So had a good day turn ugly when I got some news about my check engine light. Had a misfire on cylinder 4 and changed spark plugs, coil packs, nothing helped so I was going to get the injectors cleaned when I find out that they plugged it up to a machine and cylinder 4, under pressure is pushing bubbles back Into the antifreeze, so head gasket is probably leaking. They want $3200 for the fix. Is it worth the fix, should I just drop a new engine in, is that a reasonable price? Also that doesn't include anything they might find wrong once they take the engine head off. It's the 5.4 Triton with 128xxx miles.... Definitely ruined my week.

 

It really depends on how much your truck is worth, what condition it's in, if you plan to keep it...etc.

We can't make this decision for you.

 

$3200 is way high for a head gasket job. Shop around. I would rather do it myself, but if I were to pay anyone to do it I wouldn't shell out more than $15-1800.

 

$3200 is the going rate for Ford to do them. But you're right, independent would be under 2k.

 

Truck is in excellent condition, I plan to drive the wheels off, but I don't want to start dumping money into this engine if it's just going to be a continuing problem. I guess a better way to ask my question is, if I fix this issue, is this the start of a long battle or if I fix this is that usually the end of the head problem? Are there Other factors that cause it to crack and I'll just have to fix more later or is it an isolated issue that just happened to show up for me?

 

I'm currently getting quotes from other people because yeah $3200 is a lot to spend. I would do it myself but I've been traveling a lot for work and don't really have the time... Have to bite the bullet and pay some one to fix it

 

More than likely you blew a gasket and didn't crack the head. But you won't know for sure until you get it apart and have the heads pressure tested and magnafluxed. I had a 97 4x4 4.6 with over 300k on it and never had any internal engine problems with it. I'd probably still be driving it had it not been rear ended & totalled. With diligent maintenance these engines will last a long time. Your choice, but I'd repair & keep riding.

 

I sure hope 128k isn't all you can get out of your truck because I'm sitting at 125k right now!

 

Your probably safe tackle, my 5.4 has 165,000 and still runs great. And, I still pull an 8,000 lb trailer camping once a year. ;-)

 

If you were close to VA I would change em out fairly cheap for ya. Even got a set of heads laying around if one of them were down.