my dads 2004 ford excursion 4x4 6.0 ,egr delete, new transmission, new injectors, new up-pipes, new oil cooler, new radiator, im sure there is more.(all work was done by the same shop) he had a tuner on it when this happened(powermaxx i think)
he took it to the shop due to an odd noise around 5 months ago and they told him it sounded like a lifter/rocker was bad and one day when it breaks it could be pure chaos...
fast forward to now he was driving at highway speeds and it started knocking BAD like hitting the motor with a baseball bat HARD bad. he took it to his shop and they look at it and say the bridge fell off and they tore into it to fix. they "fixed" that somehow, i dont know what they did as they call my dad and he never remembers what they said . and we dont have a bill as it is still at the shop and you will find out why.
they attempt to fix the bridge(rocker arm is what im assuming the bridge is) quote him $700, said it would all be fixed and 100% when they put it all back together the "knock is still there maybe even worse" and then they quote him 10k for body off motor rebuild, saying they think the cam has been damaged(lobes shaved flat) rods bent, valves messed up lifters, rocker arms, etc. they also say if they cant fix it with new part theyll need to order a new short block and swap new/old parts in, for much more than 10k.


i need advice, suggestions, anything to help keep this repair bill down.
im usually in the 94.5-97 forum so all this 6.0 stuff is new to me.

 

Sean, thats why im here to help out
So did they actually replace the "bridge" because this happen to one of our work trucks, I actually started a thread on a rocker arm failure. The problem with our 6.0 the rocker arm actually failed ( the little bearing pushing the bridge) I replaced the injector as it was the cause of the failure and replaced the rocker arm and it fixed the problem

Make sure they checked for a bent rod

 

doubt a broken rod or bottom end.
Sounds like this shop isn't very good at what they do.

 

I agree, take it somewhere else for a second opinion. It doesn't sound like they know what the heck they are doing. By saying they fixed it and then let you drive it possible you did more damage. If I were to guess there is a lot of internal damage from the sound of it.

 

My bad I meant to say push rod

 

Well.....i got a couple calls from my dad while i was at work that i couldn't answer until i was off, and they called and say the block he has now is junk so he had to get a new one, he gave his card info before talking to me(i would have said take it to the guy i have never heard a bad word about) charged him 7k for a deposit. can't help but think about how much faster my truck would be with that money, too bad im not sponsored by mommy and daddy..they are saying body off (excursion) motor swap. he's all bent out of shape saying screw ford and his x and his expedition are the last two he will ever own. i don't think there's any stopping what the shop is doing since my dad is set on letting them do it. sorry for starting a thread where i cant implement the advice i'm getting due to a harder head then mine

 

Hate to see that but you know the saying
Once an adult twice a child
If he's willing to pay maybe it'll work out for him. I sure hope so.

 

another update... its going to be a brand new jasper block and internals, 2 yr warranty, they are going to stud and delete it (delete coming off old motor) and swap all the other newly replaced stuff off the old motor; oil cooler, injectors, up pipes, whatever else they did. he just had a jasper tranny put in not long ago so for the most part the drivetrain should be good for a while.
the shop also said that the people he bought it from were in the motor before, and had pulled the heads for whatever reason and when they put it back on they re-used the head gasket and they werent careful lining everything up and bent the gp's pretty bad so im guessing when they put it back together thats where all this started from(them messing other things up too? and they said the gp's were "burnt" i dont understand this as the gp's are themselves glowing hot or "burning" and they are getting covered in exhaust so how could you tell if they were burnt? can someone explain that to me a little better...

 

How long has he had this truck? Tranny and motor thats a hard hit for sure. Least he'll have all new stuff and can keep the maint up and know exactly what's been done to it I suppose. Ln40 these trannys are stout too. That other owner musta really done a job on it for sure. Glad your dad has the path forward but man what a bummer.

 

about 2 yrs, and there hasn't been more than 4 months where nothing would go wrong...the only repairs i listed were big ones,there has been a lot more little annoying things. when we went on vacation this summer to DE about a 3 hour drive to the beach we went to i drove separate because i left from college, when i had to come back home for school i get a call from him saying he lost all electronics and its barely running, of course its the batteries/alternator. i drove back down to help him with it and i kid you not we went through 4 alternators in less than 2 days. he has more money in it than anyone should in a truck just to keep it running and driving. only performance stuff has been a tuner..

 

I hear ya. The 6.0 is a maintenance beast but getting the wright stuff, fixing them right, and keeping up the maintenance will keep them trouble free. On the alternator bad as it sound that happens quite frequently as far as more then one to get a good one. Bad part about that is that bad alt can toast the batteries, ficm, and injectors which is why monitoring is key.

 

Make sure to check the condition of the starter cable (positive battery cable) before you do anything. If it's corroded at battery terminal, it's likely they corrosion has traveled underneath the insulation. You can get a new one from rockauto for $80.