That too.

 

So I’m going to pull the head, while I’ve never done one, I’ve done a motor swap on my Corolla before. I was going to get the full fel-pro gasket kit basically because the price of buying individual gaskets for one side is about the price of the whole kit for both sides. And I was going to buy Mahle head bolts.

Any reason I should go for another brand? Anything else I should change while I’m in there?

ill wait to see what I need as far as buying the valves and rockers but I should be able to go to ford and buy them over the counter, right?

 

Also I do have a small machine shop in my garage with precision measuring tools, where can I find tolerances for cams and whatever else I should check before I put it back together.

and will I be able to lift the head , passenger side, out without a hoist? It is aluminum right so it shouldn’t be too bad

thanks again for the help

 

I would pull the head BEFORE buying anything so you know what you are getting in to. If there's piston and/or cylinder damage you will be buying a lot more than a head gasket set and head bolts. Head should weigh about 50 pounds.

Rockauto.com should have everything you need, and it's going to be cheaper than buying locally. If it's a dealer-only item, check with tascaparts.com.

 

I agree with glc. Teardown and inspect to determine the extent of the damage. Then, you can decide what path to take with a better understanding of the cost involved.

 

Also, remember it's an overhead cam engine, so the timing chain has to come off to pull the head. Read the following article:

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

If you have to rotate the crank after the head is off to see all the way into the cylinder, rotate it TWICE till the key is back at 12 o'clock.

 

Ok thanks for the link, I ordered a paint marker and the Haynes manual , I can get access to alldata but I like having prints in the hand and a reference I can flip through.

I’ve read somewhere on this forum that you can pull the head while the exhaust manifold is still attached and just undoing the flange to the exhaust pipe, I’ll probably go that route and see how it goes

 

Ok intake off , crank pulley off, all that is left is the front cover and the chain.

Not so bad if you have the right tools. Which I don’t but got lucky with the crank pulley bolt

about 6 hours in not counting time spent making a wrench to turn the fan

 

Well I guess I jinxed myself, I only had the passenger side valve cover off so far and realized I have to take both off to get the front cover off, at least the first 2 bolts and of course one of the valve cover bolts disintegrated to dust and rust when I put a socket on it, I probably have one shot with welding on a nut before I’m drilling it out, at least it’s up front

 

Question after reading the link about the timing procedure, do I need to lock the cams if I have the crank at 12:00? From reading the thread I thought no because at 12:00 all the pistons are down a bit so there should be no interference issues. Just looking for a little clarity before I go buying tools I may not need.

Otherwise i just have exhaust left to take off and then I can take the heads off.

Thanks for for everyone’s help so far and enjoy your holiday

 

Ok the head is off, there is piston damage but seems to move ok and I couldn’t feel any scoring or see any.

the head has some damage, a few nicks and some crap stuck to it ,like welding spatter it looks to me

here are some pics

 

Ok a little update, while this project has been a real PITA, I learned quite a bit about these motors. I should have just pulled it but didn’t have a hoist, and I was hoping to replace just the bad piston but couldn’t find one that was the same. I stripped it down leaving only the crank , replaced all pistons, rings and bearings. The crank measured surprisingly good and I didn’t want to spend the extra money.

Got 2 reman heads and a timing kit. One problem I found in the old timing set was the passenger side chain guide had significantly more wear than the driver side. So i guess I had an oil starvation problem?

Other than that I cut aluminum flashing to cover the crank while honing and stuffed paper towels in the bottom of the cylinder on top of the flashing. It worked quite good to protect from what I can tell. I also used a thick tapping fluid to lube the cylinder so the debris just stuck to the cylinder and could be wiped out.

So now I am installing heads today hopefully and I’ll update when I finish and we’ll see if she runs again.

 

First 4.6 issue I've seen since I joined. Can't beat a 4.6 for reliability. Good luck.

 

Yeah im pretty sure the fact the truck has sat for a lot of its life contributed to the failure.

The amount i have have learned so far is worth it.

heads went on today now I have to time it tomorrow so hopefully she’ll fire up in a few days

 

So, do you have to be careful what position the crank and cams are when you install the heads to prevent the valves from contacting the pistons? Seems to me that they could touch if they are not in the proper position. I'm just wondering. I don't know if anything can be damaged.