Cracked cylinder head or bad head gasket what's my best option?

[JJMaine]

Awesome thanks! I'm going to give them a call tomorrow and see how fast they could get it done. If aim doing head gaskets I should probably have it done asap and not keep driving it like that.

If new engines were available I'd still go that route but if not I think it does make sense to save money and fix mine.

 

[JJMaine]

Do you guys think any damage has been done to the engine from me driving it so long with slight head gasket leaks? I never overheated the truck so I suspect it happened to the previous owner and he passed it on to me to deal with. Never had any milky oil and no misfire on start up until recently but I had always noticed white smoke from the exhaust when I started the truck from day one. It never smelled like burning coolant and I didn't have any noticable coolant loss until this past winter which I thought was seeping past the cheap hose clamps on the rad hoses.

I'm just worried about sinking money into it since it has seemingly been an issue for quite awhile.

 

[Shran]

I think you're fine, milkshake oil is the real killer of any engine. Burning a little will not hurt anything. Just a cursory glance at your pictures makes me think your engine is very healthy.

My buddy who has been a Ford tech since the 80's told me that small cracks on 4.0 OHV heads are very common, especially on the first few years and it usually presents itself as a minor misfire on startup that goes away. It's from just a little bit of coolant leaking into the cylinders and cooking off but it contaminates the spark plugs for a little bit. Doesn't hurt anything and is more just annoying than anything - my Explorer has always done that and I have put about 50k on it in 10 years doing cross country trips... it loses just a tiny bit of coolant over long periods and I've just kept running it, I trust it to drive it anywhere. BUT... I have a brand new spare set of heads on the shelf for when the time comes!

 

[JJMaine]

Awesome thanks again, that's reassuring.