coolride

So I want to replace the fuel pressure regulator , and naturally, as it is a Ford, the best way to replace this golf ball sized part is to remove the upper intake and the reg. is buried so far back and under it that it is crazy to do otherwise. Doing this led to a good find. There are some vacuum lines not connected to the engine back under the upper intake. So one positive thing so far. Not quite all apart yet, was also looking for upper manifold cracking or gasket issues.
For all those looking at a Ford for a fixer upper or project truck,,,,,,, DON'T.
I've been a Ford fan forever, but if I had to work on these things every day I think I'd give up. Somehow, Ford engineers have always raised the bar on making easy replacement items end up in such a crappy spot that you want to rip out your hair. lol

coolride

Update. So my son started working on the intake for me. Can't access fuel press. regulator very good with intake in place. And I wanted to be sure the upper intane wasn't cracked or loose or anything like that. So the trick to getting the upper intake cover off, was to remove the passenger side motor mount. We couldn't get it by the firewall, just no clearance. Apparently it can be done, but on this truck, it was not going to happen. So off oges the motor mount and let engine down, and we had room to remove the intake cover. Once the upper intake was removed from the engine, I found that the intake isolator bolts were most likely original, the black style that are junk. The intake was full of oil residue, my pcv was likely junk. I replaced that. I pick up the new isolator bolt kit tomorrow morning. Hopefully I will have time in the afternoon to put the engine back together and try it out. It looks like the fuel pressure regulator I bought may be wrong for the truck. I hope to put a new one on while we have such good access. I will post more tomorrow after we have things running again. With the upper intake properly sealed it should run better.

LOUDnLIFTEDf150

let us know what happens

coolride

OK, so here we go. I replaced the fuel pressure regulator, it didn't seem bad but I had the new one so it got it. I also replaced the upper intake isolator bolts with upgrades grommets. I also replace the upper intake gaskets. My son found a vacuum line disconnected on the intake when pulling things apart too. I also put in a new pcv valve. We got it back together about supper time today. It starts and runs much better. It is also smooth now, before it ran a little weird, hesitant and rougher. Now it has more power too. We took a couple mile test drive and it runs a lot more like I expected it to. I am pleased with the results. The idle is also normal now, before it revved up a bit too much when you start it, and even warm it had a hard time idling below 1000 rpms. Now it idles great. Hot idle around 800, and when you rev it p it comes back down a lot quicker than before. It is a different truck now.
I didn't have lean codes but my PCM was junk and just replaced so it wasn't registering it as I hadn't driven enough yet. I also found a lot of oil in the intake, which I think came from the pcv valve. With any luck I will see an improvement all around. The test drive was much more normal, as I hoped it would be.
My advise, if you have one of these 4.2s, and it runs like crap, weird idle/funky throttle response, maybe lean codes?, I would replace the upper intake gaskets and isolator bolt kit asap. It is a pain in the butt. However you will enjoy the truck a lot more.
Also, almost forgot to mention this, I read where some people can get the upper intake cover off by removing a heat insulation from the firewall. My truck is missing the insulation, but I could not get cover off. I had to remove the passenger side motor mount to let the engine drop down about 1/2 inch or so and then I could get cover off. Not fun but now that I've done it, I would recommend pulling the motor mount anyway as it gave more room to get the rear center bolt out of the intake cover, it is very tight back there as it is.

LOUDnLIFTEDf150

glad to hear you got it running good man

coolride

I'm not out of the woods yet. She still has issues. Burned a quart of oil in a 38 miles trip. Its better, it was at 3 qts, lol. So on top of that, sometimes on the highway it feels like it starts skipping, and engine light flashes. I didn't have time to look at it today.

coolride

Done with this POS engine. I bought a junk truck with a reman 4.2 with about 25K miles on it. Tossing this junk engine and not wasting any more time on it. It may have 75K original miles, but there are a lot of secrets the PO didn't tell me. He's a damn liar. Lucky he lives so far away. I may be tempted to adjust his outlook on life if he were closer.
So now I will put a good engien in the truck and see if I can like it after that.lol

coolride

when I pulled the engine tubing and what-not of my dud engine, the intake is full of oil. I mean loaded. Also some tubes had a milky oily slime in them. I assume this all is coming from what ever is going on with the engine. Wondering if the new head revealed a problem with the block, and they did something like jb weld or something to block to sell it. I will dig into it after the truck is back together. Something big is wrong with the old engine. It was smoking like it was on fire the last 2 times I had it running, and it seems to have a dead cylinder too. Someones cob job let loose I'd say. I love honest sellers........ They were all to happy to unload their issues onto me. Would have been ok had I known there was potential for all of this. At least I could have made a decision without doing so blindly. All used cars are a risk , I know this. But setting someone up is crappy to do

coolride

New engine is in the truck, runs great. A huge improvement. Soon I will pull the old engine just to see what was going on in it. Just curious. Other than that it is a core to me. lol
New engine runs like I'd expect it should, crisp throttle response, starts easily, smooth, snappy. I now have the proper cats on it too, so that should help the low end, she was a bit sluggish before. I'm happy with it now. I don't for-see any issues.

LOUDnLIFTEDf150

glad you got we up n running man