haubest
Member
- Joined
- September 28, 2009
- Messages
- 23
- Reaction score
- 0
- City, State
- North Hills, Ca
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- '97 XLT
First, I am not real experienced at rebuilding engines. I just follow my trusty Haynes book.
Truck - '97 Explorer XLT 5.0L EFI 2wd VIN "P"
I put in a remanufactured crankshaft kit, new rings and lifters. I started the truck and all seemed well - lots of oil pressure, engine at normal tempersture range, etc. I went for a test drive and heard a kind of poofing noise that sounded like a new head gasket I installed had blown.
Got home and saw water dripping out of the exhaust. I pulled the intake manifolds off and cranked the engine and there is puffs of air coming from the
the drivers side cylinder head center water jacket(?) port. See picture. Did a compression check and the number 7 piston only got 20 psi.
I don't know why the head gasket blew. The timing all seems right I used new torque-to-yield bolts and followed the torquing instructions. I don't believe the heads are warped although I didn't check them. After pulling the head I didn't see any obvious place where it had blown.
When I bought the head gaskets there were two types - regular and high performance. I was not sure which type to buy and bought the regular ones because there was nothing in the gasket description that said "If you have this engine, vin code, etc" use this one.
So now I'm wondering if I needed the high performance gaskets. I called Ford parts and the tech said the high performance engine is only in the
Eddie Bauer edition which I don't have. Is there something that would definitely tell me if I do or don't have the high performance engine?
Truck - '97 Explorer XLT 5.0L EFI 2wd VIN "P"
I put in a remanufactured crankshaft kit, new rings and lifters. I started the truck and all seemed well - lots of oil pressure, engine at normal tempersture range, etc. I went for a test drive and heard a kind of poofing noise that sounded like a new head gasket I installed had blown.
Got home and saw water dripping out of the exhaust. I pulled the intake manifolds off and cranked the engine and there is puffs of air coming from the
the drivers side cylinder head center water jacket(?) port. See picture. Did a compression check and the number 7 piston only got 20 psi.
I don't know why the head gasket blew. The timing all seems right I used new torque-to-yield bolts and followed the torquing instructions. I don't believe the heads are warped although I didn't check them. After pulling the head I didn't see any obvious place where it had blown.
When I bought the head gaskets there were two types - regular and high performance. I was not sure which type to buy and bought the regular ones because there was nothing in the gasket description that said "If you have this engine, vin code, etc" use this one.
So now I'm wondering if I needed the high performance gaskets. I called Ford parts and the tech said the high performance engine is only in the
Eddie Bauer edition which I don't have. Is there something that would definitely tell me if I do or don't have the high performance engine?
