After reading the posts in this group I checked my wife's '97. It was losing coolant and one of the plusg was wet. We had it replaced, for $400, but consider it a small price versus a new engine. Now I need to find a good solution to the ground wire failure that i've experienced twice in 5 years on the starter of my '99.

thanks to all who posted warnings on this subject.

 

wow.. well.. i took the time and read all 7 pages.. i recently purchased a 1997 F150 V6 from an old retired military man.. with 57K on it.. i thought i got a great deal.. for 6100 bux..

Well.. now the truck has 60,800 miles on it.. and guess what.. if you read all the previous post.. then mine will be about the same..

truck sat in the driveway from Saturday at noon, till sunday at around 4:30, wife and i decided to make a run for the border.. and get some nachos at taco bell..

get in the truck.. go to crank it.. turns over like 2 times.. and stops.. great.. wife thought it was a cat in the engine or something.. so i popped the hood.. looked.. nothing got back in the truck.. turned the key.. 2 turns.. stopped.. held the key in the start position.. thinking it was the starter.. or battery.. and it fired right up....

Idled pretty rough.. but.. it has been doing that for the last week.. idles rough at the start.. then smooths out.. which this is what it did..

Got down the road.. noticed a ton of smoke coming out the pipe.. no where else.. just out the pipe.. white.. im like.. great..

well.. FORD came to get the truck today.. i luckily know someone who works for them.. and he is kinda helping me.. got me a deal on towing.. and will look at it for me.. and see if he can diagnose the problem.. but seems its allready been done..

Hopefully everything is fine.. truck ran fine.. didnt miss or anything like that.. no knocking yet.. maybe since in bought the truck there.. just 4 months ago.. they will help me out.. we will see.. i will keep posted..

WOW.. i never really trusted domestic cars.. or trucks.. and here.. this truck only has 60K on it.. and i have to drive my 1995 Honda Civic which has 185K on it.. never gave me any trouble.. Saw a commercial during the Super Bowl.. of the new Honda Truck.. guess.. hope they can fix the problem, and i will stay with my Ford.. cuz i was planning on getting a new F150 in the near future... but if they dont help me out.. i dont know..

 

Just wondering, is there a recall on this?? If i decide to do the work myself, does the intake manifold gasket come in a set.. or is it by itself??

 

Black,
I would love to discuss your engine coolant leak issues, as my engine has failed. See my previous posts. I've written letters to the following:

Michigan Department of Automotive Complaints
The Consumer Protection Division of the Attorney General's office, The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
Better Business Bureau

So far, these organizations have been no help. I will not drop this until Ford or the dealer pays.

I understand I've got a slim chance of receiving any fair compensation, but that will not stop me from pursuing every possible alternative I can find. I will file civil suit and let a jury decide.

Maybe we can share some information. I have many files, including a 79 page letter that I've compiled regarding this and many other truck issues. It's a hunk of junk, sinking in my front yard. Please send me an E-mail at bradleyedward1001@hotmail.com with a phone number, etc., if you'd like to discuss briefly. Thanks.

Brad

 

Add another 97 to the list. Bought it for 300$ with a "blown" engine (turned out to be bad starter haha), also head/intake gaskets bad as oil is milky. Currently replacing all top end gaskets, what a PITA. Think they use enough wires and vacuum lines on this thing? Not hard work, just extremely tedious.

 

I have '97 F-150 with a 4.2 Liter 6 with 100K miles on it, and now finally I have the gasket problem among other things starting to go wrong now. I brought the truck new in '97 and haven't had to put any money in the motor yet. Instead of starting to sink $$$$$ in this motor I am thinking of replacing the motor with a rebuilt 8 cylinder. Any opinions on this? Would I have to beef up the front end to do this or mod anything else so it would fit? The body is in great shape.
Thanks.

 

have a 97 have had recall to gasket done, but when changing oil the other day i noticed milky substance on oil cap. thought antifreezed right away, for i had to replace number 1 spark plug about a month ago. Well engine light came on again week later, so i replaced all plugs and wires. Also blew out number one port with air compressor been a month and no problems, but i have noticed the coolant level dropping. After reading this post I had no idea the problems. I am with u all and feel cheated by ford. They have already frauded the public in the firestone tire recall, blaming firestone tires over there design flaw in the exlporers 90% of the tire blow outs where on the rear passenger side. Also ford recommended 26 psi in the owners manual for a more comfortable ride, when firestone designed tire with ford engineers they (firestone) recommened 30psi. Ford plays big role in politics people and with money it talks all the way to washington.

 

I see alot about 97 V6, anything like this going on in the 99s? I personally have 100k on my 99 V6 and have had no problems. Am I just lucky? (KNOCK ON WOOD) or should I expect things to start going wrong soon?

 

Hi there!

I had both gaskets, front/intake, replaced on my 1997 4.2 around 64,000 miles. I have all the receipts...$775.00. That was 2 years and 10 months ago...problem solved, (thanks AJ)
BUT...

A month ago I found out my coolant was dissappearing, so I kept filling it, and finally I had the system pressure checked, and my tech said there was nothing wrong with it...but the coolant still dissappears.

This makes me think...is there anything wrong with the engine that breaks these gaskets, or I have just been hit with bad luck?

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

 

Well, I too am one of the unlucky people who have had a 4.2 V6 motor blow up with the intake manifold gasket failure... my story is a little bit different though. I actually noticed the temp. gauge redline and lost my heat on my way home one night. Next morning, brought it to my trusty dealer (who has been very good in all fairness) for a diagnosis and learned I needed the intake gaskets replaced. For $320, fine, as long as it doesn't hydrolock (I became very aware of this problem real quick thanks to this site). Well, the repair was taking a lot longer than expected and something didn't feel quite right... to make a long story short, they called me three days later and told me the motor had hydrolocked. The rod in (you guessed it) cylinder #4 had broken and punctured the oil pan. Apparrently it happened AFTER they got everything back together. WTF?!??!!! I thought this repair was supposed to PREVENT that from happening. Anyway, I got the major run around and couldn't get a straight story out of anyone. The service manager claimed I had driven in with a broken rod, although the technician hadn't noticed this BEFORE he decided to go ahead and replace the gaskets AND the motor had absolutely no abnormal sounds coming from it.... yeah, right. I may look a little dopey but I'm not that stupid. Needless to say, I decided at that point to speak to the owner and he ultimately made things a lot better for me. They cut me a really good deal on a rebuild from Ford and agreed to go through my clutch for the cost of parts.... needless to say, I'm still out a good chunk of cha-ching and I was majorly inconvenienced for about a month. Add me to the list.... I know I can't have my time back but I'd like my money back!!!!!

Side note... Any feedback on the rebuild from Ford??? Was just notified of a small oil leak around the pan. Needed to be repaired until I reminded the rep. that I have a 3yr/36K on the new motor.... then they found a couple of loose bolts around the pan and retorqued them... I'l have to keep my eye on that one...

 

What was the e-mail address you used?

 

Nothing wrong with the engine it self, just really poor engineering

 

Well, my wife's 1998 F-150 with the 4.2L engine started, about a month ago, to stumble a bit when cold. It went away after just a few minutes, so I didn't think much of it.

I also noticed one day, when I went to start it, that it turned over about half a crank and stopped cold. I was thinking dead battery, but the battery is nearly new. Turned it over again and it fired right up.

I'm sure I was hydro-locking, but didn't realize it. A little while longer my wife drove it to Atlanta. She called me after just a bit on the road saying it was overheating. This had happened to me every few months or so, as it ran low on coolant. I always just added some. She stopped at an auto place and they added more coolant, and she made it all they way to Atlanta before it overheated again - this time with plenty of coolant still in it.

So she took it to the Ford dealer, and they told me I had a blown head gasket. They wanted $2300 to replace the head gasket, and $4000 to replace the motor, which I could tell they were really leaning towards (the truck has 130K on it). Since I could get a remanufactured long block for about $1700 I decided to do it myself. It was interesting because they were so desparate for the business they talked themselves down to $3400 before they realized that I was serious about doing it myself.

So I went and bought myself a remanufactured long block and a new transmission, too (might was well replace the whole driveline while I'm going in). I got them from A2Zengines. Anyway as I tore down the old 4.2L engine to transfer over the accessories, I noticed, as you guys did, that it is NOT the head gasket that blows. Now I never actually took off the cylinder heads to see if they were blown or not, but I'm pretty sure I found the culprit - the lower intake manifold gasket, #4 cylinder, blew out, clear as day. So I could have repaired the truck by only pulling the upper/lower manifold and replacing that gasket, without even pulling the engine. But I guess the good news is I will have a brand new driveline.

I'm just about to put the engine/tranny back in. You can see pictures here:

http://www.forth-armoury.com/temp/engine/engine.htm

BTW, can anyone post a picture of how the bracket is supposed to mount in the 2nd picture? I'm pretty sure it is supposed to mount to the back of the cylinder head, and retain the harness, but I can't remember.

Also, does anyone know the revised torque values for the lower intake manifold bolts? I've called Ford 3 times and they keep saying they will call me back and never do.

Steve

 

Been reading all complaints about ford and recalls for gasket replacement.
I was unaware of this web site util recently. My problem began about 3 & 1/2 years ago coolant missing heat gauge dancing up & down oil light coming on. I just add some coolant everytime. I added some stop leak the kind with cork in it that seem to do the trick. The leak reappeared Last year in Dec. I had the timing gear cover raplaced with that comes a new oil pump, oil change and new coolant the tune of $500.+ Dollars. Last Month I started have oil pressure problems but only after 5 or so miles returned to dealship. Answer your engine is shot sounds like main bearings.I have 105,500 miles Truck built in 5/97. did not receive recall notice.

 

I had the same problem as seen in this post. Loss of coolant, no visual leaks and most important...no recall! I had the motor replaced, runs like a champ; specially when a motor is put together properly.