Doesn't look like bolts have been removed, but my engine build date is 12/11/1997. The TSB and ONP only apply to engines built before 5/31/97, so it appears that my engine is good to go !!
Anyone have any other info on the date when the good gaskets started going in ??

 

All your answers are at this website;
www.leakingfords.com

 

Thanks Blue, but that is where I got the TSB and ONP dates in the first place. I read on this forum that the gasket problem applied to '97's and some '98's. Since the cutoff date on leakingfords indicated engines built no later than 5/31/97, I did not expect that '98's were being built yet, so I was just checking the forum to see if anyone else had other info. I don't want to spend all the $$ paying a dealer to fix the gaskets if I am safe, nor do Iwant to burn a weekend doing it myself unless I have to.

 

Obviously the best gasket date is 12/31/3042! Duh!

 

I believe the gasket problem exists for build dates through January of 1998.

 

How do you go about finding the build date of your engine. The Build date on my truck was 8/97. Im thinking i might have missed the "bad" gasket problem.

 

The engine build date was on a decal on the driver's side valve cover. The ink used smears, though, and the decal may not even be there anymore. mY engine build date was 12/97, and they seem to be saying I still ay have a problem.

 

SIGMA, where did you get this date ?? Seems we should marshal our forces and get a definitive answer to this question for a sticky.

 

Read the first sentence on the leaking fords website.

 

I have a 1999 4.2 an just hit 70k. I'm not sure on the engine build date, so I figure I'll just replace the gaskets before problems arise. At $12 per gasket, it just seems to be worthwhile to have the truck out of commision for a week to fix this instead of gambling and then needing to drop $5k on a new powerplant

 

The build date of the truck has nothing to do with the build date of the engine. That engine could have been built months before the truck was assembled. There used to be a build date sticker on the engines itself.

 

tht's tru, but I'm just wondering if its worth it for me to replace the gaskets. after talking with a Ford Tech, the best thing si to just pull out the old gaskets and replace them every 70k or so, which sounds more cost effective than a new engine.

 

Saw tat sentence Sigma, but other places in the same website suggest an earlier date. If leakingfords is the authority for that date, then I am looking for some corroboration for either the May 31 1997 date or the January 31 1998 date. The Ford info suggests the earlier of the dates, but leakingfords.com says otherwise.