bobofthenorth

I'll chronicle the adventures and mishaps of a half-assed wrench puller as I perform the action in the title.

About 3 months ago I bought a 2008 Lariat with a pretty clean interior but a known non-runner 5.4. It was buried in a snowbank at the time and it was a cold day when I looked at it but it wouldn't have mattered. I bought it as a non-runner and paid the guy $1200 Canuck bux. My intent at the time was to find a salvage runner, do the timing on that engine and stuff it in the new truck. The "new" truck doesn't really need any body work but its a pretty plain jane Lariat so I'll pimp it up a bit and hope to make a few bux towards my time. At the time I had just finished doing a major refit on my 6.0 litre so I was bored.

The truck was three hours away from where we live and the vendor seemed remarkably reluctant to let me come and get it once he had my money which in hindsight should have been a huge red flag but we finally got it dragged home about a week ago. I pulled the rad out and had the wiring more or less disconnected before I put it up on my lift and started pulling the flex plate bolts which is where I ran into a wall. The vendor had suggested that maybe it was hydrolocked but when I picked it up 7 of the plugs were out so any hydrolock should have been ancient history. The one remaining plug was #4 so I pulled it, with some contortions but still all the rotation I could get was about 120 degrees.

Many days later, both heads off, pan loosened and pried away as far as it would go, which wasn't a lot. The piston on #4 cylinder was gone - the rod was just flopping around in the bore. It turns out the piston is in little bits smaller than marbles in the bottom of the pan. #8 rod is broke off clean at the crank. So I pulled the rod on #4 and what remained of the rod and piston on #8 - still no rotational joy. Closer inspection and I see that #2 & #6 look like they have turned shells. That was letting the counterweight meet the piston skirt so I could swing the counterweight from side to side through about 120 degrees. The problem of course was that the pan wouldn't come out but God hates a coward so out with the sawzall and I cut the pan out. Fortunately once I got #2 & #6 sorted out I could turn the engine.

I'd love to go on a rant about the vendor but I'll restrict myself to saying he's a member of an ethnic/religious group which should have been a warning to me. I haven't taken many good screwings in 60+ years on this planet but a remarkable number of the screwings I have taken have involved this particular segment of the population. What pisses me off the most is that I would have bought the truck anyway. I just hate being lied to. That truck clearly made a hell of a racket for a very long time and then stopped abruptly with a huge bang. For him to pretend that it was just a problem getting it started was unforgivable. What I found most remarkable is that the timing chains, tensioners and guides appear to be original and in remarkably good shape. I have no idea what grenaded that #4 piston but I have to think that's what kicked everything off. It had to run for a significant length of time after losing that piston in order to chop it up into the little bits that its in now. Bizarro.

I'll post some pictures after a while. Until now I've been head down, straight ahead, try to figure out what's happening but now I can ease off a bit.

bobofthenorth

Anybody got a Wankel that curved rod would fit?

The little rounded bits are all that's left of #4 piston

It's just a WAG but apparently #4 piston grenaded for some reason. Bits of it bounced around long enough to get rounded into unrecognizable condition. Somewhere along the way #8 bust its rod off at the piston AND at the crank and then the engine subsequently ran long enough to round off the edges on the bit of rod that floated free. By then the sump was full of shrapnel which plugged the pickup and led to the failure of the shells on #1 & 4. Its really remarkable how long it must have run with catastrophic internal damage. And the timing is pristine. Not a mark on the top of any of the pistons (except #4 of course). Them Fords is tough. And the previous owner is a lying SOB.

techrep

iTrader: (1)

what a mess...

L19MUD

Ouch - This is what corners me about the 5.4 I currently have that is seized

What prevents the sump coming off? How bad is the bore on no. 4 piston?

bobofthenorth

Maybe I could have raised the engine enough to get the pan off. Its pretty tight between the axle and the pan. There's a cross member between the two "wishbones" on the suspension that absolutely needs to come out. I took the cross member out but eventually I got to the point where I just didn't give a damn - the engine was clearly pooched and I needed to get it apart enough to turn it or else I was going to have to pull the transmission with the engine. I'm not even sure that's possible but I didn't want to find out so sacrificing the oil pan seemed like an easy call.

#4 cylinder bore has some pretty deep tracks from where the rod slid up and down against the cylinder wall. I'll take some pix sometime today but like I said above, the remarkable takeaway is how long this thing ran with catastrophic internal damage.

redfishtd

So whats the plan a Reman? It does look like it hydro locked so I wouldn't use injectors unless they were tested . Last guy that did reman here liked fraser at a base price of $3200.
Canadian engines tend to get sludged up badly with short drive cycles and not enough oil changes . Not sure if pcv system heater is good enough for severe cold .
Would be nice to see the rest of this truck. I have seen engines pulled with exhaust manifolds . Some mech here prefer to pull the cab,.but that's too much for me .
Would also be interesting to see pic's of valve train .
Perhaps someone will post instructions on pulling cab.

L19MUD

Scores too deep for a rebore? Had a look at the Ford manual and it agrees that the front axle needs to be dropped a little to get enough clearance

dukedkt442

Dropping pan on a 4x4 isn’t terrible. Engine crossmember comes out in 4 bolts, then remove 2 of the 3 bolts holding in the front axle (leave the impossible one above the differential). Axle then pivots out of the way easily providing plenty of room to drop the pan. Engine doesn’t get jacked up at all.

Foe the price of a long block, I’d go reman all the way. That engine is ROUGH.

bobofthenorth

I have zero intention of trying to salvage the engine. I'm looking for a runner - have a couple of options. If I was planning to keep the truck then a reman would be an option but this is just a project to keep me entertained in the shop. I need to get it out the door at a price that lets me at least come out even and ideally make a couple of bucks. I'll find a reasonable mileage runner, do the timing chains and phasers and stuff it back in. Cosmetically the truck is pretty good so if I can get it running for $2500 Canuck bux plus a little bling I'll come out OK.

bobofthenorth

So ........... I've been busy. I put a bid on a 2006 in a government salvage auction that was supposed to close last week but the gummit weenies all took an extended long weekend for Easter so the sale results didn't get posted until late yesterday. I was pretty certain I had bid low enough so I actually bought a takeout engine over the weekend before I knew for sure I had lost the auction truck. I had been waiting to lift the cab until I was sure I didn't have to remove the "new" engine from another truck so I pulled the trigger on the lift as soon as I had the engine. That went remarkably well except for one big oops - I missed the main connection to the ABS pump. It came out but the connector is not reusable. That sucked but in the process of finding a replacement I stumbled onto the Motorcraft connector guide which is attached below. That's an awesome resource. You can use it to find the OEM connector number and then its remarkable how easy it is to find suppliers for the connector pigtails.

Late yesterday I got the old engine out and sitting on a stand beside the new one. I'll get some more pix today. Somewhere along the way I bought a shop crane on the principle that every project should be an excuse to add new tools.