I have a 2000 f-150 I bought new in oct 1999.I used it for travel in my job as a telecom tech.It now has 99,000 plus on it .At about 95,000 during the summer I developed an overheating problem.No boilout,no loss of coolent.It acted weird though,sometimes getting hot at idle and not at highway speeds and then visa-versa.I figured thermostat and had it changed.Only made it worse.After a while I began to catch a whiff of coolent on shutdown.I watched the coolent level but could not see any loss.Still no boilover and none out the exhaust.My mechanic said that the head gasket was possibly letting go slowly,with small amounts of coolent burning in the cylinder before it made it to the exhaust.Within a short time the coolent smell got stronger and I could see the level drop at about 1 Qt a week.Still none out the exhaust and none in the oil.The mechanic told me that he had fixed a lot of 4.2s with blown head gaskets at between 60 and 80 k miles and that they were always on the passenger side and between the front and middle cylinders.He did a compression check and found compression loss in those very cylinders,probably leaking from one to the other.He said mine lasted longer than 60k because it was mostly highway miles.During the repair he showed me the gasket and where it let go between the cylinders.It looked like 3 gaskets stacked on top of each other that you could just pull apart.He said one layer was a metal ring which was usually at fault.You could see on the head where the seal had been compromised.He also replaced 4 valves that were pitted due to the coolent in the cylinder.The heads pressure tested Ok and were machined 14k back to true.Since the repair the truck seems to have more power than when I bought it new.He told me that I would still smell coolent for a while after the repair but it should diminish,which it has.The coolent level is remaining constant.To this point I'm happy with the repairs but would like to know if anyone has had the same problem.

 

how much $ was the repair? did he use OEM or aftermarket new head gasket?

 

The total was $1271.00. He used a Fel-Pro gasket set part# 9250PT-2.Total parts was $444.53.The rest was labor and machine shop charges.

 

I have a 98 f150 4.2 with 104.000 i have had no troubles with my truck .From what i read on this from should i start to worry i plan on tradeing this summer has there been any troubles with 4.6 v8

 

Most of the horror stories I've heard about the 4.2 have been with earlier models.Have you ever had a recall notice on your F-150? Around '97 they had problems with the lower intake manifold gasket and the timing cover gasket but I think those were corrected.Even with the problems I've had with the head gasket I wouldnt hesitate to trade for a new truck with a 4.2.The only other problem I've had with this truck was a starter failure at 42k.I considered trading at about 74k miles to a truck with a 4.6 but it didnt have the power of my 4.2 and
the much higher payment wasnt worth it.Check out some posts in other forums on FTE and I'm sure you will find people with problems with the 4.6.Do you know anyone who is always satisfied with everything they buy? I dont.

 

Everyone probably thinks I'm nuts replying to my own post but I'm not.I think August Busch was doing my talking for me or I was temporarily flying HUA. I will hesitate in buying another 4.2,probably to the point of buying a Chevy.

 

"I wouldnt hesitate to trade for a new truck with a 4.2."

"I will hesitate in buying another 4.2,probably to the point of buying a Chevy."


That's a remarkable turnaround.

 

Sounds like it but all I'm saying is instead of going straight to a Ford dealer and driving one off the lot I would shop around and do a little more research.When I bought this one I didn't think anybody but Ford made trucks,but now I'm not so sure.Like I said before,the night I put up the "wouldn't hesitate"post I was partying a little and I liked my truck a little more than I did the next day when I sobered up and looked at my depleted bank account.