Just thought I would let everyone know that my brother and I just completed head gasket replacement on my 99 Supercab.

Contrary to popular belief, we did not remove the cab, or the engine and had no issue gaining access to all the appropriate bolts.

We did break a couple bolts, including the dipstick... but other than that it was just time consuming.

Got the engine back together and its running great with the heat working again... definitely needed now.

As far as the symptoms, I had intermittent heat... pressurized cooling system... and the engine would start to over heat whenever the thermostat opened... then drastically dropped with the thermostat would close.

Any other questions, let me know.

 

No one does that anyway, - EXCEPT in the service manual.

congrats

 

Ya, it is time consuming but sure beats paying the dealer $1,200 or so to do it. You were smart having someone help. It was a pain doing it alone (although jbrew did offer his help and a warm garage) I could have used an extra set of hands more than once. Good idea posting your symptoms here, they are exactly what I was having with mine. Take care.

 

I pull the engine or the cab if I'm in a hurry and trying to meet/break warranty time, that's the only time I'll do it.

It's certainly doable in the truck though.

 

my '99 had the same problem back in 2005....good thing i bought the extended warranty...the dealer said it was probaly a $1500 job

 

Just added an 80 gallon compressor recently as well - But I did get it to hot in their the other day, melted most the snow off the roof a little to fast which created ice damns. Water eventually found it's way in and a giant puddle formed behind the cabinets on the floor. I didn't notice it until it started leaching out under the cabinets kick panels.

That reminded me of that old flick -"The Blob" for some reason. ??

My daughter found humer in this as she watched me prepare to handle the problem . Anyway, I had to load up the Milwaukee Hole Shooter with 3/4" auger bit and port me a few holes in the eve's. I need to install some vents next spring I guess. Or just re-roof the damn thing right. First winter in this garage, so it has it's share of problems. I'll workem out eventually lol.

 

about how long did it take you to pull the heads and reinstall them?

 

I agree you can do replace those without pulling the engine. I just replaced a 4.6 in a 98 F150. In the manuel they tell you to pull the intake manifold off, but you don't have to. Its a tight fit but it can be done with it still one. Just take a piece of 3/8 steel plate and put holes in it so it can bolt up to those four bolts on your intake. Cut a hole to lift from and there you go. Almost the perfect balance point.

 

This seemed as good a thread as any to ask this:

Is there any difference in the non-PI and PI gaskets? There are complete gasket sets on eBay for the same price as one head gasket locally, but they're listed for 2000 and 2001 engines. Being a 97, my Expedition's engine is unfortunately non-PI.

 

Ford moved the Dowel holes around allot. Use year specific gaskets. Try Rock Auto, their very fair on price and sell Felpro.

 

I did some checking on the Autozone website, and aside from the swapping between Romeo and Windsor engines (1% Windsor, 29% Romeo in 97; 29% Windsor, 1% Romeo in 00), the headgaskets are identical. I even did an overlay of the pictures and the only differences in layout appear to be from different image sizes.



The easy-to-see one is the 97, the fuzzy, 50% visible one is a 00.

 

If you have a pre PI 4.6 you need a pre PI head gasket on the passenger side. You can use either on the drivers side. The reason is the high pressure oil feed hole in the block on the pasenger side (rear) will be almost completely covered by a PI head gasket. Thats using a Ford OEM gasket I ended up using a Felpro pre PI on the passenger side because of this. I laid the gaskets out on the cyl heads and checked for alignment and did the same on the block. Thats when I noticed the oil hole covered. The pre PI gaskets have a large triangle shaped hole that surrounds the oil hole the PI Ford gaskets have a small 1/4 inch hole. Those are the drivers side that you have overlaid. Just check the passenger side real good especially at the oil supply hole which is at the rear on the passenger side. Good luck

 

Ya jbrew the reason they moved the locator dowels to the bottom as opposed at the top of the deck. Was because when the robot would lower the cyl head down onto the block a small piece of aluminum would get shaved from the cyl head as the locating dowel entered the locating hole in the cyl head. This small aluminum chip/shaving would drop right down onto the head gasket high pressure oil supply sealing bead. Thats why there was an issue with oil leaks at the front and rear of the cyl heads for a period of time. By moving the locating dowel to the bottom two holes this eliminated that problem of a chip ending up on the bead. They perfected the process later on and eventually installed them back on top. Little trivia for ya..

 

The pictures on the Autozone website are the same no matter the year for the right bank, so that's no help.

Thankfully you have experience with this matter, Dynotech.

I checked the eBay seller's store and I'm in luck! They have a 97-98 application head gasket set.

 

No kidden! So that's the "burr" problem ? Same thing right ? Yea, I read about the dowel relocating in the engine builders editorials (babcox). They never said why, just that Ford had done that lol.

Trivia is right, -like f150 Jepeardy lol.