I was driving my 96' f150/5.0 on the interstate today at about 70 mph when it started making a loud, high pitch noise similar to a bad exhaust leak. I was in the left lane and by the time I got in the right lane the truck had lost power and when the rpm's got to low it just shut down.
When I stopped and looked under the hood I could see the radiator steaming and later found out it had a hole in the plastic tank on the side of the radiator the size of the rad hose. While the engine was still hot I took off the rad cap and it was empty. I have a aftermarket temp gauge installed and it did not show excesesive heat until after the engine shut off, but then it proceded to wrap all the way all the way back arond to the 100 degree mark.
I tried to start the engine about 10 minutes after it died and would only turn very slowly making me think the cylinders got tight and was close to seizing completley. So... what do y'all think? What should I do next, compression test?

 

yup id shoot some pb in the cylinders and try a compression test, Id probably pull the valve covers off and check for seized valves too.

 

wow sounds like a very close call... no coolant at all im assumin> if you were able to take the rad cap off, which i hope you know is a BAD idea when the engine is hot. Id say your guess is right with close to seizin, considering you were on the highway so the engine was moving fast, everything happened and froze up fast as well...

 

Yes I found out the hard way that Water Temp Gauges only work if you have coolant in the system.
No coolant the Temp gauge will show cold while the engine melts down.
A much better idea is an Oil Temp gauge, it will tell you the Temp of the engine.

 

and wehat stinks... these year fords, the temp gauge typicaly readys around C, at least mine does and yes mine does move, it is not broken

 

Well, I had someone help me for a few minutes this evening and I was able to check compression on two cylinders. The reading on my cheap compression tester was 60 psi but the wost part is that one of the two cylinders was full of water. Does that indicate a cracked head, or could the cylinder actually be damaged that severely?

 

OH YEAH THAT MOTOR IS TOAST!!!!
You likely cracked/warped the head/s... The cylider wall could be split too... I am fairly new to ford ownership but when I discussed this truck of mine LONG before it was mine to a buddy that is an ACE ASAE wrench, he called it right when he said I would find broken pistons in the 300-6!!! ALL 6 had broken lands and/or rings... If your motor has a similar designed piston... They are broke! Get it that hot to begin the seizing process and a weak piston design will fail. The rings swell too much that end gap is ZERO then with each stroke both up and down and the ring land on the piston MUST forcibly DRAG the TIGHT ring up and down....
I think you need very little additional diagnosis to go ahead and "long block" it! 60 psi is dismally weak!!! heads bad, pistons could be bad, cylinder filled with water when hot all spell rebuild (for masochist) or replacement (my choice if in your shoes)... And the bearings likely suffered with the hot condition and I would suspect my rods as weak too If I were forced to rebuild I would toss the rods, pistons and heads and "hope" the crank could be saved. Heads could be saved if not fractured but if you really only want to "in and out" the motor once you may be better off with money, sweat and busted knuckles to long block it now... I would opt for a used intake since aluminum warps easy when OVER heated as yours was...
Brent

 

Can I buy a decent long block in the $1500 range, without using a recon engine from the local parts store? I looked at the jasper website and I think they might be out of my price range, also if my block or heads are cracked will they accept them as a core? I am in the atlanta area if anyone knows where I should look.

 

Since you will be "coring" out your motor intact I doubt you will have a problem, they factor in engines like yours when basing their pricing. Most long blocks are rebuilt units with the exception of "ALL NEW" FOMOCO and a very few aftermarket performance suppliers. I would compare a recon price (with good long warranty) to a new unit and decide if worth it. I would be headed to advance/discount auto or a local rebuilder myself. I got no problem as long as the one I get aint at max oversize bore and bearings...
Then again if you won't own it long enough to wear it out what is wrong with a few extra cubic inches...
Brent

 

Just a quick idea that nobody seamed to mention but did you try removing the serp belt and cranking the engine over? granted the signs are pointed pretty heavily towards a junk engine but it would suck to drop 3 grand on a new block and find out it was siezed water pump which then pucked coolant out.....

 

phatpharm, It would be SWEET to be the water pump and i hope that it is a "cheap"fix... But I doubt that after parking the truck to find a radiator hose size hole in the coolant tank of the radiator following a 70 MPH interstate shutdown that it is just a puking water pump... Remeber the guy was able to pull the cap off after an overheat shutdown..... That is usually a bad sign.... I would not even re-use the waterpump....
Brent

 

City motor supply in Dallas, TX sells rebuilt long blocks for around $1000. They are warranted for 2 years/24,000 miles.

I would think you could find something similar in a city like Atlanta.

 

Thanks for the replies everyone, I am going to check around this week for a good suplier. All of the different wiring, plugs and enormous intake are some what intimidating. I have be wondering what kind of problems I might run into compared to an older carbuerated engine swap and what is everyones opinion on pulling engine,trans, or engine alone, it's a 4x4. I have searched for a thread on engine swaps but did not find anything on the basics like if I should label wiring or take pictures for reference, but if I overlooked one please let me know. Thanks for the help.

 

Can't go wrougn with labeling wiring and taking pictures!

 

there is several really good suppliers of reman engines the key word is reman you do not want just a rebuilt engine it should meet reman requirements.

these companies do

http://www.rebuilt-auto-engines.com/ 1200.00

http://www.fivestarengines.com/replacement_engines.htm 700.00 long block price

www.autozone.com sells recon brand 1500.00