4.0 Head gasket, drive belt, radiator hose, thermostat replacement

MooDib · #1 08-27-2011, 03:24 PM

Hey guys, I am getting ready to do a general overhaul on my seals and various engine items. While I have everything apart is there anything you would suggest I get or do? What I am replacing so far is the head gasket (with a Fel Pro head gasket set), drive belt (multi-rib serpentine belt from motorcraft), upper and lower radiator hoses (from Gates and Dayco with braided hose sleeves from Mr. Gasket), and a new thermostat (190 degrees from Motorcraft). Once all the items come in I will hopefully be done in one weekend and then I will post pictures.

MooDib · #2 09-02-2011, 03:49 PM

I guess nobody has anything else. I will be starting the tear down tonight and will hopefully post pics sometime next week.

djfllmn · #3 09-02-2011, 03:51 PM

damn how many miles are on your truck...i also didnt see anything about the valve cover gaskets

94mtx · #4 09-02-2011, 03:57 PM

The Felpro kit comes with a valve cover gasket.

Don't forget the timing belt and timing tensioner!

MooDib · #5 09-02-2011, 04:22 PM

The timing belt in the 4.0 is a chain so I figured it wouldn't need to be replaced.

94mtx · #6 09-02-2011, 05:04 PM

Chains wear out too. How many miles u pushin?

MooDib · #7 09-02-2011, 08:25 PM

About 117k.

94mtx · #8 09-02-2011, 08:26 PM

I'd do the chain if it's never been replaced before.

MooDib · #9 09-03-2011, 06:36 PM

Ok, so I tore most of the engine apart today but then I realized according to my Haynes manual I either need a special valve spring compressor tool to remove the rocker arms or I need to remove the engine to take off the cam shaft. I thought I had seen threads on here of people replacing the gasket and not needing to remove the engine. Is my Haynes manual wrong, is there another tool I can use, or is it just that everyone buys the special tool?

MooDib · #10 09-05-2011, 11:22 AM

Well I couldn't find the tool needed to let me get to the head gasket so I just stopped at the cam and rockers since I didn't want to take the engine out. However I think I found out where I was leaking coolant, but it was from the thermostat housing. Since when I took it apart to reseal it I saw there were cracks in the plastic I need to order a new upper and lower which will take several days

Ocarla99 · #11 09-05-2011, 05:12 PM

my truck has 158k on it and the only major seals i have done are upper and lower intake,valve covers and thermostat. replacing the timming chain seems a little over kill.

pooleo · #12 09-05-2011, 05:18 PM

errr, you only doing one chain? there is a chain in the rear. I do believe the motor has to be pulled to access the rear chain. It might not be a good idea to replace just one. Ya know, cams might start turning different, one worn out chain, one fresh one. ???

RLong31 · #13 09-05-2011, 05:25 PM

All that work for a coolant leak? Wouldn't it have been wise to find the source of the leak.. fix that... and save the overhaul for when it needs it?

MooDib · #14 09-05-2011, 07:25 PM

I wasn't planning on changing the timing chains, just for the reason that I would have to pull the engine to get to the rear ones and they should also last a lot longer than 117k miles. As for the coolant leak, I had tried locating the source and thought it was the head gasket. When it first started leaking it was dripping down the back of the engine. I couldn't get a good view of where it was coming from, but it looked like the head gasket. I didn't have time to fix it so I added stop leak and decided to get to it later. After pulling stuff apart I noticed the thermostat housing had the brown stop leak dried to it and the top of the engine block was covered with coolant. I guess it was leaking out the back of the thermostat housing, over the engine, and down the back.

Jeremy C, · #15 02-19-2012, 05:26 PM

I have a question when you reolaced the head gaskets did you have to mess with any of the timing or did you just change out the gaskets and put it all back to gather