Add my 97 to the list of gasket failures. I parked my truck Tuesday morning and when I restarted it Tuesday afternoon, Bang. Sounded like someone was beating my engine with a hammer. So now I need an engine. I have found a longblock for $975.00 My question is how do I reset the timing once I get the new motor in? I have never replaced a motor this new before. Anyone know a cheaper way out let me know. Thanks in advance for your help.

 

Ouch! Sorry to hear about your bad luck. Had either the timing cover gasket or lower intake gasket been replaced on your truck? I'm just wondering.

Anyway, would rebuilding your 4.2 be an option? I'm not sure how much you'd save, but resetting the timing, or making any other changes for that matte,r wouldn't be an issue. Or, if you can afford it and/or want to, just get a new truck! Anyway, good luck and let us know what you decide to do.

 

I wish I could afford a new truck. I am just going to put a long block in it. It seems to be the cheapest alternative. How does the ignition system know when to fire the plugs if we don't set the timing. never worked on distributerless ignition before. Any help would be appreciated.

 

The timing is set automatically. The Cam and Crank position sensors send signals to the Engine Control Module (Computer) and it takes care of all the settings.

I don't know where you are getting your longblock but I would say they probably would install the cam sensor at the time of rebuild. The crank sensor is a fixed 2 screw sensor that really has no adjustment. It simply screws into place when you swap over the harness.

By the way that is an excellent price for a new (rebuilt) longblock.

 

I am having a place here in town replace the engine for me. It is going to cost me more than the longblock, but I don't have to put in the labor and they are giving me a 36 mo 50,000 mile warranty.
I wish Ford would take responsibility for these failures. There is no reason someone should have to replace a well maintained engine at 96,000 miles. It really ticks me off because the truck ran so good all the time, and I had just changed the oil last month. The strange thing is that the water didn't make it to the oil. I guess the piston rings kept it on top. Seems strange to me. Oh well, I should have my truck back early next week.

 

b.certain,
i would like to know where you had the engine work done. did they install a long block? about how much are they charging you for the job?? i live in the dallas area also. i have a 97 4.2 with 165000 miles and i'm sure its a matter of time before a new engine is in order..
thanks, tommy m.

 

It is called American Engine Installation. They are on Shorecrest just east of Harry Hines.
They charged 2483.00 to replace the longblock. It comes with new plugs, oil pump, plug wires, new air filter. I got my truck back yesterday. They seem to have done a good job. It is running great. Only problem is the oil dipstick was stuck when I first tried to check the oil. I broke the handle off the dipstick so I need to get a new one. other than that it seems great

 

I just replaced mine with a rebuilt 4.2, I thought i was going to have trouble with cam timing. Did not have any problems. If you look at the cam sensor, you will notice that the front of the sensor has the connector hook up, make sure that when the timing cover is brought in to the block the connector is pointing between the locking bolt and the water intake. The proper procedure is to buy a camshaft syncronizer tool from Snap On tools and follow the procedures from the manual. If you need the procedures let me know and i can get them for you.

good luck

P/s

I paid 950 for mine.

 

I own a 97 Ford F150 4.2L V6. A couple of years back when they first annouced the defect in the front timing cover gaskets that leaked coolant into engine oil I brought mine in to get the recall serviced. I think that was in 2000 I had 85000 miles on it and have owned the truck since early 96. The Ford dealership was Park Cities Ford ( Dallas) even though I purchased It at Thorton Ford In Waxahachie,TX. They took 2 days to fix and they(Ford) paid for a rental car. After about 2 days my truck developed a really slight ping that i could tell would soon be major so I rushed back to the dealer so that I could prove it was connected to the work they had done earlier. I was really feakin out that I might have to pay for an Engine rebuild since my truck was well past the warranty in years old and mileage. So I stresed to the dealer that even though I had a lot of miles one shouldn't have to replace an engine that was well maintained. The dealer checked into for me and found out that ford was replacing some peoples engines if after the fix for the gasket was done per the recall and a new leak or defect developed. At the Time there were alot of people having this problem. There was a 4 week backlog from ford to get a new longblock engine. Ford paid for my rental car upfront for three weeks and replaced my engine for FREE! They showed me the invoice of what I would have had to pay and it was close to $5000. Now I don't know if ford is still honoring this unofficial waranty anymore. But it is worth a try for those who have the engine that was affected by the recall but never brought it in for the gasket fix and are now having problems.

 

I have made several calls to Ford over the last couple of weeks concerning my 97 f-150 4.2L 5 speed truck now needing a new engine....started with coolant leak at gasket.
What I am hearing from Ford is that if they get enough complaints about this same situation then they would have recall or extend or whatever. Has anyone else been told this by Ford?
Lets try it, or try it again if you have complained before.
If you are having or have had problems with your 97 4.2L engine please call them again! I was also told to keep all receipt in case of this.
Call them, call them, call them.