I bought a brand 1987 F150 supercab that lived for 12 years and over 238,000 miles before it died. Missing the truck I purchased a used 1997 f150 supercab. I have had to make more repairs than I care to with it. The week before Christmas I put on new tires and a new front end with packed bearings. The following Christmas week 2005 it cranked for the last time at 128,000 miles. Yep another dead engine. Ford said with a smile $4800.00 to install a new engine. Sad part is I still owe money on it and have to keep full coverage insurance on it to keep FMC happy. So I have been and still are paying for a big red lawn ornament. Any suggestions? Anyone feel my pain? Anyone have any suits against Ford for this? I miss driving my truck.

 

Welcome to the forum and sorry to hear of your misfortunes...hope everything works out for you...

 

:o Thanks GerRod for the welcome and the sympathy. I still love my truck just wished it would run. By the by I have a new heater core for it that I had purchased to replace the one that seemed to be going bad. New in the box if someone needs one.

 

Do you have any idea on what is going on with the engine? I take there are serious issues....

If you, or a good friend, have mechanical ability you could rebuild the engine for far less than Ford wants. I am sure you could also get a long block and switch everything over and intall it for much less too, but this requires wrenching as well.

If the rest of the truck is in bad shape maybe you're better off starting over with a new vehicle rather than pouring money into this one. It hurts to eat the loss but it's also not fun to keep putting money into a vehicle that is a vamprire on your back!

 

Thanks for answering Dr. Franko,

The truck body is in excellent condition. I had it towed to a Ford dealership and they put it on a machine and told me the engine was blown. Several other people agree when they have come out to look at.

I wish I had the expertise to repair it. Unfortunately I am a tom girl mother of three who knows just enough car repair information to be dangerous.

Also I still owe some money on it, so selling would mean I would be lucky to get what I owe out of it. I am also one of those people who believe you need a truck to really get by in this world. Well that and I really love driving my pickup.

Thanks again and if anyone else has any other suggestions I would welcome them greatly.

 

At the very least call around to a few repair shops. Specifically ones that specialize in engine replacement. I think you could do MUCH cheaper than the ford dealership...they are always very pricey, but of course they are the most knowledgable. That doesn't mean I think you should always trust them .

Consider this:

I quickly googled replacement motors for these trucks and found brand new long blocks for under $3000. Figure at most another $1000 in labor an you are still beating the Ford dealership price. Keep in mind, this is for a brand new motor. Going with a rebuilt motor would probably save you a $1000 more. Even cheaper would be a used motor from a junk yard...but buyer beware. I really think you should consider a rebuilt motor from an engine replacement place. They usually come with a warranty, and are affordable...at least compared to the dealership prices.

Just my two cents,
Mike

 

What are the symptoms of your motor? What was it doing when it broke? Any info might be useful. It seems unlikely that you blew the engine up at 120,000 miles.... That's just getting broke in good...

 

Thanks Mike aka mrainey,
I have checked some of other shops, The best deal I have found thus far is $2800 installed used with a 30 day warranty. Some have told me to search the local junk yards for a truck that might have been in a wreck but with the engine still being good. But with that there is no warranty. At least with the dealership I would get a 3 year/36,000 mile warranty. Maybe I am being greedy but it would be nice to not only to get it fixed but to have some piece of mind with it.

Thanks again for your response and if you think of anything else, please let me know.

 

Thanks for responding Chester8420,
I agree the engine should have been still good at what I consider low miles. I have had many of vehicles that have lasted much longer.

The brief history is :
I bought it used. Summer of 2005 it keep running hot(Running the heater in the Texas summer heat instead of the A/C was no fun. I replaced the thermostat had the radiator flushed several times. Everytime I took it in to be checked(they would keep it for about a week) they could never get it to heat up and duplicate the problem. It would be ok for about a week after I picked it up and blam the temp would start to go up.
Dec 2005 Christmas week, the right side wheel bearings and front end let go. I had both sides repacked and fixed. When I picked it up they asked me if I noticed how the engine was rough when first started in the morning. I said yes and that I noticed that the exhaust was sweet smelling. They told me that my head gaskets were going bad and that it would be about 1500 to repair. I simply stated that it would have to wait until after the New Year (between the truck repair, new tires for the truck, Christmas, my son's two surgeries, and my mom's hospital bills I was broke). I checked and there was foamy milky oil in my resevoir. I have been told that this is sure sign that water is mixing with the oil. The week following Christmas I got in my truck to head to work and it would turn over it just made a funny noise. I called the mechanic and explained the noise and what had happened. He said it was hydrolock and that the head gaskets would need replacing. I had it towed in to be checked and have a diagnostic run on it and that is when they told me that it was the engine. I didnt have the money to fix it, so that is where I am at now. A big burgundy colored lawn ornament that has been sitting since Christmas.
It is not like my old F150. I bought a 1987 brand new, I had it for 12 years and over 238,000 miles before it died. I did a lot of repairs on it myself. Now there was a truck you could work on. Not like this newer one I have.
Thanks for letting me vent.
You have a nice truck by the way. Mine looks like it but burgundy. I have the beigish lower stripe as well.(like yours in the photo)
Thanks again for your comments and any ideas on what I might try next is greatly appreciated.

 

Yeah, that sucks that it did what it did at such a 'young' age, but stuff happens and you had your last clue once you found the water in the oil.... At that point, you should have not run the thing until you fixed the cause...

The overheating was actually the first clue, but the steps you took to diagnose that problem was probably what I would have done too, but after the next time it did it, further digging would have probably uncovered a blown head gasket... If that's all it was, it would have cost some $$ to fix, but the rest of the motor should have been fine.

Anyway, once you got water in the cylinders and started it, that hydro locked it to a point that turned over and started, but it bent some rods and that's where you heard the strange noise and it died.

All you can do now is save up for the repair as I don't think you will be able to get anything from Ford on this....

It does suck and I agree, it should have gone a lot farther.... My '97 feels like it's just broke' in @ 160,000 miles.... Just curious, but what are the rest of the specs on the truck?? (engine, trans, etc..)

Best of luck to you.

Mitch

 

Try http://car-part.com/ and do a search for your size engine. Yes they are from a bone yard but you can most times pick up a bargain. Check for Texas and nearby states. I live in Windsor Ontario Canada, across the river from Detroit. I search the Midwest and have found parts that I need in Ohio just 100 miles away. Check around and you will find mechanics that do work on the side. Much cheaper than a shop but just a competent. Besides swapping out an engine is a relatively easy job compared to rebuilding one.

JMC

 

I can't be sure, cause I'm not there to listen to it, but it may only need a head gasket. I've hyrdo locked 2 engines before. Both with rainwater, and they were LOCKED DOWN. It took me forever to get the water out of the cylinders (with a 4 foot pipe wrench on the pto shaft) and get it to where it would turn over with the starter.

We've put over 1,000 hours on both engines since.......

So what I'm trying to say is, that maybe it's just hydrolocked. Maybe it didn't break anything, and the head gasket just needs to be fixed.....

I guess it's not gonna hurt anything to try and get it running again, since it's already "broken". If I were you, I'd go outside to the truck, and take every spark plug out of it's hole. Then get one of your youngins or somebody to turn the starter over, and figure out which cylinder(s) are full of water. (you'll notice water shooting out of the affected cylinder(s)) After you determine which ones have water in them, re-install the other spark plugs and crank the engine up. Let it run for a little while (say 30 seconds) to get most of the water out of the engine, then re-install the remaining spark plug(s). That will get the water out of your engine, and kinda give you an idea of what's broke. If it runs great, then I'd have the head gasket fixed and call it a day! If it knocks and bangs, then you probably have bad problems.....

Either way, you didn't spend anything but your time, and you exhausted every option before swapping the motor....

I just can't believe that the starter is strong enough to bend a rod, but I've heard of it happening before..... Just goes to show that there's people here that know a lot more about 5.4 tritons than I do. Mitch always gives good advice, and JMC..... Well he's a legend when it comes to our engines!

 

Was it a V6 or V8 engine? I knew the V6's were pretty notorious in the late ninties for blowing head gaskets and going bad. If it is a V6, IMO I would stay away from a used or junkyard engines and buy a new or remanufactured engine. There are some places that will pull yours and put in a new or remanufactured one. Some of them may offer finiancing. I don't know if Thunderbolt is still in Houston. They used to advertise a lot on TV years back when I lived in Houston. I hope that things work out for you. I got a 98 F-150 with 140,000 with a 5.4L. It is still going strong. Knock on wood.

 

Thanks Mitch,
I found the water in the oil after it hydrolocked. I had it towed and they ran diagnostics and told me it had a blown engine.

It is a 1997 F150 XL super cab. 4.6 L, 4x2, long bed. 6 cyclinder.

It you think of anything else, I would greatly appreciate it.

 

Thanks for the information JMC,
I appreciate all the help I can get.
If you think of anything else please let me know.