I recently purchased a 1995 4x4 F250 w/ the 5.8 engine. It was totalled by an insurance company and I got it at auction for $15.00. I know this truck ended up on it's roof in a ditch...the roof was crushed in, and surprisingly little else...but no doubt the engine was upside down. Then it sat upright in the impound lot for a couple weeks.

Once I got it home the first thing I did was pull the plugs then cranked it over. It blew quite a bit of oil out of the spark plug holes. I cleaned the plugs and reinstalled them. It fired right up. It runs smooth with lots of smoke (just fired it up, I haven't driven it anywhere).

My question is this...what potential issues arise from an engine that was flipped upside down? My goal is to make this an off road goof-off rig...chop the roof off and do some mild 4x4ing on the cheap. I've never given any thought to the idea that an engine was flipped over...and what that might mean, if anything.

 

the oil will drain back through the heads / oil passages then make it way down into the cylinders. How much have you run it? I would think it would burn off the oil that isnt supposed to be there.

 

You did the right thing by pulling the plugs to blow off the excess oil, so as long as there is now the correct amount of oil in the crankcase the motor should be fine... assuming it didn't run until it seized while upside down in the ditch.

 

Check the transmission and differential oils as well. The motor mounts could be torn so try prying on the engine from each side to check. Also the transmission mount must be checked. If they're not obviously damaged they will be okay.

Check all the other fluids as well, like PS, brake, coolant overflow tank etc.

Fifteen bucks for a roller 351W is probably the deal of the year!

 

aside from changing all the fluids out, I would do a complete safety check (fuel lines etc) since there are a lot of stressors that occur in many different directions that normally do not on a rollover- but I would say you made out like a bandit!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Thanks for the input guys. I'll work through the "check list" from your posts.

So far I've checked the brake fluid reservior (I got a clue when the brake pedal went to the floor). The reservoir was empty. I also noticed the power steering pump was growling.

I filled the power steering reservoir and it quieted right down. Went to fill the brake fluid reservoir and bleed the system and discovered a brake line leak. It's leaking where the hard line transitions to the hose that drops from the frame to the rear differential.