Heads possibly cracked, Any Suggestions

[lonestar]

Here's the story.... Coolant was about a gallon low when I noticed truck heating up at lights. Now it's losing about 1/4 gallon a week or 150-200 miles. There are no signs off coolant leaks, no white smoke and no real appearance of water in oil. I check my oil closely every time I change it for any signs of water, and now I have begun closely watching the dipstick. Although the oil does not appear milky, watery or thin, accordfing to the "add 1 qt." hatching, it appears to be about a 1/4 qt over the fill line.

I'm hoping it's just a head or intake gasket, but fear it may be a head after reading 4.0 heads often crack. When I get around to taking it apart ( don't want to wait to long, it's a DD) I will get the heads checked.

With 182K I don't want to spend too much $$$, but I do like the truck and it runs great.

Any suggestions on gaskets or heads? Might as well start looking at heads incase I need them.

I searched the forums and found these
4.0 performance heads
Does anyone know if Doug still sells these?

Also I found some on EBAY, w/ free shipping.
4.0 cylinder heads

 

[Maniak]

A set of rebuilt heads should cost up to $500ish. It depending how how much they charge you for core since your old ones may be cracked. Many places charge you a core charge and then give you money back on that based on how good your old heads are.

When you are looking for heads, try to get heads with a casting number of 93tm (better than the heads you have). They are identical other than a slight design change in the casting (they are complety interchangable). Good head shops know why your asking and will usually let you interchange (e.g. give them your 90tm heads for a set of 93tm).

~Mark

 

[lonestar]

I read Dead Link Removed and all the changes.

I recieved a reply from the EBAY store J and C Cylinder Head Exchange, as mentioned in that article, that the 90tm and the 93tm heads are identical, that improvements are a rumor and they both have the same cracking problems. I'm not sure, there must be some differnece or they wouldn't change the casting #. THey also said their aftermarket heads do not carry any Ford casting #, that their heads are just application specific. All they say is

These heads fit Ford Ranger, Bronco II and Explorer with the 4.0 engine from 1990 thru 1994. They have a factory one year warranty. They are an aftermarket cylinder head, much thicker in all the critical areas. Much improved casting over the factory Ford heads.

I'm not sure about the heads sold by 4.0 Performanse, I have yet to hear anything. But he says

I offer new stronger castings then the stock ford cylinder heads. They are cast thicker in known problem areas but still retain all the factory sizes to bolt directly to your stock 4.0 OHV.

I wish Doug would chime in.

I also thought about getting a good set of used 93tm heads. Not sure if it would be worth it. I would want them to be check before installing them though.

 

[Maniak]

I went through 4 set of used heads before I finally gave up.. (I got my money back from all 8 heads). Every one had a crack.

BTW.. the heads are the same side to side (e.g. left works on right etc)...

As for is there a difference, The 2 head shops I talked to before I got my rebuilts said there was a difference in "how they were cast"... I donn't know if that meant they were identical in sizes, just made different? i just heard it twice and read it once. (that 93tm was better).

and if you went with aftermarket heads, they won't have castings, it just an application type thing.

~Mark

 

[slag]

I was playing the same game you are. Both heads on my $500.00 X I bought a few weeks ago were cracked between the valves. One crack was all the way through the exhaust valve as well!

I searched around and found a place about 2 hours from me that had 4 explorers with heads and bad motors. Out of those 4 explorers, I got 2 good heads.. thats right, 2 non cracked heads out of 4 explorers!!!

I paid $120.00 for the heads and another 130.00 to get them cleaned up, made sure they were not warped, and got a valve job done on them.

I'm going to put them on this weekend time permitting. 4 of my 6 cylinders had standing water in them due to the cracks. My x only has 93k miles.

 

[lonestar]

2 non cracked heads out of 4 explorers!!!

WOW, thats alot of work just for 2 heads

I have found out from the Pro 4.0 Motorsports forum that 4.0performance.com has closed but the Stage III Heads are still being offered through a guy named Bird. I emailed him to ask if he still offers the stock head replacemments.

 

[slag]

WOW, thats alot of work just for 2 heads

I have found out from the Pro 4.0 Motorsports forum that 4.0performance.com has closed but the Stage III Heads are still being offered through a guy named Bird. I emailed him to ask if he still offers the stock head replacemments.

Maybe.. it took 2 separate trips to the place and they pulled the heads. not that much work really.

The heads are only running me $250.00 ready to bolt on for the set, as opposed to close to 1k for what you are looking at. HMM. 1k is 2x what I paid for the explorer in the first place.

They look nice, dont get me wrong, but wow.. you could buy a motor or two with good heads for what he wants for 2 heads alone.

 

[lonestar]

1K is for the Stage III heads. I'm looking at the stock aftermarket heads at $395 a set. Unfortunaly 4.0 Performance is closed it's sales. I emailed Bird about getting a set of stock heads, I'll let you know when I hear something?

I really don't want to pull 4 sets of heads just to find 2 good ones, and then take my chances. Now if I can find some rebuilt ones somewhere that have been tested and ready to go for $250 I will consider.

EDIT: I just recieved a PM from Bird. He suggested www.alabamacylinderhead.com for stockers.

 

[lonestar]

I changed oil yesterday just to see what I had, and to ease my mind a little about my crankcase being full of water. It seemed unusually dirty and had a sulfer type smell to it, but there were no watery, milky signs of water in the bottm of the drain pan when I poured the oil into a jug. I collected some in a jar to send a sample for oil analysis. Then filled with some dino oil since I figured it may be changed again soon.

After filling with 5 qts oil and runnng to fill the filter it still read a little high on the dipstick. I ran it about 100 miles yesterday and checked again this morning, still a little high.

 

[JOHN V.]

You may want to find someone with a cooling system pressure tester. Pump it up and check for leaks. The early V6 OHV are famous for leaking intake gasket at the rear. This would be a much easier job than the head gasket.

If you find no leaks or loss of pressure after the pressure, you should check for a blown head gasket.

You can do this by topping off the radiator to the brim and check for bubbles while the vehicle runs for an extended period.

 

[lonestar]

I recieved my oil report, appears I'm getting antifreeze in the crankcase. Better look into it.