blowen head gasket?
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New User
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 21
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blowen head gasket?
I have a 98 expo with 156,000 miles and started to hear a loud ticking noise under the hood, found the header bolts broken on the right side header. Took it to the local muffler shop and they fixed the broken header bolts. but they said that there is a small exhaust leak on the head gasket. Compression test was 150-160 except one on the right side at 110.The local Ford said 1300 for the head gasket and if a new head is needed 3,000. Do these engines blow head gaskets often? Have no water loss or water in the oil pan. What are the chance the head is bad. I also have a 98 merc with a 4.8 and a 02 HD with a 5.4
Elder User
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 605
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Do you have white smoke out the tail pipe(steam)? If you have 160 on all but one you already know that head has to come off. Why not do the work yourself. Did you run the engine while HOT long enough to warp the head. If not, probably not. Just swap the gaskets and of course have the head inspected. With the heads off you might just want to install some new springs and valves especially the exhausts since they run hotter than the intakes.
Elder User
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 551
Likes: 1
What's the compression on the left bank? If its as low as your right, you may as well change them both. But, if your not loosing coolant and there's no coolant in the oil or oil in the coolant, it sounds like you can hold off changing the gaskets until its convenient for you.
