If you've read my other posts you know that I have a sick Aerostar with either a blown head gasket or cracked head. I bought another Aerostar and am back on the road again. I'm am considering doing the repair myself. Aerodude said he changed his without dropping the engine. My Hanes manual says you can do it. So it is possible. I hope.

Looking in the engine compartment, there does not seem to be enough room. It is going to be tight. I like doing my own repair work when possible. I have pulled the transmission on my old 91 (5 speed) Aerostar and changed the clutch myself. I only used an assistant to bleed the clutch fluid. However this job has me concerned. Can I do it? What tools will I need to buy?

Once I helped change a head gasket on my Escort. I got most everything disconnected but couldn't turn the head bolts with my 3/8" socket set.

I have a few questions for those of you who have done the head gasket replacement.

I am assuming I will I need a 1/2" drive socket set? I don't think my 3/8" will cut it. Agree?

Cost of gasket set (ball park)?

Any special tools?

Did you do anything special to make more room in the engine compartment (like lower the engine)?

Any advise or suggestions?

Am I crazy?

Somebody talk me out of this!

Seriously, I would appreciate any advise. Thanks.

 

You need to beat the bushes to rustle up Mikeman. He has lots of firsthand experience with head replacements. He has also posted several times on this subject. You may want to do a search within this forum.

 

There is plenty of room to pull the heads without lowering the engine. You never have to touch the motormounts, I promise.

1/2" socket set is a good idea, you can always use one anyway(never a bad excuse to buy a new tool,lol!) 6 point and 12 points are good to have, 6 points for those rusty cornered bolts and nuts. 1/4" drive set would be handy as well. don;t forget the swivel-joints(univesal socket)

I'm not sure what gaskets run in your area, Advance, Auto Zone, and some others have websites where you can look up parts and get prices.

The only special tool that comes to mind is the fan clutch wrench set to pull the fan and fan clutch. I have done these in a pinch with a big cresent wrech but not real advisable. Please keep in mind I have been a mechanic for 22 years and have most everything under the cun so I'm not super in touch with what a " backyard" mechanic has as far as tools. A good manual will tell you as well what is needed for the job. Try this one on line, I think Steve83 posted it awhile back:


Like I said in my e-mail to you, I don't know your mechanical ability, but it's really not that bad of a job. The hardest part is pulling the stuff off the front of the enigine to get to the intake and heads. once you get that cleared away you will see there is plenty of room.

Also have the heads checked at a good machine shop, most of the 4.0 heads were out of warp specs new and only get worse as they got older. Look for a shop that builds drag engine and such, they USUALLY are more reliable that parts store machine shops in my experience. Get good quality gaskets(Fel-Pro) and follow the torque specs and sequence. There is a special way to torque the lower intake to the heads so it doesn't leak at the ends, trust me when I tell you to follow those instructions closely!

Don't be scared, it's already messed up, you have another set of wheels, it will be a grerat learning tool and you'll be very satisfied when you get it done, because you did it yourself. You can e-mail me with any questions as you go along, it's not a problem. If you need me to get the All-Data sheets on it and send them to you let me know. It is pretty cut and dry though.

 

Aerodude/Aerocolorado -

:slight thread hijack:

What is the likelihood that an extreme heat situation (Which is what caused my head and/or gasket problems) might have caused damage to the lower end (i.e. thinned out oil, coolant in the oil, etc.?), the block deck itself, or to bearings and other components?

My reason for asking is that my Aerostar has 123,000 miles on it. Not high mileage - compared to others out there - but certainly not new either. If I just do the heads, it's possible that the lower end has some damage that may show up in 15,000 - 20,000 miles. That wouldn't be good. I also wonder about a new "tight" top end going back on the bottom, and if that would cause problems with rings, etc.

I am really struggling to understand the long-term outlook for the current engine. I am not an experienced mechanic, but could certainly do the work with the help of some friends. On the other hand, I look to have this van a long time to come, so if I had to bite a bullet and go with a remanufactured engine to gain more security (wife's van, drives with kids, goes to her mothers out of town 1 - 2 times per month), I would rather go that route than face lingering performance and reliability issues, or have to more critical engine work over the next 3 - 5 years.

I know the cost of getting a rebuilt engine installed, and can accomodate that (my Suzuki SJ410 project gets put on hold, and a few other things get delayed). I'd appreciate your insights as I try to come to a rational decision for my situation.



Thanks in advance

:/thread hijack:

 

Is the lower end making noise now? There can be antifreeze in the oil from a blown headgasket or cracked head, if removed/drain right away you should be fine. As far as telling how long it will last, who really knows, I did my heads at 101k and now have 122k and it's fine. You are only replacing and resurfacing the heads unless cracked which makes no matter ot the lower end. Not enough is removed from the heads to make a differance in it. Your not soing a valve job just making the heads straight and regasketing.
One a side note, My 4.0 overheated last year because of a bad fan clutch (in July 100degree temp) while pulling my camper. I mean buried the guage and was boiling out everywhere, I let it cool replaced the clutch and all is fine.
I would atleast pull the heads and have them checked, if no cracks through some new gaskets in it and keep running it until it completely dies, then go from there.
You can have(and I have seen first hand) major problems with a reman engine as well. I say if it was quiet, tight, and non smoking(oil) I'd do the gaskets. If you only knew what was in those reman engines you'd be scared, atleast you know what you have now. Hope this helped some, with out seeing what you have personally I can't make that call, it's up to you and what you feel is best.

I's go for the gaskets though,

 

Doing the heads is pretty easy. I had 277,000 on my heads when I had them done. The valves were shot but that wasn't a suprise. After the heads were done, I did have an overheat problem show up due to a bad new radiator. To make sure, I pulled the heads again and they were a tad warpped. I think the head gasket kit was about 80 bucks. The head gaskets (at least on the 3 liter) are marked left and right. I think the hardest part was getting the wires to disconnect cleanly. I spent about 3 hours removing both heads.

 

Can I do it?
Yes, you can do it. Any fool could do it. Take it from me (a fool), I have firsthand experience. Just be patient. It's not like working on the old '71 Ford.

What tools will I need to buy?
Torque wrench, the clicker type due to inability to get a good view in tight spaces. You may need two torque wrenches - one to do the lower intake bolts (about 16 ft-lbs) and one for the head bolts. The bigger torque wrench with more leverage is handy on the last tightening step for the head bolts when you torque to yield.

Low profile torx bit (I used the one from Lisle) to fit the head bolts. It's a tight fit between the firewall and the last head bolt on the driver side. Get 2 or three. Mine broke a point while tightening the last head bolt so I had to drop everything and go buy another.

You shouldn't need to remove the fan.

Cost of gasket set (ball park)?
I couldn't find a gasket set that included all the gaskets I needed so I had to buy them individuallly. I don't remember price exactly, except that it was painfully expensive. I want to say all gaskets totaled about $200-250, but that may have included head bolts, too. I wouldn't recommend using the cork valve cover gaskets, use the metal/rubber ones from the dealer.

Any special tools?
In addition to above, an impact wrench would be handy to disconnect the exhaust system from the manifold. I didn't have room in the budget for a compressor and impact wrench, so I had to cut the exhaust bolts with a Dremel tool (which I already had) after trying to loosen them with a wrench. With an impact, I could have twisted the heads off and saved a LOT of time (5 hrs) that I wasted trying to get the bolts out in one piece.

Did you do anything special to make more room in the engine compartment (like lower the engine)?
Remove anything in the way - alternator, A/C compressor, PS pump, etc. Although it doesn't seem like it, moving these things will make life much easier. You will not need to disconnect the A/C hoses or PS hoses.

Am I crazy? Yes

 

You will also need the tool to remove the fuel lines on the intake. You can get them at any auto parts house. They are just plastic.