Head Gasket vs Reman Engine

[Jason76]

This is a great forum and I appreciate all of the information you guys share on here. I have a '96 XLT 4.0 OHV 4X4 with 226k miles on it. Just bought it two weeks ago and found out today that coolant is leaking into the cylinder heads. Mechanic wants to charge $1200 to replace the gaskets and another options would be to pay $4500 dollars for a jasper engine installed. Any ideas or comment of what I should do. We paid cash for the x to treat as a truck for work, I can be on the road a lot to a little and it was working fine until i noticed the coolant disappearing. We don't have a lot of money, time or space for this involved of a project.

Any ideas will be greatly appreciated.

 

[safn1949]

$4500 for a Jasper? Yikes,he is charging $2000 for labor...run Forrest run!

 

[waskly]

4500 for a 2k tops engine is high.....

and since its a jasper engine they are probably getting the engine for 900 those things are junk.

 

[wood1]

Hey man, this one's been discussed to death, unfortunately the 4.0 has a intake gasket / head gasket problem (well, age I guess) and a history of cracked heads.

How much coolant are you going through?

My '93 uses some coolant, I top up the rad every 3 months or so and feed it some Barr's Stop Leak every 6 months or so. I also retorqued my lower intake manifold, the bolts were very loose (sure helped with the oil consumption).

If you are burning a lot of antifreeze, you need to either replace your head gaskets if you are lucky, if you aren't so lucky you need head(s).

I wouldn't put a new engine in when you can simply do the heads but that's me. You will have to make that decision for yourself. Actually when it gets bad enough I will probably rebuild my engine, but I have done engines before, sounds like you may not have that level of ability nor the time. It just doesn't make sense to throw 4500 into a new engine when you probably spent less than half that to buy the truck. Just my opinion mind you...

Good luck and welcome to the site.

 

[Jason76]

The engine was priced at $2995 for a long block with $1200 labor plus $300 I guess for the diagnosis or maybe taxes not sure.

Any experience with trouble after replacing the gaskets. I went through 1 jug of coolant in a weeks time. When the mechanic pressure tested the system today the engine started blowing smoke and the cylinders started missing.

If we go with the new gaskets only, is there anything else you would recommend while he's in there?

 

[Jason76]

Thanks for the suggestions wood1.

 

[waskly]

he gave you ford prices for a non ford engine.

 

[wood1]

Woops, a jug in a week is a lot, break out the wrenches dude...

 

[safn1949]

From Jaspers site.

Price: 2612.00
Core Charge: 300.00
Skid Charge: 15.00
Kit Price: 344.00

 

[Jason76]

While the guy is replacing the head gaskets, is there anything else worth working on while he's that far into the engine? He is having the heads shipped off to be tested for leaks, keep my fingers crossed on that?

 

[mojoe]

That must be a pretty nice '96 for you to even think about putting that kind of money in it. How's the rest of it? Transmission? Suspension? Front end? Rear end? Dents? Rust? Interior? With that mileage, the motor isn't going to be your last repair. I know you just got it, that sucks. You could try just changing the gaskets. If two neighboring cylinders were misfiring during the pressure test, it could just be the gasket between them. If the motor has ever overheated, which I would say it probably has, the heads are prob. warped or cracked and junk. New heads and bolts, do the lifters and push rods since you're there. Does the A/C work? What color is the trans. fluid and does it smell burnt at all?

 

[Steeda90GT]

Why not just get a, eBay reman engine, or a cheapy junkyard $500 engine. The junkyards are littered with them.

 

[Jason76]

mojoe - the trans was rebuilt at 220K before I bought it. The rest of the truck is in good shape or so I thought. I'm thinking replace the gaskets and valve seals, wasn't hearing any noises from the valve train.

Steeda90GT - would do that but I would have to find another mechanic to do the install. How reliable are the ebay reman engines? I trust this mechanic which means a lot. I don't have the time, space or knowledge to do it myself.

 

[Joe Dirt]

If my option was $4,500 or a junkyard engine, I'd drop in the junkyard engine. If I didn't trust the junkyard engine, I'd find another Ex before I put $4,500 into the engine, because I'd still have a truck worth $2,000 when I'm done.

I think I'd find a decent later gen II for $3,000 and keep $1,500 in the bank, and either sell the '96 as is to recoup some money, or keep it for parts. JMHO

 

[Jason76]

Joe Dirt - You don't think the $1200 for head gaskets is a good idea?

 

[wood1]

I thought that the 1200 was with new or reman heads, that's expensive for a day's work and a couple hundred dollars for materials. When Rick replaced the heads on his truck he paid under $300 exchange. Afew years ago but...

http://216.189.1.23/forums//showthread.php?t=49473

 

[Jason76]

wood 1 - the $1200 is for new gaskets and having the heads tested to see if they are still good.

 

[Joe Dirt]

That does seem high just for gaskets. I leave out the "checking heads to see if they're ok" because that's subjective- they might pull them out and say "yeah, they're in one piece..." and slap them back in.

These motors are a dime a dozen now, I would hit up car-part.com and find a junkyard OHV for about $700 that has about 100k on it, not torn apart, and have it swapped in if you don't want another truck- I think you'll be way ahead.

 

[Jason76]

Joe Dirt - The mechanic will have them sent of to test for cracks "Magna-Flowed"? I'm thinking the junkyard route is looking better. I have a buddy that would do the swap for half the labor as the other mechanic.

 

[joe doe]

my mechanic charged me 500.00 labor to replace my head gaskets and all gaskets related to the job .i bought all ford parts including the head bolts and it was about 300.00 for all that.so it was an 800.00 dollar job for me .

1200.00 seems high .but i have been using this guy for 10 years or so.