2000 5.4 Head gasket leak: repair or replace motor?
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2000 5.4 Head gasket leak: repair or replace motor?
I've got a 2000 F-150 with the 5.4 2V in it. 2WD. Recently sprung a head gasket leak, verified with a combustion gas tester on the reservoir. Thankfully I noticed when the motor got up to about 205-210, and stopped before it overheated any further. So I don't think it's completely cooked, it will start and run and honestly sounds fine, but pressurizes the cooling system with combustion gas pretty fast. It has been missing on cylinder 5 for a while, and I tried swapping coils around and that didn't move the misfire, so I have reason to believe the head gasket leak is on cylinder 5 (or at least mostly on cylinder 5). This is the original motor and transmission, 155,000mi on it.
I'm neither equipped for nor comfortable with tackling this myself, so there's going to be a shop involved. I can do a lot of my own work but this is above my paygrade.
My options are:
* Pay $3700 for repairing the existing engine. This includes new head gasket, resurface heads, new rear main seal (mine has a slow leak), new oil pan gasket, new timing components, new plugs and boots. No work on the bottom end of the block. Only one shop offered to do this, most just said they don't do head gaskets because machine shops willing to resurface cylinder heads for a reasonable rate are pretty scarce in East Alabama.
* Pay $7400 to have a Jasper engine installed (3yr/100kmi warranty)
* Pay $5800 to have a PowerSource (ford54engines.com - allegedly comes from AER) engine installed. $3200 is the engine, the rest is labor. Notably, the shop won't do much of a warranty on this since the parts wouldn't be coming from them. So I'd be completely at the mercy of PowerSource and their warranty if any issues arose.
I am planning to keep the truck till the wheels fall off, but I only put 5-10kmi on it every year. Have a little beater Corolla that I use for commuting, so that buys me a little time to think about this. What would y'all do?
I'm neither equipped for nor comfortable with tackling this myself, so there's going to be a shop involved. I can do a lot of my own work but this is above my paygrade.
My options are:
* Pay $3700 for repairing the existing engine. This includes new head gasket, resurface heads, new rear main seal (mine has a slow leak), new oil pan gasket, new timing components, new plugs and boots. No work on the bottom end of the block. Only one shop offered to do this, most just said they don't do head gaskets because machine shops willing to resurface cylinder heads for a reasonable rate are pretty scarce in East Alabama.
* Pay $7400 to have a Jasper engine installed (3yr/100kmi warranty)
* Pay $5800 to have a PowerSource (ford54engines.com - allegedly comes from AER) engine installed. $3200 is the engine, the rest is labor. Notably, the shop won't do much of a warranty on this since the parts wouldn't be coming from them. So I'd be completely at the mercy of PowerSource and their warranty if any issues arose.
I am planning to keep the truck till the wheels fall off, but I only put 5-10kmi on it every year. Have a little beater Corolla that I use for commuting, so that buys me a little time to think about this. What would y'all do?
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From: Joplin MO
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Joined: Mar 2025
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I would not get a Jasper engine. I bought one several years ago ( 3.0 Vulcan for Ranger) that started a lower end knock about 2 years into running it. The motor never crapped out on me but that knocking is indefensible on a rebuilt motor costing thousands of dollars even if it does last 3 years. I doubt their OHC motors are any better.
Looks like either mfgr. has a 3 year warranty which in my opinion is nothing for a properly assembled engine.
Looks like either mfgr. has a 3 year warranty which in my opinion is nothing for a properly assembled engine.
