Hello, new to this forum. So i had a bad fan clutch which caused my engine to overheat. I replaced the fan clutch and seemed to run fine for about 1 month. But last week my oil looks like coffee with too much milk. I drained the oil and sure enough antifreeze in it. I did the compression check and the good ones are 195psi except for 3 and 4 which are at 120psi and just number 6 at 130psi on the left side. The truck does not smoke and runs fine but definitely not driving it anymore.

So called to get estimates and no one calls me back, even the Ford Dealership and the ones that did told me to just replace the engine since it would be cheaper. Truck only has 116k miles. I figure it will take alot of time and a few hundred dollars and I can get it fixed. Only questions I have is on the cam lock/cam positioning tool I need. There seems to be a bunch of them. My 4.6 is a Romeo, W Vin. This link:

http://www2.otctools.com/otctools.co...30AutoSpec.pdf

Does not show the 4.6 in a 2003 expedition. So which tool and do I need it because I found past threads that they say you dont even need this if you set the engine to 12 oclock position which I imagine means TDC?

Second question is once I remove the heads and I take them to get milled/make sure they are flat they told me they have to take the cams out. How do I know its in the right position when I bolt it the heads back up? I take it the mark on the timing gear goes around twice how do I know its in the right place?

Thanks in advance.

 

I believe the cam has to come off to get the head off. But yea mark everything, and lay everything out. I think the cam journals are in a specific order.

 

Mine's got 160K mile on it and I plan to keep it. Blew the head gasket between #1 and #2. Good compression everywhere except those two. #1 was over 200 psi and #2 was 60 psi. I decided to go full rebuild. Called my favorite engine builder and they said they didn't have an "L" code 5.4. So, I took it out, hauled it down there, and waited for them to complete the rebuild. Now, 3K mile after I couldn't be more pleased.

Quick question for you - what were you seeing on the temperature gauge to make you suspect the fan clutch? I've noticed some sound changes from my fan while the engine is idling...I suspect I may have a bad clutch, but I have not seen any high temp indications on the gauge.

Robert

 

On ours the temp would climb to the red if you turned on the A/C. I thought it might be an A/C issue but I replaced the fan clutch with the belt and it stayed cool after that. I recommend a Motorcraft fan clutch, I made the mistake and buy some other brand and it is loud on startup and quiets down once it heats up.

FYI, I am 1/2 done with the gasket replacements. I pulled the heads and just need to take them somewhere to make sure they are flat. And I can tell you its a SOB to get to where I am at, not looking forward to putting it all back together. But I know why some shops quoted me 22hours for labor.

 

versus pulling the heads with the body in place. You make up the time it takes to remove the body in the reduced time required to remove the heads with the body out of the way.

At 160K miles, I decided to pull the engine. I did it with the body in place.

It took: 16 hours to pull it out, $2100 for a rebuild of my engine, and 24 hours to clean everything under the hood and put it all back together.

Robert