Hi all,

The vehicle in question is a 1998 Ford F150 4.6L V8 with 101,000 miles. An independent replaced the plugs at around 90,000 miles (which was about 4 years ago). My brother only drives it about 2,500 miles per year.

Now to my issue: I borrowed my brothers pickup and on the Interstate, all of sudden it lost power and cut out. It would still run at certain rpm's; however at idle, it would cut out badly and I noticed a lack of horsepower. It sounded like it was missing out. At first I thought it was bad fuel (I had just fueled up), but after driving a bit, I realized it was something else.

I had it towed to a Ford dealership and they said no compression in cylinder 6 & 7 and it probably needs a new engine.

I have been reading about the "spark plug blow out issue" and am wondering if this is what happened?

If so, will the heli-coil kit help to repair or is the engine beyond repair?

Any advice from the forum? Thank you very much for any help.

v/r,
Curt

 

This sounds pretty fishy to me. 100,000 is NOTHING for that 4.6, so I doubt there is "no compression" in two different cylinders. Before you spend tons of money on a new engine, take it to a mechanic you can trust. Dealerships are only there to steal your money, and nothing else. A good place to start would be to check the plugs. You would know if the plug blew out. You could also do the compression test yourself, the process is pretty simple.

 

losing power and no compression in 2 adjacent cylinders is typically a head gasket. You would hear it if a plug blew out. And heli coils are not the best fix when they do, a timesert is. But my guess with your description is a head gasket.

If you don't know much about diagnosing it, pay the diagnostic fee and take to in for a different opinion is what I would do

 

Thanks everyone for the help so far.

Question: Since it left me stranded about 250 miles from home, am I doing any additional damage by driving it for the last 250 miles to get it to a local mechanic?

It seems to run okay at around 55mph (with overdrive off) or would I do additional damage?

Also, head gasket replacement ... ballpark?

 

I'd borrow/rent a tow vehicle and trailer to go get it.

 

Just wanted to update, the head gasket needs to be replaced. Thanks for all of your help.