you i joined this site for a reason, and that was to get positive feed back from any questions i had. so far i've had amazing results and it's got me a long way. the ford dealership here doesn't deal, miuch with older trucks anymore. they say a lot of parts for the plder trucks are being discontinued. as for the type of engine that's in my truck, they aren't all that familiar with. which i fid very strange for being a Ford dealership. there isn't even a part number for the head gasket, they said i would most likely have to go with after market. the only other thing i can think of is taking the head to my local machine shop, i'm not sure what good that might do, but it's worth a shot. unless someone on here is familiar with the inline 6 engine. this is really strange and confusing. i was wondering that who ever swaped the engine out, may have just changed the cylinder head and intake instead of removing the whole engine. i have no way of telling if that's what was done or not, but something doesn't add up with this engine.

maybe if someone on this site has any pics of the cylinder heads and block of either a 89 or 93 inline 6 for comparission, maybe i could figure out what's going on.

i guess i'm gonna have to get some pics of this engine on here, so that someone might be able to solve this strange mystery. in the mean time i will continue to search for an answer, now that i know that this engine can be fixed, one way or another. T.CM.

 

So the Ford dealer will not order a head gasket for you? What brand of gasket did the other store sell you?

 

Ford dealer isn't gonna help at all, I've had experience with most of them first hand and most are either to dumb to find what you need or they try to shaft you out of a ****load of money for a cheap part. Truck crazy man wold you mind taking a picture of the head and gasket and show us what you mean cause I'm a bit stumped on this one.

 

yeah i here what your saying about dealerships, when this all started i went to the dealership to try and find what the differance was between air injection in head and without. i spent just about an hour trying to explain to them what i meant. then after they finally got the picture, they tried to tell me that the '' thermactor tube '' is what they called it, would cost me up a 1000$ or more to replace if i damaged it removing the head. so after i got home, i looked up the part on line and talk about ripping someone off, the prices i was getting was only like 40 and 50$ talk about crazy. then i thought i try my luck with them again and give them a simple task by looking for a head gasket. well i got the deer in headlights look, i can't believe that a simple part like a head gasket would be discontinued. but i'm done with them,i've started looking elsewhere.

as for the pics, i will try to get them up soon. right now we are in the middle of vichious snow storm. so as soon as this nasty weather passes, i will try to get those pics. i'm very sorry i have everyone scratching their heads, but i can't scratch anymore or i'll wear through my head. i've never been this stumped over engine trouble before, but i guess i'm not alone. i thought this was going to be a rather straight forward fix, but as they say expect the unexpected when it come to auto repair. this is so crazy. anyway thanks for the advice and support. T.C.M.

 

Its all good man I'm in no rush, yeah i hear ya you'd have better luck with some local auto parts store than the dealer these days. I hope you can get it fixed soon.

 

Felpro is the only brand i can find right now and even that was hard to get. i've tried several years, back as far as 89 and each time i either get the gasket line up with the block and not the head, or line the head up and not block. i'm trying to find differant brands to see if there is any sort of differance in them. but the dealership as discontinued any parts for a inline 6. they say they don't sell many of them so it got discontinued. but what happens when you're trying to restore an older vechicle and want to stay with oem parts? don't make sence to me. T.C.M.

 

Well if the gasket lines up with one and not the other, you have a MAJOR problem cause that means your coolant passages were not lined up to begin with! You have a mismatched head and block! Look for casting numbers on the head and block and post them so we can figure this out.

 

Was it like that when you took it apart where even the gasket you had in there originally looked like that? If so then like the other guy just said that would be a mismatch. Can't believe I didn't catch on to something like that sooner.

 

thanks guys, now i feel like i'm not alone with this problem. seing that you guys are more familiar with fords, where exactly on the block and head would i look for these casting numbers? maybe this is the answer i'm looking for. it makes a ton of sence, if the head or block has been modified. you guys are awesome, i don't have that much hair left, but noe maybe i can let it grow back!! lol!! i've searched up some auto parts places on line, just to check the head gasket and so far the part number is pretty much the same. so once i find these casting numbers, i will post them up right away.

just taking a stab in the dark here, but this would explain why i sometimes had trouble getting the system to cerculate and in turn made the engine overheat from time to time and blew the gasket. see this is why you seek higher knowlege before tackling a project such as this. maybe if the po had been on this site, none of this would have happened. thanks again guys. T.C.M.

 

Hi Truck Crazy Man back again. i haven't been able to post any pics up yet of this mismatched engine, but i got some bad news about the cylinder head. i had it taken to the machine shop to have it inspected, and he gave me some bad news. two of the spark plug holes are cracked. so i guess i'm gonna have to find another engine or cylinder head. sorry guys but i have no pics as of yet, but i will get some up. cause i still love to know if the cylinder head and block are differant. also when i get the casting number off the block, and if i find a cylinder head, i would like the opinons of the people of this site so i will know for sure that the head will work on my engine.

my truck is a 1995 with a inline 6, if i can't hunt down a 95 cylinder head, does anyone know how far back in the years i can go to match a head for this engine?

remember my engine doesn't have the smog tubes in the head, so i'm not quite sure what year other than 95 will match this engine. also is there any other key points i should be looking for when looking for a cylinder head for this engine?

any advice, opinons, or answers you can provide would be most welcome. thanks. T.C.M.

 

Hey guys and gals, i have some questions to ask you, hope you can help. what would cause a tailpipe to be hot to the point that you can't bare your hands on it? keep in mind that there are no coverters on this truck. i know that the tailpipe do get warm, but not to the point that you can,t touch it. any ideas what the problem could be?


seeing that i have my engine pretty much underway, i was wondering if anyone would know how to tell what size of rear axle and gears are in a 95 ford f150? also what are your opinions on locking the gears so that it makes it into a posi rear axle? do you think it would be better with a posi, with just a two wheel drive? i've noticed that a buddy of mind has 2 wheel drive truck with a posi rear axle, and he gets stuck in the snow a lot less than i do. i'm not quite sure if this is because he has the posi rear axle or not, but maybe someone here can clear this up for me. look forward to your opinons and/ or advice on these matters, thanks. T.C.M.

 

A running engine. Exhaust pipes get hot. Don't touch them.


You have a 8.8" rear axle. To determine the gear ratio, you can read the code off the tag on the diff cover, the axle code on the tag in the door jam, or get the truck up on jackstands and count the driveshaft revolutions necessary to turn the tires one full revolution.

I would not recommend welding up the spiders on a street driven truck. If you currently have an open carrier, any of the many different LSD choices out there would be a worthwhile upgrade. If you have a worn out Traction-Lok, it doesn't take much effort to replace the clutches.

 

I know not to touch exhaust pipes when engine is running, but there was a smell of someting burning and when i shut the engine off, i noticed that the tail pipe was steaming. i put a liitle snow on it and it made a hissing sound. so i just tapped it with my bare hand to see how hot it was. i didn't think the very end of the exhaust was suppose to be that hot. so that's why i was asking if this was normal or if there was something wrong with the engine.

as for the gears go, there's no tag on the axle. but i haven't checked the tag on the door pillar. i've watched a few videos of how to lock the gears by welding them. is this a durable setup? also will this give me better traction in the snow? i'm not asking for a miricale, but other than turning it into a 4 wheel drive, i would like to be able to get around a little better in the winter time. seeing my buddy pull right pass me on a hill i was stuck on, just rotted me cause he has the same truck, engine and all. with 1 exception that he has posi traction. i was just wondering if that's what i sould do with my truck. thanks for the advice. T.C.M.

 

If the timing is retarded too much and/or an extremely lean fuel/air mix will give you an extremely hot exhaust manifold and exhaust pipe.

Don't weld the spider gears for a truck that you drive every day. You will hate the way it drives and you can tear up other stuff. Save up the money and get a LS of some kind instead of hacking your gears.

 

that's what i was wondering about, if it could be the timing. so should i reset the whole timing setup again? IE bringing the #1 pistion to top dead center, pointing the rotor to the #1 on the distributor cap, etc.... or do you have any other ideas of what i could do to remedy this problem?


gear wise, thanks for the useful advice, i could have went and done this, only to create more trouble. something i had enough of, now i was looking through the Jeg's parts site, and came across what is called a mini spool. it looks like something that would go in place of the spider gears. would this be an option to concider as well?
look forwaed to your thoughts and advice on these matters thanks. T.C.M.