Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Blown head gasket

First, I'd like to thank everyone for all the help that I've gotten in the past from everyone. This place has taught me a lot and saved me even more.

Well, more than likely I've got a blown head gasket. It appears to be a fairly small hole,I'm assuming anyway, as the car is driveable and I'm having no problems other than oil in the water.

I checked my oil yesterday only to find it down by a quart and a half. This engine has never used oil nor leaked even a drop. I look over at the resevoir to find it a little black. I open it up and much to my dismay, little black flecks of oil floating in it.
I won't be driving it, unless absolutely necessary until I get it fixed.

I've ordered a head gasket set which has all the gasket's needed to get down to the heads. I can also get the cylinder head bolts from Ford without paying Ford price's(in good with the parts guy).
What else do I need? I've got all the tools needed to do this and I can get someone to check the heads for me.

Should I let Ford do this job for me? I know both of the service managers at the dealership and they won't bs me or rip me off. It'll be alot more than if I did it, but I'm very confident it'll be done right.
If I do it myself, it'll cost a lot less but I won't have Ford's warranty if something goes wrong.
I read through the Haynes manual and it seems fairly straightforward and I trust my mechanic skills enough to do this.

Any suggestions as what to do and if anybody can point out parts I missed would be helpful. BTW, this engine has only 54,000 miles on it.
Thanks again,
Mike

While the Ford manual has its problems (as does Haynes) I think they are better for this kind of work. Get the CD version from the CEG classifieds, for $8 what have you got to lose?

Mike...d*mn. I'm sorry to hear this. If I were you, I'd do it myself. You say you trust your mechanic skills, so why not? It'll be a hassle, no doubt, but you'll learn a whole bunch about your car while you're doing this.
While you're at it, you can also: 1) put headers on , (I think I owe you some header help!) 2) optimize those butterflies , 3) spend some quality time with your car, even though you're not driving it. (Sorry, I'm tryin' to make light of a solumn situation).
Let us know what you decide to do, and good luck.

I think a head gasket on a Duratec is a little advanced for most diy's, removing the valve train ,cams & chains etc can be a real pain with engine 'in situ'...I'd think twice...my 2 cents

See sig.

Thanks for the kind words Derek and while I seriously thought about doing it myself, I ultimately decided to take it to Ford like Terry suggested.
I dropped it off yesterday and we'll see how long/what it takes to fix it. Labor alone is gonna run ~$1300(ouch) 15 hours @$84 an hour.
Then we'll have parts and whatever needs to be replaced while the guy is in there.
I'm in good with the service manager's and they tell me that Matt, the engine guy, is one of the best in the business and he'll give me a point blank and blunt approach to what needs to be done.

While the car's there, I'm gonna have them do a complete decarb and fuel system clean up. They should also do a complete coolant and engine flush, I hope. I even asked specifically for them to do that.

I miss my car so much already.
Mike

Hmmmm.. $1300 plus parts

That's in DIY 3.0L Conversion range $$$

Why not just go all out =0)
Just a thought...

See Ya,
Bito

Freakin weak Ford cost-cutting. They are polly using the same HGs they got caught for enginneering to fail just after the warranty expired on late-80s, early 90s Taurus/Sables. Sorry to hear. I'm not familiar with the warranty on your car, but I thought the warranty on my drivetrain went out when the bumper-to-bumper went out at 36k. Do you nave the extended warranty?

PS Todras - you clipped your sig, dude. "see sig" now means nothing.

Nope, no warranty. All out of pocket. The warranty expired about 35,000 miles ago. The engine was replaced last year under warranty with one that had about 16,000 miles on it. That engine now has 54,000 and the car has 144,400.

The weirdest thing about all of this was July 3rd I got a letter from the dealership saying I was due for my 144,000 mile maintence. That's the day I realized I had oil in the water. Conspiracy I tell you

I'd thought about the 3l conversion, but decided against it for the time being.

Next year I'm expecting about 5 grand back in taxes, so that may go to a 3l Jag motor. Terry, want the job??
Mike

RubberDuckySVT,
FWIW, the Duratec head gasket is nothing like the 3.8L head gaskets you are referring to. From everything that I have seen, head gasket failure on a Duratec is not a common occurance.

Also notice that 69Boss302 had a used engine installed into his vehicle. Who knows how that used engine was driven/maintained by the previous owner.