Good day my fellow Ford folk!

I was driving my 97 F250 2wd the other day and it started blowing steam out the tail pipe. In recent months I have replaced the thermostat, heater core, and pressure cap on the reserve tank. I do believe I have blown a head gasket. I did check my oil fill cap and it showed signs of milky residue. UGH....

The motor in trouble here is the 4.6L gas. And I have yet to talk with my mechanic I had the thought to replace this one as it has over 330K kilometres on it. I wonder if a newer 4.6 from a similar F150 or F250 would have the same motor mounts. No, I am not looking at brand new as my budget isn't that of a millionaire. I have found a few younger 4.6 motors within my budget.

Thanks in advance for all your help!

 

My English fellow! We use imperial units here! haha

According to Google 330,000 kilometers equals about 205,000 miles I believe.
That being said, I know my current engine 5.4 Trition has a proven track record of going well past 300,000 miles. Before needing a rebuild or overhaul.
Look into your engine's track record online & see how long its been known to run for before needing a rebuild, or overhaul.

That aside, have you compared the costs of having someone rebuild your current engine? I plan on keeping my truck for the long haul & I would
greatly prefer to have my own engine rebuilt vs getting another engine with unknown problems. Also my first step would be to order a Boroscope camera.
Something like this
https://www.amazon.com/DBPOWER-Water...rescope+camera

You referenced kilometers so you may be outside the U.S. & the price may be different. But that camera is dirt cheap. With the boroscope camera remove a couple spark plugs & insert the boroscope camera. I say remove a couple spark plugs because you may get a cylinder that's near top dead center and you want to inspect the cylinder walls. Look at the wall honing, (The swirly marks) they hold the engine oil as the cylinder goes up & down to lubricate the cylinders. If their are gone, or close to gone, your engine needs to be rebuilt, if they look good, you probably just need a new top end gasket.

 

Reptar0077, for my family and friends back in the US of A yes miles not Kilometers

Yet I am in Canada these days....

As I said I am going to talk with my mechanic. When I mentioned the other day that it went he gave me a really sour look. Kinda scared me....

I am just curious though if the 4.6 from a 99 F150 would fit mounts and such in my truck. Or even an 03...

 

Not sure on that note, but steam out of the tailpipe or "white smoke" is radiator fluid burning off, blueish would be oil. Good luck mate!

 

Might want to take a closer look at your intake manifold gasket and the cross over doesn't have a crack, leading to coolant going into cyl 1 or cyl 5. Might be a cheap fix. The oil fill caps get that milky resedue from lack of engine not getting up to temperature to burn off any moister.

 

Thanks again, oh it was defiantly white smoke.... Had a whole 4 lane roadway smoke screened. I felt so bad pretending to be 007.