When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Ok,
I just bought a 2000 F250 SD with 6.8L V10 that is the cleanest 19 year old truck I have ever seen, not even haze on the headlights that are perfectly clear. No accidents, clean carfax, no leaks and no codes. Even has better cabin seal than my 2013! Too good to be true, of course it is. I went to see it, bottom knock, can feel the knocking at the oil pan. so I suspect piston knock. Now I thought it would be a simple matter of pul oil pan and see what I am dealing with. Evicently unlike my expedition that the crossmember just has 4 bolts holding it in this one is welded and a pain just to get the oil pan off. Come on ford!!!.
Ok before anyone scolds me for buying the truck I went into this knowing I was gonna spend some money on it after hearing the noise. So I did negotiate the price down quite a bit and think as clean as it is this truck is worth it.
So the story I got was the previous owner as soon as he hear the knock he pulled over and had the truck towed home where it sat until I towed it away. He did not know much about vehicles other than driving them and erred on the side of caution and didn't try driving with it. He bought a new car and decided to sell the truck. Thats where I came in. After seeing several pieces of abused junk I came across this truck. Idling it purrs and doesn't have any shake at all. Sounds great. Then you give it some gas and thats when you hear it. Definitely not rockers, I crawled underneath and felt the knocking coming from the oil pan. So I am pretty confident it is a crankshaft bearing (thanks again Ford for not making it fairly easy to check that). So I negotiated the price down and bought the truck believing it is worth salvaging. I towed it to my dads mechanic, (really nice people).
The mechanic looking at the truck agrees with me and said he is 99.9% sure its a crankshaft bearing. The owner (not being greedy but just wanting to give me a guaranteed fix) just wants me to put a Jasper engine in. And I do see where almost everywhere piston knock people replace the engine. I am not the type to just throw parts at something or just replace something that is worth repairing.
So here is my thoughts and I would love some feedback.
I negotiated the price down so I could buy the truck and have money left to repair it.
Here is the issue,
Do I pull this engine that otherwise seems awesome and scap it (buy a new engine I gotta send them this one). I do not have the money at the moment to do this, I would have to wait a few months and save up for an engine.
OR
Do I repair what appears to be a well maintained and clean engine by replacing the crankshaft and bearings since this is what I believe to be failed (mechanic says it is #9 that is having the problem, but I plan to replace the whole crankshaft and put all new bearings in. With as well kept as this truck is I cannot believe this was caused by abuse but rather a part failure especially since it happened all of a sudden. Being that he wasn't driving around on it, I would think the damage is minimal. AND we can inspect things once it is out of the truck and if the damage is bad then we just stop and don't proceed until I get a new engine. But it would eat away at me if I just replaced the engine for one part going out when the rest of the engine appears to be great.
The other option was to replace just the failed bearing but I immediately ruled that out and it wasn't even an option. I want to fix this right.
So I am having the shop remove the engine. Once out I can inspect the damage. I have already ordered a crankshaft with bearings. total parts and seals will be less than 500. To remove and reinstall the engine will be about 2000 (also gonna change spark plugs while the engine is out). So if this works $2500 is a lot better than almost $8000 to replace the motor. I have the money to do the crankshaft now, don't have the money to change the engine. I can always save up and be ready to buy an engine later. But if its the bearing that failed I believe changing the crankshaft and bearings fixes the problem, not an easy task like I said you gotta pull the engine.
And if we pull the ending and the engine has a lot of damage and is toast then just put it in the bed of the truck for now and save up and buy an engine to install.
Thats my plan, it sounds logical to me. Yall have more experience with these trucks. Last time someone told me I needed an new engine by three mechanics I removed the oil pan and cleaned things up (pick up tube was getting clogged with old oil flakes) and drove another 80,000 miles without a problem. Anyway, being yall have more experience with these trucks what are your thoughts, do you think I am out of my mind or do you think this is the right course of action? If you think I am making a mistake please elaborate and explain so I can understand your point of view.
And please don't let the only reason be because a new engine has a warranty, There are not guarantees in life, I could get sideswiped next month and have the truck totaled in which the warranty is useless. But if there is a reason why it is not a wise fix then by all means I would love to hear the argument. I am always learning.
2k seems like a lot to pull motor, swap crank and put it back in to me but i do all my own work so....
Personally id pull motor and open it up, pull valve covers also. If its sludge free, no metallic in oil or anywhere in the heads or oil pan id just throw new crank and bearings in her new motorcraft spark plugs and put it all back together. Use motorcraft 5w30 and a motorcraft 820s oil filter ever 3 to 3500miles and forget it
no sludge noticed and no metal in oil, yeah I planned to put plugs in while the motor is out, and if I can swing it want to put new heads on at the same time, might as well.
If I had the time and the tools I would do it myself but I no longer have an engine stand or hoist (and no trees at my place lol) so all in all I figured letting them do it I think it was 14 or 20 hours to do it, dont remember told him to tell me in $ not hours lol.
like I said the knock is the only thing I can find wrong with this engine, which is why I couldn't bring myself to scrap it just yet. if the motor is toast I will probably put it on a trailer and bring it to the ranch then when I can get a hoist stand and motor I will put a new one in but giving this a shot first
I would add while you have that engine out, check all of the exhaust manifold studs. If any look bad, replace them now. They are a monster to do a 2wd truck because of the front coil spring towers. They studs are known to dissolve over time. Probably not nearly as bad for a Texas truck as other places, but the point still stands.
I wouldn't have bought anything until I pulled it apart and KNEW what was wrong with it. There could have been no damage to the crank, or if it was damaged you could have possibly just had the original crank ground .010 under for a fraction of the cost of a new crank. If it's a rod bearing and not a main, you might have to pull the heads anyway to get the piston/rod assys out for reconditioning. I'd prefer to rebuild what I have and know what I'm getting rather than risking getting a questionable quality reman motor. I've read some horror stories about reman motors, even stuff from Ford/Motorcraft.
I wouldn't have bought anything until I pulled it apart and KNEW what was wrong with it. There could have been no damage to the crank, or if it was damaged you could have possibly just had the original crank ground .010 under for a fraction of the cost of a new crank. If it's a rod bearing and not a main, you might have to pull the heads anyway to get the piston/rod assys out for reconditioning. I'd prefer to rebuild what I have and know what I'm getting rather than risking getting a questionable quality reman motor. I've read some horror stories about reman motors, even stuff from Ford/Motorcraft.
well since I didn’t have one to start with I went with what I saw. And yes I could have gotten the crank ground. But for 204 I got a crank with the bearings. That works for me.
you can’t exactly pull apart a vehicle your looking to buy. As with buying any used car it’s a gamble. But I have to trust my instincts and experience to weed out the bad. Trust me I passed on several trucks that should be going to the junkyard.
don’t have to pull the heads.
and although I am changing a lot of items they weren’t bad. I am just changing them as preventative maintenance because it’s a lot easier while the motor is out.
and yes a motor was a back up option but the more I saw of this engine the more I liked it and knew it was worth keeping and it was well maintained and has been very reliable in the past.
well since I didn’t have one to start with I went with what I saw. And yes I could have gotten the crank ground. But for 204 I got a crank with the bearings. That works for me.
you can’t exactly pull apart a vehicle your looking to buy. As with buying any used car it’s a gamble. But I have to trust my instincts and experience to weed out the bad. Trust me I passed on several trucks that should be going to the junkyard.
don’t have to pull the heads.
and although I am changing a lot of items they weren’t bad. I am just changing them as preventative maintenance because it’s a lot easier while the motor is out.
and yes a motor was a back up option but the more I saw of this engine the more I liked it and knew it was worth keeping and it was well maintained and has been very reliable in the past.
so all thing considered I am happy with it
I wasn't clear, I wasn't talking about buying the truck. I meant I wouldn't have bought parts until I tore the motor apart and knew what it needed, even though that sounds like an exceptionally good price for a crank and bearing set. Where it was shutdown and parked right after the knock started, it's possible there might not be any damage. If you spun a rod bearing and the rods damaged, you gotta pull the head to remove /install the piston and rod assembly. My buddy had a 78 F250 winter beater/plow truck that developed a lower end knock that he took care of right away. Everything still looked good and the crank measured in spec so he just slid a new set of bearings in and kept pushing snow for another decade before it rotted out.
I wasn't clear, I wasn't talking about buying the truck. I meant I wouldn't have bought parts until I tore the motor apart and knew what it needed, even though that sounds like an exceptionally good price for a crank and bearing set. Where it was shutdown and parked right after the knock started, it's possible there might not be any damage. If you spun a rod bearing and the rods damaged, you gotta pull the head to remove /install the piston and rod assembly. My buddy had a 78 F250 winter beater/plow truck that developed a lower end knock that he took care of right away. Everything still looked good and the crank measured in spec so he just slid a new set of bearings in and kept pushing snow for another decade before it rotted out.
that’s exactly what I did. I waited til we had it out and torn apart and inspected first. If it was bad I was already had a rebuilt I was going to buy. So I wasn’t buying the parts til we had it torn apart and knew we were gonna save this motor. And yes I didn’t make the decision or ordered parts til we knew if we were gonna use this one or order the rebuilt from black water engines.
going through this motor closely. These parts aren’t bad but are probably original with 145000 miles on them so while the motor is out and easy to get to this stuff gonna replace them now.
Thanks for the heads up on the header bolts. 2 were already broke, 4 broke in removing, but they were able to get them all out and replaced. Parts are rolling in. It’s going good.
Rezvani's Latest Post-Apocalytic Monster Is a Ford F-150 Raptor Underneath
Slideshow: Called the Fortress, the 850-horsepower pickup combines Raptor underpinnings with military-inspired features, survival equipment, and a starting price of $285,000.
2000 F250 SD V10
