New 4.0 Damage Done?

[MorePower7701]

I got a Jasper 4.0 for my 1990 Ranger, from the beging there has been problems. The thermostat stuck when I picked the truck up from the shop, but did not run hot enough to really damage anything. The thermostat was replaced and everything seemed alright for the first 500 miles. I started to notice I was losing coolent, when the motor got about 1000 miles on it, the shop said they could not find anything. The truck sat for about a week, when I started it there was major steam coming from the tail pipe. The truck is back in the shop, they found coolent in #3 and a crack in the head. It appears that Jasper used a repaired Ford OEM head, the head cracked again. My question is how much damaged was done to the other parts of the engine from the coolent leaking into the cylinder? I paid a lot of money for the engine, I do not want this to cause problems later on.

The shop claims the new heads are World Products aftermarkets. Are these better than OEM?

 

[Ranger44]

I would say any aftermarket head is better than what FORD put on.

The aftermarket castings usually have a thicker deck on them making them less likely to crack.

Have you checked into Alabama cylinder heads? $185 for a complete head, valves and all.

 

[MorePower7701]

The aftermarket heads are what the shop claims Jasper sent to them. I am worry about any damage that might have happen with the coolent entered the cyclinder. The shop claims everything looked good, but I am not sure. I know it is much easier to change the heads than pull and replace the motor, less labor, less $$$.

 

[Giant squid]

do you not have warrentee on this engine, I would not worry about the coolent too much. I just replaced my heads and when i took them off the block quite a bit of coolant fell in one bank. i sucked out what i could, pretened that nothin happened. All i would think is that if you got coolant in the oil it might dissolve the grime and plug different things but thats all.....i think

 

[pillen140]

do you not have warrentee on this engine, I would not worry about the coolent too much. I just replaced my heads and when i took them off the block quite a bit of coolant fell in one bank. i sucked out what i could, pretened that nothin happened. All i would think is that if you got coolant in the oil it might dissolve the grime and plug different things but thats all.....i think

coolant is bad! can ruin your bearings!

 

[krugford]

Generally, concerns with coolant are either running a coffee milkshake for oil, which will give your bearings a short and unhappy life, or washing down a cylinder and scoring it. That, and a hydrolock, if you're running A LOT of coolant through it. If the cylinders look good, and the bearings look good, I'd say run it.

Oh, and it wouldn't hurt to ask for an extended warranty to cover damage that might not show up for a few thousand miles, although it might be hard to prove that far down the road.

I've always been weary of non-OEM rebuilds. There's just too much shady stuff they try to get away with, underground or welded crank pins and mains, repaired heads, non-cleanup on corroded mating surfaces, etc. I'll either stick with a local rebuilder who keeps me in the loop regarding repairs and and allows me the choice to fix/replace parts, or and OEM rebuild.