Hey everybody. I'm new to this forum and this is my first post. I was given a 1978 econoline 150 with a 351w and have been looking into fixing it up. Its been sitting for a few years. I fired her up, cleaned her out, and gave her a tune up but she leaks quite a bit of oil. Some of the spark plugs had oil on the threads but the tips did not appear to be covered in oil, just a little dark and burned up cause they are quite old. I'm pretty sure the oil leaks are coming from the valve cover gaskets and the oil pan gasket. Are there any other common areas that leak that I should check? I've determined that the head gasket is almost certainly fine.

The engine temp never gets up into the middle of normal. Its always stuck down around the N. Is this a bad thermostat? Or would flushing the fluids help?

She tends to lurch into gear and sometimes makes a slight slamming noise. Also, it seems like she rolls while in gear but I have not been able to confirm this because she is currently not mobile due to the starter.

And now to the fun part. She broke down on me while I was directly facing a bakini barista espresso stand... That was a lot of fun. I'm pretty sure its the starter. I went to take the starter off and found that just about everything possible is in the way of getting a socket on the bolts.

Are there any tricks for pulling a starter off one of these? Also, how about that oil pan gasket? I'd rather not pull the engine, but its not out of the question.

Thanks! I think it'll turn out to be a great van with a little work.

 

Sorry about the fail in front of a bikini stand... then again maybe it was a good thing. Anyhow dunno about that vintage, but on newer vans the oil pan does not come off without removing the intake manifold and lifting the engine up I believe. Not fun. I'd cut my losses if I were you and get something newer unless you are open to that "little bit of work" turning into a lot of work.

 

Hey Schmidal,
I'm a little surprised to hear about problems getting the starter out. Ford small block engines on vans and F150's are some of the easiest starter removal/replace jobs I've done. I own a 78 E250 which originally had a 351 Windsor small block and a C6 automatic transmission. I had that starter out of there in minutes the few times it was necessary. The bottom starter bolt is fairly accessible and the top bolt simply requires an extra long socket extension of about 12 or more inches, the solenoid cable connection undone, and it should come right out with minimal maneuvering. I now have a 5.0 smallblock in the same van and I can get that starter out with a 9/16" socket wrench, (2) 3/8" X 6" socket extensions, and a 7/16" or 3/8" box wrench in about 7 minutes and that's not rushing it either. The starters are exactly the same on 351 and 302's. I hope this helps some.