98 4.6 130000 miles, I have been told my baby has a collapsed cylinder, what the hell is that, what causes it, and what is involved in fixing it, thanks

 

I take it the guy who told you that doesn't have a clue ? Otherwise, he could have easily told you.

In a push-rod engine it would be a collapsed lifter.

In a modular it would be a bad lash adjuster.

Your engine is a modular.
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For you second question. How did you know there was a problem? What happened ? Do you remember if it was running bad, misfiring ? How good was the maintenance ?
It doesn't happen often. Very poor maintenance, not following the owners manual, wrong oil, wrong filter. It could happen from the engine sitting and not run for long periods of time.
Lots of variables.

 

If I had to guess, = poor maintenance. Meaning, -your maintenance regimen (timing) could be spot on, but if your using the wrong products, oil in this case since it's a lash adjuster, it works against.

 

Get a second opinion. There is no such thing as a collapsed cylinder.

 

Yea figured right off that's why he didn't get an explanation.

Hense the questions that followed. Diagnosis is probably off.

 

Ok I did some searching a few days ago and found nothing about a collapsed cylinder all I found was collapsed lifter, so I figured he was wrong, (my neighbor) which was why I came here, so here's the story, I have owned this truck since 99, changed the oil and filter when I was supposed to, maybe went over a time or two, but not by much, never had any problems the 16 years I've had it, a couple of weeks ago i was on my way to work, I live about five miles out from work, about 3 miles from work it starts to misfire and running abit rough, not to bad but I could tell it was, so I pulled into the nearest gas station and checked it, it was showing a misfire on 4, so I start it back up and it seemed to be running fine, about 2 miles from work it starts it again, but running rougher and the CEL starts flashing, I was so close to work I thought I'll take it easy and make it on to work and deal with it when I get there, but the time I parked it was making this god awful noise, so I had it towed home and that's where it has been since. The noise seems to be coming from the top of the engine on the passenger side.. here is a video of the sound, it was dark saw you can't see anything but should be able to hear it

 

Are you sure the spark plug didn't blow out?

 

Fix #4. Anytime # 4 is missing in the V8 modulars, the engine can sound that way. No other dead cylinder misfire does that but #4. So determine what's up with 4. Plug, wires or it may be the follower. Anyway, start there.

 

That didn't cross my mind, but definitely.

bigblktruk, grab #4 wire wiggle it a bit to determine if its still tight on the plug or if the plug has ejected.

 

Sounds like the plug blew to me.