Hello all,

It looks like I am leaning toward replacing the engine in our Excursion. I have a cylinder with no compression. I assume it was like that when I bought it and drove it back home 900+ miles, plus however long the previous owner drove it, so it probably would need some attention to that cylinder at best. The engine has 206,000 miles, which isn't a ton, but given I don't know the history of it other than I am the 9th or so owner, seems possible it wasn't treated the best. Given our plan for the rig is to grow into with our family and keep long term, I am not sure it makes sense to try to just have the head rebuilt and see how it goes. We want this to end up being our road trip vehicle and such and so reliability is important. With that said, in doing research here, talking to a couple of shops, and a cousin-in-law who knows a thing or two about engines, it seems the suggested route in order of preference is find a donor engine out of a wrecked vehicle, rebuild, and lastly remanufactured. Ford appears to not have any new replacement engines since they quit putting them in rigs back in 2019, or else that would be preferred except the cost. The only rebuild shop I spoke with near me said he doesn't work on the Triton series and said to look for a donor from car-parts.com.
Anyways, with that, I am wanting to make sure I understand correctly that I could find any 2v V10 from 2000-2019 and it would work on the Excursion as a "plug and play" except for the oil pan would need to be kept from my current engine. Is there anything else I am missing? EGR or No EGR, does it matter? Also, what recommendations do you have when searching for a used engine and what resources do you suggest? I am not in a rush, and need to work on saving the money for the process. If a good deal comes around, I could hopefully get the engine, then sit on it while saving for the cost of removal and install, as I will be having a shop do the work most likely as I don't have the means to do it myself. Is there any benefit to having suspension work done (front end rebuild, leaf springs changed out) at the same time, or are there not any real gains in having an engine removed for that? In a perfect world, the rig would be up and ready for a hopeful fall road trip, but if not, no biggie, which is a nice position to be in.

I have not pulled the valve cover off to see what is going on in the valve train as I figure the more I take apart, the more I need to put back together to drive to a shop when the time comes. If I am missing something simple where if pulling the valve cover would show something simple worth investigating, let me know, but it seems to me I am past something being simple.

Thanks all, I appreciate it!

 

Sounds like you did your homework. I just went through this. You are right that you can not get a new Ford V10 2V longblock. The short block and heads are still available. I found mine out of a 2019 RV with 18,000 miles that a tree had fell on so engine was fine. Never know what you might end up with on a reman but some have good warranties. Just stay away from Jasper. Look for vans or RV's up to 2019 that had the E350 and S in the vin I believe is the 2v. My mechanic had to swap a few things over like oil pan and oil cooler, fuel rail and injectors, throttle body, and a few other items. I got lucky and found one at a salvage yard online that was nearby so shipping was cheap. But plan on 3k labor at least.

 

Thank for the information. I need to make sure I have a shop that would be willing to do this as well. I had not discussed this option in my first round of making contact. 3k for labor sound about what I am expecting, and realistically I could see it going closer to 4. Just trying to be patient and save. If I can find something like you did, I think that would be great.

Another question I've come up with is will there be any issues with the PCM and a new engine? I read one thread where because there is a slight difference in the pistons or something starting in 2003? that the compression ratio is a touch different. Curious if this is an issue and if the resolution is simple, if so, what it is.

 

Is this the engine where in another thread I suggested to pull valve cover? You don't know the cause of compression loss yet, correct?

 

It must be, we haven’t heard of any follow up of what determined that the engine was bad and needed replacing. There could be a much less expensive fix than the cost of a replacement engine.

 

Yes, you both are correct. I can try to pull the valve cover off sometime, I just started to get the feeling through talking to some folks that given it has been driven for some time in its current condition, at minimum cylinder 5 will needed some attention (new rings at minimum) and given that is probably getting to a task that I am not sure I am up for, paying a shop to do it I am assuming will start to get costly enough to consider finding a good used engine and having it installed. If I can save several thousand, I am definitely in favor.
The more I take it apart, the more I have to put back together 😂. Which is fine if it's simple, but I have a second job that is not taking a few evening during the week and most Saturday's, so time is also not overly abundant. But, I can take things apart and hope I can get by with just removing the head and sending to a machine shop...

 

If it were mine:

I'd pull the valve cover and look for a valve that doesn't close on the cylinder w/ no compression

then, if no valve issue, I'd pull the head.

If the remaining 9 cylinders, with good compression, look good.........then I'd replace only the necessary components to restore the dead cylinder and move on. IF I had to pay someone to work on it, then I'd still pull the valve cover and head so that I knew what I was paying someone to fix or replace

 

Makes sense. If pulling the valve cover reveals something, wouldn't I still need to pull the head ultimately?

Thanks for the input,

Grady

 

it depends on what you find in the head, but likely yes to pulling.

 

Valve cover has been removed and I posted in my thread over in the V10 forum.

 

If you do go with a new rebuild, this is the time to contemplate installing a set of Banks headers.
We had our headers sent to Jet Hot for ceramic coating inside/outside. This helps keep the headers looking new and also helps burn any unburnt gas by holding the heat in. This also helps with gas mileage and a little extra power; an old racing trick.