So it looks as i have a bad head gasket in my 97 f150 it has a 4.6 in it just wanting to know if there is a good write up on doing this i looked and didn't see much but also didn't look super hard so any help i can get would be great.i will also look more in the next couple day but also going to get the coolant sniff tested at a friends shop to make sure all signs say its bad i have mech.skills just not with this motor.

Thanks

 

Did you look at the How to section on this site ? You may want to have Dynotech's write up handy -

https://www.f150online.com/forums/ar...r-engines.html

 

Yes i did see this one and saved it as well Thank you very good write up i will look for Dynotech's write up.

 

Pick yourself up a shop manual for proper torque specs and sequence

 

So i just got home from having the truck check and the hydra carbons in the over flow tank was at like 850 so i looks like the heads gaskets are done.So my ? is do i do head gaskets in it or do i look for a new motor.The truck has 200,000 mile on it.And i'm not sure which way to go haven't dug in to this truck much have done a lot of chevy 350 and a ton of 4 cyl. motors any help would be great.The motor still runs great so not sure what to do and money comes in to play as well but truck gets driven a lot it the family rig and hauls my race bikes.Need advise!!!!!

 

If there are no other issues with the motor, I would opt to replace the head gaskets. If you can do them yourself... which is quite a bit more complicated than the standard engine as far as the timing components go. Be a good time to replace the timing tensioners and guides as well. And would be the cheapest route doing it yourself ($250 or so after new gaskets, intake gasket, head bolts, timing components etc..) If not, a used low mileage engine should run you around 1200-1500. Up to you, but some may opt for a 99+ 5.4 swap. Again, used low mileage 5.4 should be around the 1500 range. There are great write ups on this site that can walk you right through it. Either way, it is not something that will have you back on the road by tomorrow.

 

I can do the work but not looking forward to it and yes i would replace the tensioners and guides i really don't have 1200 to 1500 sitting around to put a used motor in and i know i won't have it done in a day.I also just want to keep the truck stock not in to changing thing around any more i have race bikes i can mod to instead.For what i have read it seems pulling the motor is the best way to do the job.

 

PM sent. Its the same article that jbrew posted above.

 

Ok great thanks.One more ? My 8th vin digit is w what motor is that

 

Windsor-built 4.6 Triton.

 

Actually a W code is a Romeo and a 6 code is a Windsor. Don't ask me why seems like it would be the other way around.

 

I thought so too - but I'm finding conflicting information out there.

 

I have found that some of the auto parts stores think its W for Windsor as well but thats not the case. One guy even showed me on his store computer that they had a W for a Windsor engine and 6 for Romeo. It really isn't a big deal as only a few parts like cam covers, cyl head,front cover, block , crank and flexplate, are different. I just think these places made some assumptions when they setup the parts data base for their parts inventory.