I've developed a loud engine noise which sounds like timing chain chatter only much louder. Not a thrd...thud... like a rod knocking. I took it by the Ford place and by just listening to it he determined that it was a broken piston skirt. Recommendation: Short block replacment. The engine is a '97 with 111K and they say that they are seeing a few of these showing up. They estimate nine hours just to pull the pan to make sure. This sounds a bit too long to me. However, I have heard that the engine must be pulled in order to drop the pan. Has anyone out there had this symptom and if so what did you do to fix it. I need to get by as cheap as I can. Would piston replacement be feasable? Or should I go the short block route. There's a long block I can buy for 1200 but it already has 80k on it. Thanks in advance.

 

Just out of curiosity, was your coolant level excessively low? Have you had to add any lately or any over a period of time? Check this website out anyway;
www.leakingfords.com
And,whoever determined you had a broken piston skirt,without actually seeing it, must be a dayum good tech! I dont even think Superman could do that!

 

Thanks for your reply. This explains why the tech at the Ford place asked me if I had been adding coolant lately. Yes, I had. But I couldn't see what that had to do with causing a busted piston skirt. This is the second Ford I have had with a busted skirt. I guess I had better look closely for water in the oil. I have the oil changed every 3K and they haven't indicated that I had any water in the oil when it was changed. But, then too, they seem to always miss a few grease certs.

Do you know if this engine must be pulled to drop the pan? I think this is the only way I can tell for sure what it is. Thanks again. Ed

 

We should keep count.

this is probably the 105th complaint of this exact same problem in the last 6 months. This is a MAJOR Ford F/U ! And I personally and tired of hearing about it.

I've mad numerous attempts to try to help people do something about this, however this site will not allow anyone to help these people.

So, if you have this radiator leaking problem with your Ford, you're basically in for a very expensive ride.

So, good luck.