2007 F-150 4.6L w/ 65,000 miles and ONE payment left. I am the original owner.
Had been running fine with no issues. Was in Houston for 5 days for my Cancer treatment, flew home, picked up truck from airport parking here at home and got the check gas cap light.
Sure enough, the cap was loose. No issues, truck was running fine.

Couple of weeks ago we got a lot of heavy rain all over Texas. My son borrowed my truck and a small horse trailer to make the 300 mile trip from Midland, TX to Copperas Cove, TX to get his Harley out of storage and bring it back here. He ran into a lot of rain the whole trip and said speeds were less than 55 mph going out due to the heavy rains on the interstate and never drove over 65 haling the trailer back. About 2/3 of the way back he said the check engine light began to flash on and off. Next morning, the check engine light stayed on and the truck idled really rough and would shake some sitting in the seat. Pulled the codes and got P0301 and P0303. Truck has been parked in my driveway since then waiting for an opening at the Ford dealer.

Took it in this morning and the Ford dealer service guy called me late this afternoon and told me there was no compression on cylinder #3. HE sadi he had two different techs look at it and both said no compression at #3.
Said I needed a long block aka new engine and it was a "bad" cylinder. Looking at $7500 "give or take" the service manager said.

I've bought all of my trucks from this dealer, and have always been treated well. I just don't understand what could cause a truck with only 65,000 miles on it that had been running fine suddenly go to hell in a hand basket and need a new engine. I have ALWAYS had it serviced on schedule and have pampered this truck.

Any thoughts on the why's or what's might have caused this? If it was a blown head gasket, wouldn't that have caused the engine to get hot and show on the guage?

 

That doesnt make sense...
If there's no compression either your piston is cracked, your rings are shot or your block is cracked... at least thats all I can think it would be. Edit: there could be a leak in the head stuck valve etc (not sure that still happens with OHC engines...).

Someone jump in and correct me, but a bad piston or ring set should not need a new engine. And if your block is cracked i'd think you would have noticed something before now... smoke or you know, the engine seizing. But what do I know.

If you can afford it, I would have it towed to another dealer for a 2nd opinion, $7500 is a lot of coin to drop on a 5-6 year old truck. And I just saw you have the 4.6... never heard of this kind of problem with that engine.

 

If it had 0 psi comperssion the next step should have been to introduce compressed air in the cylinder with zero compression while that cylinders valves are closed & listen to see where the air is escaping from,If air excaping from exhaust it's likely a exhaust valve problem,If air is escaping from the intake there is a intake valve issue,If escaping into the oil pan there is a piston issue,Another thing they could have done is to look into that cylinder with a video borescope.

 

Zero compression is more than just a head gasket. It's going to be something like a valve stuck open or a hole blown through the piston.

I'd get a second opinion - even though it may be labor-intensive there's a good chance this can be fixed without a complete engine replacement unless there's block damage.

 

If he some how injested water in the engine, the filter should be soaking wet. If they're blaming this on rain water, your insurance will pay for it if you make a claim for it.

 

I agree with Gordon. You need to find out more about what's wrong before dropping that kind of money! It's hard to believe that there NO pressure! That would have to be a pretty drastic failure! I don't think a blown head gasket or damaged piston ring or a crackedpiston would leak enough to cause it to have NO pressure. So if it really does have no compression I expect that a value head broke off and went all the way through the top of the piston. Do as Gordon said and turn the crankshaft until #3 piston is TDC (Top Dead Center) on the compression stroke. Plump an air hose into the spark plug hole and then start blowing in compressed air and see where it's going. It will have to come out the tail pipe via the exhaust value, intake manifold via the intake value, radiator cap via the engine cooling jacket or the the breather via the engine block or the side of the block if you threw a rod but that's not likely since you'd probably KNOW if that happened!

Unless the block is damaged, you don't need a long block! You MAY need one engine head IF a value broke and IF it damaged the head. But chances are that you only need to replace one piston and it's rings and probably one value. The bad news is that even if you only need to replace a piston, the engine will most likely have to come completely apart to do it!

PS Take a good look at the tip of the spark plug from that cylinder. It you dropped a value then you'll probably find the tip hammered. If you broke a ring or piston, you'll probably find a lot of oil on the plug.

PSS. I thought about this some more and also went and checked the two codes that your engine threw (lean misfire on #3 and misfire on #3) and I believe that a misfire could account for your problems other than the no compression condition. Now I wonder if that cylinder REALLY has NO compression or if the techs just didn't do a good job of measuring it???? Most compression testers are merely pressed up against the spark plug hole and that's not easy to do with all the paraphenalia on a modern engine! I would find out if they used a compression tester that screws into the spark plug hole. If they didn't I would find someone that has one and get that checked before doing anything else! If they misread the compression, then you could find yourself looking for a lot more serious problem than what it really is. This thread https://www.f150online.com/forums/v8...ug-change.html shows everything that one owner went through to fix his persistant misfire condition.

 

Plain sounds fishy. I'd get another opinion.

 

0 compression could only be caused by an open (missing) valve or a hole in the piston. Is your son an abusive driver. If he kept it floored for a long time maybe hill climbing with a trailer in tow, it might be possible to burn a hole in a piston. If an intake valve was open all the time, you should hear some popping back through the intake I think. I had a exhaust valve lifter collapse on a push rod V8 one time and it made quite a racket when the intake valve opened and popped back through the intake. An open exhaust valve wouldn't cause any disturbance and may not be audible (I think). If it sucked in water and hydrolocked, that could bend/break a connecting rod. This could also be a cause.

If you do not want to take it to another dealer, ask them to troubleshoot it enough to determine what's causing the zero compression. It shouldn't take them that much time to diagnose it further. Removing a valve cover should tell them if the problem is a valve.

If you decide to blow air into the spark plug hole, make sure you have your oil fill cap off so the air pressure won't blow your oil pan off.

I'd check that compression again to make sure. If you don't want to mess with it, take it to another dealer unless you totally trust this one.

 

2nd opinion necessary. I've been kinda rough on my '08 4.6 and (knocking on wood) so far, no major issues. That engine is almost bulletproof, like the old 4.9.

 

Is it still under warranty?

My 05 had a problen with the passenger side head...the valves were fried, and the compression on that side was significantly lower. The dealer replaced the head...and catalytic converter...and a fuel injector. They refused to tie all of the work to the bad (recalled ) injector, but it only cost $ 100.00 for the $7500 worth of work...btw, #3 cylinder was the culprit...and they changed the plugs for me at no charge...

Mine occurred at 81k miles...

I hope you are able to get it resolved!

Regards!

 

I've never heard the 05 injector problem affecting 4.6 engines. pretty sure thats 5.4-3v only.

 

OOOOps...didn't see the 4.6 part...

The symptoms sounded much the same as my experience! Except I got to watch my truck drive away on the top of a tow truck! For the second time!

Regards!

 

What was the end of this story?

 

Like when dealing with a doctor, get a second opinion.

 

I experienced the same problem I have 2007 same motor 4.6 and at 60500 miles while truck start running rough and check engine light came on. Shortly after that I could not get above 40 MPH. Turns out the #3 spark plug burned off electrode and like all, these ford engine the plug broke off also when they tried to remove. They had to rethread head and insert new plugs (I had them do all of them). Upon removal of plug there was no electrode left on plug and the mechanic scoped the inside of cylinder and discovered very low compression. I also have a no good engine and no help what so ever from Ford so far and now am again hoping ford may help; just waiting and they also want $7,000.00 for new motor. Sure would like some help with this matter because is only vehicle I have and really no options for new motor.