often get several junkyard engines
for the price of rebuilding one (I could get 8-10 engines.)
and most of them will be good... the odds aare in your favor considering
what utter crap most automatic transmissions are...

Dead A4LD's and 4R55E's have put more 4.0's into salvage yards than
anything else.
AD

 

[jKsled]

ok, but short of that, what would the problems possibly be if i was to tear into it??

 

[Ranger44]

You'd have to buy a gasket set.

Then what if the heads are cracked? New heads at $500 a pair?

That coolant in the oil.....could have done some damage to the bottom end.

Like AllanD said.....just go J-yard. Drop in and go. I'm a little disappointed in myself. I bought a 93 4.0 for $100, aluminum scrap, and 2 catalytic convertors a while back (all totalling about$175-$200). I just couldn't leave it alone. I took the heads off to inspect only to find everything in great shape, now I have to put more money into gaskets.

Oh, the truck was in there because of a blown A4LD, the fact that it was t-boned didn't keep the owner from using it as a farm hauler.....

BTW, 98-00 have different exhaust ports than the 95-97's. So If he were to go with those years, he'd have to swap out the manifolds.

Right?

 

[AllanD]

If you open up a junkyard engine the "good spirit" trapped inside
can escape and an "evil spirit" moves in...

Happens most times.

IF there turns out to be something wrong with the junkyard engine
that gasket set and a set of headbolts you just WASTED cost about
the same as simply throwing away your junkyard engine and going
back to the junkyard to buy another one.

Granted I kinda went through my current engine, but It isn't a "junkyard" engine
I bought a complete RUNNING '93 explorer that had been T-boned
The left side framerail was bent in six inches and the Trans crossmember
buckled down...

But I NEVER took the heads off of it

I removed and inspected the rocker arms (looking for galled pushrod sockets)
And I had the timing cover off, but NOT to "inspect" the timing chain
but because I wanted to heicoil ALL the water pump bolt holes and
it's a bunch easier to do that job on a drill press.

I also helicoiled all the exhaust manifold mounting holes in the heads.

Why? because I HATE fighting with exh manifold bolts
Particularly when it's time to replace the header gaskets.

AD

 

[Ranger44]

Yes, we'll just have to make sure no evil spirits have gotten in while it's opened up.

Maybe throw some holy water on it?

 

[AllanD]

You've gotta understand I live within 30 miles what some people consider
the two best place to go hunting used truck parts, Harry's to the northwest
and EZ-Pull&Save to the Southwest

I can get another engine worst case for <$200, So in the uncommon
event I get a truely bad one, it isn't a tragedy....

I've gotten several that weren't exactly "Good" but not bad enough to
pull before I finished killing them.

It's very liberating to whip the CRAP out of an engine that cost you
next to nothing when you have a prepped spare ready to drop in as
soon as your truck with the dead engine can be towed home

I only take the dead ones apart in hopes of adding some interestingly
distorted part to my "trophy" collection

AD

 

[jKsled]

very interesting.... well, i'll look into it some more, and let you know what evil spirits i find hiding in the engine.