Hello everyone!
I recently acquired a 1981 Ford F250 with the 4.9 in it. Truck has been used on a farm since new but is in pretty good shape and decently maintained. When I got it two weeks ago it had been sitting for 6 years but fired right up with a new battery. Only issue I had was it would Diesel after I shut it off. This Saturday I got too confident and pulled a 3 mile long 9% grade in 85 degree heat. Half way up the temp gauge started climbing but it’s a two lane road and I had trucks behind me so I had to keep going. Got to the top right as the gauge hit the H mark on the dash but right as I was going to pull off it started to drop back to normal so I kept going. Another 4 miles down the road and it starts missing and then clattering like it has no oil then dies. Temp gauge then skyrockets well pass over heating. When I opened the hood oil was seeping from everywhere and it actually had burned the paint off around the spark plugs.(the paint was really crappy so not a huge surprise)
I pulled plugs yesterday and the front two were wet with water and the other 4 still black and sooty. The radiator is almost dry and she will not start!! With starting fluid it will cough and sputter but never catch. I’m positive the head gasket blew but should I be worried about a cracked head or cracked block? I’ve heard these motors are bulletproof but this one got really hot and has me worried.
Another thing was somehow when I pulled the intake off it had sucked in a fair amount of coolant. I’m assuming it came from the radiator overflow as the catch can is long gone and the hose rotted off as well.

 

Chances are the block and head are fine....head just needs to be resurfaced since you blew the head gasket.

 

Yes, the head may be warped a little bit now. Put s straight edge on it when you take it off to check it.

 

I’m hoping to get the head off this week and will check it with a straight edge as suggested and might get the local machine shop to magnaflux it for cracks.
If it is cracked what is the best company to buy a new cylinder head from?

 

If you are going to take it to a machine shop, they will check it for straightness and they will tell you if it's fixable. If it's warped a certain amount, they can reface the head and make it straight again. Give it a valve job, new seals, etc and make your old head like new. Let them look at it. If they say it's not fixable, or give you an exorbitant price, then you can start looking for another head.

 

I dont think you will have a lot you can buy a Ford 300 heads from and the last 300's were put in trucks IIRC, that is 23 years ago.
I had a 02 Dodge 5.9 that even Dodge did not have heads for and why I said the above.

You might get lucky and the machine shop may be in in stock. Other than that check the parts stores and the last junk yards for used and rebuild it.
My .02
Dave ----

 

Well I got the head off last night and things don’t look great. The cylinder walls all have light vertical scoring and there’s no signs of the crosshatching. More alarming is that the wall between cylinders 3 and 4 and the wall between 4 and 5 have turned blue from heat. The cylinder head looks to be fine and straight but now I’m wondering if a short block or rebuild would be the best option. I’ll try and post pictures this evening

 

To do it right, the first time. Talk to the machine shop now. Tell them what happened and see what they recommend. Get things set up so you know what your in for.

You most likely will need the block bored and new pistons. The shop let you know.

 

You may want to look over this area to see what others have done for rebuilds.
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/forum52/
Dave ----