Brandon Nootenboom
New Member
- Joined
- Jun 29, 2011
- Messages
- 118
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 0
- Location
- Bellingham, WA
- Vehicle Year
- 1997
- Make / Model
- Ford
- Engine Size
- 4.0L V6
- Transmission
- Manual
Well, I my 4.0 either has a blown head gasket or god forbid a cracked head... I'm hoping this weekend to get a chance to positively I.D. the leak point. It's an external leak, not enough to cause overheating but you can smell it outside the truck and see it dripping down the engine. I know it's not the intake or a freeze plug, I'm guessing and hoping that it is only going to be a head gasket since I wasn't having drivability issues when I parked it over a month ago. I just had a couple questions if it ends up being a cracked head.
1) Could I just replace the bad head and have the other one machined or should I replace both? (Their around $600/head for new)
2) Could I get good used head(s), have them machined and throw them on
3) At 260,000 miles would it be worth trying to find a lower mileage or newer 4.0? Even tough the engines been well maintained? I'm paranoid about fixing the top end then losing the bottom end...
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
1) Could I just replace the bad head and have the other one machined or should I replace both? (Their around $600/head for new)
2) Could I get good used head(s), have them machined and throw them on
3) At 260,000 miles would it be worth trying to find a lower mileage or newer 4.0? Even tough the engines been well maintained? I'm paranoid about fixing the top end then losing the bottom end...
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
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