Man this engine will bring a man to drink! So the bearings in the alternator were going out so my dad and I decided to replace the whole thing. It was 10 years old or so, so it was getting time to do it despite it passing the tests at Oreilly's. Well after getting it in and was putting in the top bolt in, the little bugger decided not to get started in and fell on top of the engine below the intake and whatever the heck the plastic box is. Anyone know what size bolt that short one is? It's the one on top of the alternator in the middle?

So to make matters a bit worse when I finally got the serpentine belt back on and started the truck up the belt decided to jump off. This line of engines are probably the worst to come from Ford Motor Company. Never have I ever had to work on an engine so miserable in my young years. Best description I ever got of these 97-03 trucks was they are built like the Econoline minus the doghouse. That is for dang sure!

The main thing I've notice with this engine is it'll run forever. Over 255,600 miles and still running. Poor mileage (last recorded 8.5mpg wtf?).

Hope the person that designed this engine and truck as well as the person who gave it the green light are no longer working for Ford...worst designed trucks from then and poorly designed to work on engines.

 

I think your not going to take this to lightly.
This motor has been in basic production for nearly 25 years.
If you dropped a bolt, then put the belt on and it jumped off with one bolt in place , then come here to complain about the design, your way off base and not qualified to issue condemnation based on what you did.
These motors have virtually no history of throwing belts when installed correctly.
Good luck.

 

Well I had figured the alternator was fine with the 2 main bolts on it. Mostly was wonder if what the size of that bolt was so I can properly match it up. I knew this family was fairly old (think it started in Lincoln Town Cars?) but still the whole thing really sucks to work on. Condemning this engine is coming from having it for over 10 years and doing the maintenance on it.

There is a complicated beginning of this truck that I will not go into detail about on here but essentially this was not my dad's first choice of trucks.

 

Well a M6 1.00x20 does not match. Threads might but its just slightly too narrow to go in. Anyone know what size it is?

 

have you tried to fish the bolt out with a extend-O magnet, or flex head magnet?

has this engine had work done it before?? and hole in question got reworked to a standard size?

 

Yeah I did try to fish it out with a magnet. Unfortunately it does not flex so that did not help. On top of the block being cast iron it was proving to be difficult. I was wrong however, the bolt was an M6 1.00x20, I had to take the wiring off the alternator for it to work. What we ended up doing was taking a bolt that held in the bracket and use that, then used the new bolt to hold the bracket down. So far no issues. Except now for a second time when going down the highway the transmission would feel like its dropping from neutral back into gear. So now I think the old transmission is going out. Is it the tranny slipping or is the cruise control? Cause it would only happen while going down hill and in cruise control.

I do know there was a recall on the cruise control unit but we have never taken it in for that or the gas tank straps (and being in Minnesota we probably should). But since it has 255,700 miles on it now, old dog needs to be replaced.

Only other work we have done to the engine:

Spark plugs twice since we have owned it, once by a shop and they messed up the number 7 coil pack boot and the plug worked its way out of the head.
New Alternator about 10 years ago done by Sears.
Bypass pulley added in a few years ago when the A/C compressor seized up and would not let the engine turn over
New Serpentine belt when snow built up in the engine compartment and it spit the belt off (tension pulley moved back just enough) back in 2011
Same time the belt was replaced we put in a new idle pulley (bearings were going in the old one)
Other than that stuff 3 fuel pumps (Walkers suck, final one we've had for about 8 years now is a Bosch)

To do on it new injector since the number 5 cylinder has a nasty mis-fire and its not a bad coil or plug. Might be missing a detail or 2 but this is all I can remember off the top of my head.