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If it were a chevy she would never be running after last night

2K views 39 replies 10 participants last post by  Spaz337 
#1 ·
Well, let me start by saying when it's cold in Louisiana it's painfully cold. Something about the humid air just makes it unbearable. I have 3 pins, 5 screws and a brass plate and it sux. It's been cold and raining for over a week and it will be for another week. In that time I've failed to do some maintanance. I know better, I trade vehicles often. I haven't even done a full tuneup/flush on this one yet. I changed the oil and went back to factory spec, she started leaking like crazy. I forgot to keep checking it in all this cold and only checked my coolant when I got it. I've had moisture on the dipstick and suspected a head gasket or crack but never saw smoke at all and assumed it was condensation... So Im doing 70 with the music up and no heat (it had quit blowing hot when it got real cold) and go to take a turn and no powesteering! No power! So I throw it in neutral real quick and turn the key, sounds like a dead charging system. I roll into A lot and go to unhook my kintek hc2400 and smell smoke, like oil. Gauges are reading great, and had been all night. At one point at after a long idle the temp went up to about 2/3 in the margin but went back to center on the highway. So, I pop the hood and smokes everywhere. I pull the dipstick and it fries the oil as I'm pulling it out! The draw on the starter was the motor siezing up, not a dead batt! If it weren't for my kinetik I don't think it woulda even turned over. I bumped it a few times while it was cooling... During this my girlfriend got lost trying to bring me oil and coolant/water and got my parents truck stuck In somes tweekers yard in a trailer park trying to turn around. I had to walk like 2 miles and get her gas it and sling mud on me while I pushed it out. freakin sucked! So I topped her off and she fired up. Lifters tapped a minute and quit. I made it home, "meditated on it", and crashed. So, where do I go from here? Do I need to pull it down? Anybody wanna call me an idiot? Any links or tips? Thanks guys


Also, anybody have a good iPhone friendly image host?
 
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#6 ·
Glad you entered this thread with your awesome wit and helpfulness. I'm sure your post has to be one of the most helpful, if not the most helpful posts in all of FSB history.. :rockon I personally think when ever someone posts, you really should be way off topic (like here) with your responses

you should find the leaks and fix them. Hopefully you didn't do too much damage
 
#5 ·
... And I guess I left out that it had no oil or coolant in it when I checked it. But the temp sensor and oil pressure sensor still read normal. Is there a way he could have rigged the guages? I noticed if I tap the cluster they move considerably. This truck is obviously "shoot and boot" (quick paint and get rid of it). It's got a lot of problems but I'm trying to get it right
 
#16 ·
#8 ·
the oil guage is an "idiot light" in guage form. as long as you have 6psi of pressure or more, then it will always read in the middle.

defiantly find the leak. hope any damage is minumal but honestly the bearings are probably toast along with most of the rotating assembly. might have to start using some heavy weight oil. plan on rebuilding hte motor. run the current one till it dies. who knows it might last a long time still.

my motor in my 96 recently leaked out all its oil and ran dry when driving. it defiantly has problems but is still drivable for awhile till i can get it rebuilt. the first motor i swapped in my 88 was owned by somebody who never changed the oil. lasted about 30 minutes of hard running till it eventually threw a rod with no warning at all when starting. pulled it apart and found half inch of sludge throughout the engine that clogged all the oil ports which is similar to running the engine dry. have pictures to prove it too. the original motor in my 88 jsut before i pulled it, i ran it WOT 6k rpm for 10 minutes straight with no oil waiting got it to blow. evenrtually got bored and pulled it anyways. found all the rotating assembly still in great sheap amazingly
 
#9 ·
@gene, awesome lol
@kingfish, thanks, that's what I wanted to hear.

I figured I would describe it as it happened so maybe someone that read it will check the damn fluids before I did. When the heater quit I never thought to check the water because I "knew" it had water in it. I found the leak, Radiators cracked. The oil is coming from the rear main and I'm thinking either the head or intake gasket at the back. I really hope it's not a cracked head. So kingfish, how much am I looking at with today's prices on a budget rebuild on these 5.0s? My dads a mechanic and I had been wanting to freshen it up and fix the leaks but he just kept trying to talk me out of it but now i don't think he's gonna be able to lol
 
#11 ·
;well depends on how bad everything is. if the heads warped then ull need heads. if the cylinders are scorched, ull need to either get the block bored. if the crank is damaged, ull need to get it ground down or new one. rebuild kits are avalible but it doesnt inclued everything needed. it all adds up very fast and thats jsut for a stock motor. any upgrades will be significantly more. usually its easier and cheaper to find a motor at the junkyard or somewhere but even then your taking a risk on condition.

to rebuild my 5.0 im looking at bout 1k me doing it myself assuming everything is in usable condition. i MAY have someone on here sell me a motor for quite abit less and it will have better heads already installed. the motor i got in my 88 i got from a friend for 400$ and it was recently rebuilt and runs amazing. really its abotu whats availble to you and what you think you can handle.


as for the jeep thing, thats between you and the po ;)
 
#15 ·
Buy a real oil pressure gauge and see where it's at. What weight oil you running. If the oil idiot light wasn't on you probably still had at least 5 psi. If you don't have a rod knock now you might get away with it. If it was drinking water that bad then your heads were likely already toast. Put 15/40 in it and keep the water full and keep going.
 
#19 ·
To really know about the heads and head gaskets without pulling the engine apart, change that radiator and pressure test your cooling system.
 
#20 ·
Thanks big bud! My dad thought it needed a head gasket when I got it bc the condensation on the tube. He said that or the pcv but he said the coolant looked "too clean" he said they probably flushed and bars leaked it. Now I'm thinkin he was right, damn dads lol... I'll do as you say this afternoon and let you guys know what I find
 
#22 ·
just think positive. if the heads are warped, then you can get GT-40 heads. if the block is ruined, you can go to a 5.8. if you do a motor swap, you could go get a roller block with MAF.

i woulkdnt exactly rely on a dipstick to tell head gasket. i had some milkshake on my dipstick and oil cap so i thought it was a headgasket. but when i changed the oil, it was fine with no milkshake at all.

definatly get an oil pressure guage that actually works. but i wouldnt recommend the cheap mechanicle ones because the lines always leak or kink. i have a digital one on my truck and its very accurate. an analog one works fine to. or you could do the oil guage mod that makes it function like a real guage should (jsut without numbers)
 
#24 ·
Water in oil on a ford can be timing cover to block seal. A good friend of mine had that happen. He changed a water pump and then had water in the oil, we pulled the whole front down and new gaskets later it was fine.
 
#25 ·
Man I never even thought about that! There was a small amount of water around the pump area. I just assumed it was the hoses but I'll make sure to check everything good now. Thanks for that info. When I get home I'm gonna pull all the cooling out and go thru it. Anybody know how I can post pics with my iPhone. My Photobucket account is messed up and I can't find a good iPhone friendly host
 
#26 ·
Anybody running a vistapro radiator? Rock auto has a good price on it. It seems like a good one but I've never heard of vistapro. Can't beat a dual row for $$15 more than a single right? ... Unless it's junk

VISTA-PRO Part # 432183 More Info {#1451, 9347, 99347}**
PLASTIC TANK ALUMINUM CORE, 2 ROW; W/H.D. COOLING; W/MAX COOLING

$115.89
 
#28 ·
Well the vista pro is 1 year but I just saw a tyc a lil further down that's lifetime for $.10 more! lol I love rock auto. If you catch the right item sometimes it will be like 75% cheaper if it's an overstock or sometimes they buy out closing dealerships I think. But, Ive had excellent luck with them and shipping was fast...


TYC Part # 1451 More Info {#F2TZ8005KA, FO3010134}
Super Duty Cooling; W/ AC; Plastic/Aluminum; Core Size: 27 9/16" x 17 7/8" x 2 1/4"; Rows: 2; Top Header: 3 1/16" x 18 1/2"; w/ SUPER DUTY COOLING
* Stocked in outlying warehouse--shipping delayed up to 1 business day

$115.99
 
#30 ·
Right now I'm looking at;

Tyc dual core radiator $116
Gates waterpump $25
Motorcraft radiator cap $5
Stant premium tstat $5

And I'm gonna get a belt and possibly hoses from Oriellys bc I know better than to try to order that stuff online. Hell, I can hand it to the parts guy in town and he'll bring back somethin else, at least I'll have the chance to correct it lol.

What temp should I run? It Is Louisiana so I was gonna do a 160 like Ive done In others but I wanted to ask you guys what you think and prefer. I know everybody has their own theory on it
 
#31 ·
how much waa the radiator total shipped? the radiators at my part store are 145 and lifetime warrenty, and even cheaper with my commercial account.

waterpump bolts are easy to break. they sell a new stud kit you might want to get to prevent future problems. hopefully you can get it out. to take the timnig chain cover off you need to pull the harmonic balancer. steering wheel puller works for that. might consider replacing the timnig chain also. if its original then it will probalby have tons of wear and a new one will bring back alot of power

run stock temp thermostat. helps the engine run more efficient. plus the EFI system wont go into closed loop untill it reaches a certian temp
 
#34 ·
I wouldn't be afraid to get the CU1451. Google the part number specs are on summit racing and amazon. rockauto has a closeout on the radiator hoses, if you're replacing them just buy them there. Same thing with the belt, also on closeout. Here's my thread on closeouts, I've had zero problems.
http://www.fullsizebronco.com/forum/showthread.php?t=213671
192-195 degree t-stat

the radiators at my part store are 145 and lifetime warrenty, and even cheaper with my commercial account.
Lifetime warranty because it's a shop accnt, or are you talking about the 90 day defective warranty thing? they call it "Limited lifetime"...bunch of Bs.
 
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