Our 98 truck, with just 63K miles on it, is parked in the driveway. It sits overnight, and my wife goes out to start it the next day. There has been no indication of anything, save for a small amount of oil on the driveway recently. In any case, the truck doesn't start, but makes a loud clacking noise. AAA is called on Monday to tow the truck. They say the battery is shot and offer to replace. We say sure. With the new battery in, the truck still doesn't start. It's towed to mechanic, who replaces the starter -- truck still doesn't start. so he pulls the starter and tries to crank the engine by hand -- for several hours in both directions. no luck. pulls the plugs to check for water in the engine -- no sign of it. mysteriously, with no loud noises or anything, the engine has seized up.
we're told that we can either rebuild it for $3000-$4000 or, better, replace with a factory engine costing $6000-$7000. As we were about to replace the truck, neither option makes sense.
has anyone heard of this happening? any ideas?

 

Is it a 4.2V6?

 

Sorry to hear about it.
Siezed bearing perhaps? Bearing goes bad or starts spinnning, gets hot, and starts melting but the engine keeps running. When you turn it off the bearing cools and the metals sieze up.

 

Your cheapest route would be to find a junkyard engine and have that installed. The whole project should cost less than $2000.

 

I would check the solenoid... Your not going to be able to spin the motor through the starter hole... Just a thought because something drained the battery

 

Should be able to turn the flywheel by prying a bit on the flywheel teeth - if it's not siezed.

 

it is a 4.2V6, yes

 

Why not try to turn it by the crank bolt? Either an 18mm or 19mm?

 

i'm pretty sure a mechanic would have tried that.

i would get the cheapest used engine you can find from a wrecker and then sell the truck right after. i've heard of a few people getting 4.2 engines replaced more than once. they are not good engines.

you might even be able to get some cash just selling it as is to a wrecker or in the local paper.

 

Being a mechanic myself I really question the capability of the one who looked at it.....

He should have been able to test the original starter/starter circuit before blindly hanging parts....or even better should have been able to come to the conclusion the motor was seized before putting a starter on...

I would even go as far to pull the plugs myself and try to turn it over at the crank to verify that it is seized before jumping to conclusions....

IMHO performing an engine swap can seem overwhelming but it is possible if you get the right tools for the job, rent a hoist for the day and do as everyone else has suggested, call up you best friends and make a day of it....
If you try to have the job done elsewhere you will almost surely lose out if your intention is to get rid of the truck anyways....

 

Tom:

You said it's a 4.2L V6. Almost certainly, your engine is hydrolocked.

Your problem sounds JUST LIKE the problem everyone else has with 4.2L V6's - hydrolock. Go here:

http://www.v6f150.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=47

Mine is a 1998 also, and had the same problem, though I got to 130K.

If, IF the engine never turned over after hydrolocking, you can probably fix it.

DO NOT, under any circumstances, attempt to turn this motor over again!

What happens is the engine develops a coolant leak in the gaskets between the intake manifold and the cylinder heads. The leak is always between the coolant passage and the #1 or #4 cylinders. Your description of the problem is TYPICAL. What happens is the engine coolant is under pressure, but as long as the truck is running, coolant cannot enter the pistons easily. But when you shut it down and let it cool off for the night, the coolant seaps into the cylinder. Because liquids are not compressible, when you try to start the motor it goes THUNK and will not turn over. Some people force it and if the engine fires it can easily damage or destroy the motor by trying to compress incompressable coolant.

This is OFTEN mistaken for a dead battery because the symptom sounds the same - a partial turn-over and then THUNK.

You may well not be able to turn the engine over by hand, either.

Any garage, especially a Ford delearship, should be VERY familiar with this problem, but they will probably not admit it. This is typical lots of folks, myself included, had this problem when taking the truck in.

If you have not damaged the motor, the fix is relatively simple - pull the upper and lower intake manifolds, replace the lower intake manifold gaskets, and you are good to go.

Otherwise, you'll need a new motor.

I recommend www.A2Zengines.com. I got a great deal on my engine from them.

Steve

 

at my shop we usually , I mean never have spent several hours trying to turn the motor over, then pull the plugs. Even if you don't know the 4.2L history you try to turn it for about 5-10 minutes remove the plugs try for 1-5 minutes and if it looks/feels the trans is the problem maybe unbolt the converter if that style or maybe remove serp belt and try to turn over. We would have a hard time trying to get a few hours of diagnostic for any siezed motor. if a coulpe more hours would get it to turn it would still need major engine rebuild

 

Ditto... I'd question the diagnostic method. I'm not buying the spontaneous siezure diagnosis.

To see if it's hydrolocked, it's simple: Pull all 6 plugs and try to crank it. If it's got a full cylinder, it'll spew it all over when it cranks.

-Joe

 

Exactly

 

What GI Joe said. But get it to a diffeent mechanic. The moron that spent several hours trying to get it to turn is a hack.