engine trouble,what to do?

[joe doe]

2000 ford ex sport .4.0 ohv engine .145,000 on it .
i replaced every gasket on this engine .it was leaking from everywhere.

this year alone a put 2grand into this truck in parts and labor .

new head gaskets
new intake gaskets
new upper plenum gaskets
new oring seals upper plenum
new water pump
new radiator
new belts,hoses
new timing chain,gears,tensioners
new timing cover gasket
new belt tensioner
new rad cap
new aic valve
new plugs,new wires
new ball joints
new brakes
just a ton of new parts and labor.

now after all that i come to find out i have a cracked head(why they didnt catch that during the head gasket set is beyond me?)

now what??

not sure i want to put new heads on a engine block with 145,000 on it .
after just sinking over 800.00 in the head gasket set with labor,head bolts ect,ect....this really blows.

new heads ...400.00 or more .then gaskets again ,head bolts again ,500.00 in labor again .

man what am i gonna do??

a rebuilt engine is 1800.00 or more .
almost cheaper to get a short block and buy heads .

anyone know a good place for a rebuilt 4.0 ohv engine??

or should i just change the plug and trade it in?

its going thru a plug a month now .(cracks the insulator)

anybody wanna buy me out of this thing??lolo.....




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[69Mach1]

Typically labor is what eats most of the money on the projects you have listed. If you don't have the desire or ability to do the work yourself you'd likely be better off driving a vehicle that is 4 or 5 years old instead of 10. Just a thought.....

 

[joe doe]

all the work listed has already been done and paid for .i have a good honest mechanic .i do some work myself too.

big question is do i now go ahead and buy new heads for a 145,000 mile block and redo everything again??

or buy a reman and be done with it?

the block is sound and runs good cept for the miss.it does have the marbling noise since new (noisy wrist pins)

well time to go get a new plug again. awaiting replies

 

[joe doe]

anybody?

 

[69Mach1]

Would getting some salvage yard heads be an option?

 

[joe doe]

no,not an option. i can get new heads online ready to bolt on for 335.00 shipped with a core return.
for another 93.00 i can get a full gasket set with head bolts online too.

problem with wreck yard heads are they are gonna crack on ya too .then you be right back where you started again.

 

[Stinger357]

INHO I would trade that sucker for a different car or a newer explorer. If you post an ad on craigslist or somewhere wanting to trade someone will bite and then you can fix the truck up enough to get rid of it, then it will be the other persons nightmare. Thats what happened to me btw, guy saw me coming. I traded a perfectly good 1998 volvo s70 for a 97 ford explorer with more issues then courtney cox....but I am going to get them fixed the best I can. I don't have 400+ to get the major stuff done, if I can get it to limp for me about 1 year then I happy. But ya I would try to get rid of it ASAP, my experience when stuff starts to go bad it doesnt end. No sense in sinkin 1800 in a new engine when you get a perfectly good used car for that price. Even an explorer out there for 1800 or so. Just be real picky. Hope that helps ya I feel your pain.

 

[deadernie]

What about the possibility of doing it yourself? You said you've done some of the work yourself. Even if it's a bit out of your comfort zone you could probably reasearch it enough online to be pretty familiar with the procedure. That and a good shop manual would help too. It would save you that $500 in labor.