As you may have guessed by my name I no longer drive a Ford at this time. My baby died on me last November at 2:00 am, about 20 below 0 and 15 miles from anywhere. Due to my experience with this truck and with other Fords I decided to buy a Chevy this spring and I couldnt be happier. Ford still makes some great trucks but at the year and price range I could afford the Chevy was a better choice.

Anyhow...to my question. Its a 1988 F-150 with the 302. At about 110,000 the rod bearings were shot and I had no oil pressure so I replaced it with a reman engine. Put about 50,000 trouble free miles on it when she died on me. As I said it was very cold that night...one of the first coldest nights of November here in MN. I had driven about 15 miles when I lost my heat. The vents blew air but it was cold after being hot. I thought this was weird but kept going thinking of making it to home which was about 15 miles away. I was very sleepy at the time and noticed something coming off the front edge of the hood...thought it was snow but in hindsight may have been steam. The temp gauge showed normal where it always runs.

All of a sudden its starts pinging very badly...I panic and try to figure out what to do and within 10 seconds it died. As I sat there my truck was surrounded by smoke...smelled very odd. Not sweet or oily...just burned. Tried turning it over but it was locked up. Luckily I had my cell...called the tow truck and towed it home. Next morning tried turning it over...turned over stiff but it was cold too. Would make a pop or two and seemed off-time. Checked the radiator...not full but had visible coolant. Checked oil...a little burned but full. Pulled drivers side front plug (No. 8?), electrode had melted off and there was melted metal covering it. Pulled remaining plugs on drivers side...they seemed normal.

I have been very busy and have just let the truck sit not knowing what to do. The truck is not worth sending to a mechanic...trying to figure out myself what went wrong. The cylinder with the bad plug has no compression. I figure I melted the piston or burned a hole in it. But why? What would have caused this?

I took excellent care of this truck and never beat on it. The only thing that I had a problem with was it did lose some coolant. About a half gallon every 3000. Oil never seemed milky. Could it have been a bad head gasket and it was just going out the exhaust? How could this have caused the engine to fail?

Sorry for this being so long...just dont know what happened to my truck and I would like to get some idea so I can decide if I want to tear into it or not. The body is in good shape so I may just sell it as is. Thoughts, ideas, comments?

 

I couldn't begin to tell you what happened. By the one melted plug, I'd say that cylinder went very lean for some reason. Once it burned through, it could have dumped metal particals into the oil and that got circulated through out the engine.

The only way to determine the real cause is to do an autopsy on it. You just start on top, pull the intake then the heads. Pull the oil pan and see what is in the bottom of it. You'll probably have to remove a main cap and rod cap or two also. Look for scoring on them.

Maybe you could find a junkyard motor to just stick in it so it will at least run. You'll get more for a running rig then for one that isn't.

Good luck.

 

Was it cold enough for your water in the radiator to have been frozen before you started on your journey? I've seen engines overheat cuz the water in the radiator was like slush and didn't circulate.

 

I just had something similar happen to my 4.6 at 42,000 mi.
It started pinging real bad then I also lost my #8 cylinder. They were supposed to pull the heads off today to evaluate the damage...Repair or Replace engine? Go to pg. 2 on the message board and read my story....ENGINE SHOT AT 42,000MI./DETONATION...
Like Mitch stated ...Your truck would be worth alot more with a working motor!

Good Luck!

 

Thanks guys...

The coolant was ok...I had just checked the mixture 2 days before in anticipation of it getting really cold and it was good to go. Hopefully I will find some time to tear it apart and figure out what happened.

I have another 302 out of a 86 Econoline but it is still in the van. Its gonna be hard to find the time to swap motors so I may see about selling both as a combo. The truck is in great shape and had a tranny rebuild not too long ago plus alot of other new parts. I'll let you know what I come up with whenever that is.

If anyone else has any ideas I would greatly appreciate hearing them so I can at least figure out the best way to go with this and have some idea what went wrong. Thanks again...your help is much appreciated.

 

Sounds like your thermostat malfunctioned. Happened to me when I was a teen on a (gasp) chevy monte carlo ('70). Yes, i owned a few chevies in my younger, stupider days. My experience with chevies is why I drive only Fords now. Symptoms sound exactly the same. The thermostat did not open and the only coolant circulating was what was in the block. The coolant, isolated from the radiator, became vapor and no longer circulated or removed heat from the engine. Engine overheated and the hottest cylinder seized (this explains only one spark plug showing damage.) This might be the probable cause of your engine failure.
.....even though this forum is intended for '97 and newer fullsize Ford trucks........

 

hey Rebel Yell thanks for the tip...that is something that I have been thinking about and I may pull the thermostat to see. But I still dont understand how I could have had heat and then lose it. I still disagree about the 97 and up deal though. Just my opinion but Im not in the arugin mood right now.

 

Did some thinking about this. If the thermostat never opened up then I would have never gotten heat because if my memory serves me correctly the heater hoses come out of the radiator and run to the heater core. Is there any possibility that the thermostat could fail and close? Never heard of that happening but in a worst case scenario is not out of the question.

It would make sense that the one cylinder that went would be the first to heat up. something with the way the coolant flows that cylinder is the one to fail first in a overheat. But all of this still does not explain why it wont run now. My dad has cooked lots of motors and had lots of breakdowns in many different ways but cannot figure out this one. It wouldnt run good but should at least start with one bad cylinder. We had a 429 where the rod wore through to the water jacket and it still ran.

Right now all that i can figure is that maybe the thermostat got stuck shut or almost shut and it cooked it. What really sucks is that this motor was still under the reman warranty....only they wont cover it because the heat tab is melted. They use them to safegaurd themselves against someone who cooked their motor which in most cases would not be their fault. It goes in the place of one of the frost plugs and they will warranty it if you can read the number that is on it. Bummer....shoulda knocked out that one for the block heater and then tap it back in now. Live and learn i guess.

 

OK, go to the main page http://www.f-150online.com if you are using Win98, that is just hover your cursor over the MS Explorer tab for that page in the task bar at the bottom of the screen and in a second the description for the page will come up in a small box. It reads "F-150 Online - Enthusiast Community For 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001 Ford F150, F250 and". That is all that can be read of it. You can also right click anywhere on the page and select properties to see more.
There...I'm done now

 

As for the thermostat, it was just a guess sight unseen. I haven't had a 302 in quite a while, but have built one a few years ago and owned it for about 10 years afterward. I am pretty sure the heater hose does not exit nor enter the radiator. I think it comes from the gooseneck at the thermostat and also to the water pump. The water in the block is circulated until it picks up enough heat from the engine to open the thermostat. I think that is why you had cab heat for ~15 miles. It prolly took that long for the water to become vapor, which is when your cab heat ceased. Steam cannot be circulated by a liquid pump.
That's my 2 pennies worth.
But I could be wrong...I have been a couple of times before on rare occasion
Good luck.

 

Did you lay it to rest the right way. Out with old glory!! . Poor thing in the cold, no heat. Man what a way to die. Man what where you thinking, than replace it with a Chevy. Man how can you sleep at night. O well hope you are happy Later