My truck is 1996 Eddie Bauer 5.8 L extended cab 4 wheel drive automatic
300000 plus miles.
It over heated to the point that the radiator exploded, blew the plastic side off.
I replaced the radiator and cranked it up and the steam started out the exhaust and water leaking around the block/head. Blown gasket or something cracked. I have decided to put in a used engine.
Two questions.
1. How do I tell if it has AIR in the head or the manifold? A big question when looking for a used engine. I am not sure how to tell what mine is.
And what is AIR?

2. I found an engine that is in a 1994 Eddie Bauer Bronco 5.8L Automatic. Will this engine work and be compatible?


Thanks for the replies!!

 

All 1/2 ton trucks use an air to the head smog system so that motor should do just fine, however... Your '96 is OBD2 with a couple unique sensors that the '94 OBD1 motor won't have so you need to make sure and use the crank balancer and timing cover from your old motor and also the whole EGR system and of course all the wiring from your truck.

 

I don't know if the replacement engine just happened to come from another Eddie Bauer or if you were looking for that. If you were looking, it doesn't matter. "Eddie Bauer" is just a trim level. Pretty much any 351W (5.8L) from any Ford truck will work, but the closer you are to your truck as a starting point the simpler it will be. Mostly that means model year, but also a '96 F-250/F-350 engine probably won't be OBD1 (edit: as Conanski said below, '96 F-250/F-350 probably WILL be OBD1, that's what I meant, but obviously didn't say. Thanks for that catch Conanski!) , and manual / automatic could make a little difference (although taking stuff from your old engine will get by most of this). But don't worry about trim levels (or cab styles).

 

Actually it's far more likely that those trucks would be OBD1 but they won't have air to the head so it's a moot point.