but if the valves ans pistons hit.....doing a compression test/leak down test will only make **** worse bc timing is off and more **** will hit, id take the chance n believe something is ****ed up before i go and **** more **** up

 

haha well... little too late for that...

I've been running the car for 10 minutes every 2 weeks to keep the motor alive. If something were to **** up because of the timing, it's already done...

 

true...true.....well get it fixed dammit lol tear it apart..let me know waht you find

 

If I were to take off the valve covers, and maybe the heads, and then take some pics of them in detail, would you guys be able to identify anything you see wrong with them?

I'm doing a compression and a leakdown if/when I figure out how to as well.

 

(momentary post *****: all of you replying here, go check out my 4.6 Tech thread about Head Removed: Questions Galore)

[hr]

I got the passenger side head off of my car this afternoon. Is it a pain in the ***? Of course, but it is by no means impossible if you are patient and willing to go through with the process once you start it. I ran into more problems because of frustration than I did with an inability to complete something.

The sounds you are describing though, when your car is running, is there a distict rattle sound coming from the car? I know that the night my car went haywire/whatever it was missing very badly, and I could swear there was a rattle sound present from the front.

I found out that the plug was mashed in again, hit by something, though I'm not sure what. So I can't say what the problem was, but I do know that the next day, after pulling that plug, the car almost drove better. Granted there was the tractor-like sound coming from the open cylinder under the hood, and it was missing/would barely run, but it seemed more stable than before.

I examined the head today with it off of the car, and I still don't know if anything is wrong with the valves/any valve springs. So, as was said above somewhere, just taking off the valve covers will do little to nothing in terms of diagnosing a problem that may be cam/valve related.

I do have a question however for anyone in general. Everyone keeps bringing up the idea of the 'timing chain skipping or jumping teeth." Now, I don't know how likely that is, or how it would happen, but if we suppose that it did happen. Wouldn't the car continually be running with its timing off, therefore making piston to valve contact extremely frequently? You would HAVE to know that something horrendous had happened if that were the case, no?

I don't like being negative, but it just seems like some of the sounds you're describing are more serious than some valve issues, but then again I don't know. Hell, I don't even know what's wrong with my car yet and I have the head sitting in my kitchen floor.

 

Clint,

You're absolutely correct about the timing thing. I thought about the same thing, and thats why I'm almost convinced I don't need to take off the timing cover, because I'm sure nothing has happened in there. If the timing skipped and was hitting the valves, then it wouldn't be able to run at all, let alone shake violently and run like ****. Your problem sounds alot like what I'm going through...I'm going to try and pull the COP on the #3 plug, the one that blew, and also disconnect the injector,and try to run the car...I want to see how if will run on 7 cylinders. If it's just as shaky and violent, maybe I can isolate the problem better, but if it runs a little smoother, then I'm almost SURE it bent that valve, or popped that spring...

yeah, somebody told me their explorer did the same thing as mine, and it ended up being the valve spring was knocked out of place. I mean that would kinda make sense wouldn't it????

any thoughts?

 

Get a compression test done. That will determine if the cylinder is holding pressure. you are just guessing at the moment as too what it can be. If the valves were hitting, the motor would have stopped running a long time ago. Get some of the basic tests done and then you will be able to isolate the problem much more accurately.

You know this could end up being something really stupid like a rag caught up in the valvetrain

 

You should be able to find an extension fitting just like with any tool. Check with Napa, they tend tocarry some specialty tools you won't find at most other auto parts stores.

With the test at least you'll be able to isolate which side and cylinder of the engine.

 

NAPA dpes have the tool, it fits 14mm spark plugs and goes about an inch deep. Their part number is 2428 and it goes for about 40 bucks, unfortunately you cant buy the extension seperately. Goodluck

 

Okay, I have an extremely interesting update to let you guys know.

I'm not postwhoring either, but perhaps this could be of some interest to anyone that might want to know.

Took the head in and they did a test. Cylinder #3 was 100% fine, in fact, it read better than any of the other cylinders, likely that some debris *dirt or dog hair* was in the other cylinders , but that doesnt matter.

The head says 5.4 Regular Duty, then 06/08/99... and the funny thing is the tag on the door says June of '99...wouldnt that make my '99 a VERY LATE car in the model year? Has anyone heard of using 5.4 heads FROM FORD in their Mustang?

Not that this all matters, what I think i've concluded is that I had no bent valve, I had no valve float, nothing....the plug blew out the first time due to the crappy thread/my own installation of the plugs, and from then on, the next issue that happened was because the helicoil was not 100% perfect..... its a miniscule amount too deep, and perhaps thats causing the plug to get hit by the piston....