My sister's directly quoted answer as to what

[steve20]

happened to my BIL's Ford van?
As background, He bought it new and I think it's an early 2000's model Ford with the 5.4. I'll get the mileage, but I believe it is around 300K-My guess is a cracked head or head gasket

" All I know is that he's been bandaging this thing for almost a year. The week before it died it started making a terrible banging noise it smoked two different times and on the last day it stalled twice about 6 or 7 miles from home and he was able to restart it. Then it died about a mile and a half from home and it gushed water out the exhaust pipe and never started again. They towed it home and there it sits enshrined in our driveway. "

 

[Nick R]

Yup. Head or Head gasket. Only thing that can cause "water gushing out the exhaus tpipe"

 

[Astro14]

Sure, final cause, but the "bandaging it for about a year" is what killed it...unwilling, or unable, to fix it correctly caused a cascade of other problems...

RIP...

 

[PeteTheFarmer]

Maybe the banging sound was from the engine hydrolocking as the failed gasket or head allowed antifreeze into a cylinder.

 

[bullwinkle]

Sounds like scrap time to me! I personally HATE working on full size vans!

 

[NHGUY]

Bet a rod is bent and the piston isnt going to move at all.

 

[CarbonSteel]

Originally Posted By: NHGUY
Bet a rod is bent and the piston isnt going to move at all.

+1

 

[Scorch]

Originally Posted By: 2010_FX4
Originally Posted By: NHGUY
Bet a rod is bent and the piston isnt going to move at all.

+1

 

[01rangerxl]

Sounds like something that could have been prevented a year ago. It definitely sounds like severe overheating and a major HG failure.

These are tough vans too. It apparently did keep going with some kind of problem leading to this for almost a year. If you know a vehicle has a problem, why not fix it before trashing the engine?

 

[440Magnum]

You can only spur a sick horse for so long and not expect it to die under you.

The way people abuse vehicles just amazes me.

 

[440Magnum]

Originally Posted By: PeteTheFarmer
Maybe the banging sound was from the engine hydrolocking as the failed gasket or head allowed antifreeze into a cylinder.


That, or the blow was between two cylinders so that the leakage from one into the other caused massive pre-ignition in the other one during its compression stroke. It can happen if the right two cylinders are involved.

 

[Kestas]

It's time for your BIL to divest himself of the van. If he really cared about the van, he wouldn't have treated it the way he did.

Is your sister hinting at having you repair it?

 

[97f150]

Everyone assumes that he nursed the head problem along for a year because she used the word bandaged, but not pertaining to the current issue. He may have had to change ball joints, exhaust, brakes, and tie rod ends among many many other things that could have broken and went out, this being the only problem where it had to be towed and wont restart. As far as the week prior and the associated troubles, he may have figured on changing out the engine anyway......face it the dang thing does have 300,000 miles on it. I cant say I would have done anything different. $1200 for a head gasket job on a 300,000 mile engine or $3000 more for a new engine.........hmmmmm.

The sister just sounds disgusted that what she views as an old vehicle past its prime that her husband keeps sinking money into. Anytime I fix something on my Ram my wife refers to it as bandaging it, despite what it is.

 

[Jarlaxle]

A guy put over a million miles on a Ford van...it finally dies just short of 1.1 million. Google "million mile van"...I'm afraid to link it here.

 

[NateDN10]

Originally Posted By: Jarlaxle
A guy put over a million miles on a Ford van...it finally dies just short of 1.1 million. Google "million mile van"...I'm afraid to link it here.

It's been linked in the past - a site search will bring it up. But just because one guy did it doesn't mean it's feasible for everyone. 300,000 miles is pretty darn good in my book. Time to get a new van.

 

[Schmoe]

Wonder if he previously had a couple of blown spark plugs. 5.4 of that year are notorious for doing that.

 

[steve20]

Originally Posted By: 97f150
Everyone assumes that he nursed the head problem along for a year because she used the word bandaged, but not pertaining to the current issue. He may have had to change ball joints, exhaust, brakes, and tie rod ends among many many other things that could have broken and went out, this being the only problem where it had to be towed and wont restart. As far as the week prior and the associated troubles, he may have figured on changing out the engine anyway......face it the dang thing does have 300,000 miles on it. I cant say I would have done anything different. $1200 for a head gasket job on a 300,000 mile engine or $3000 more for a new engine.........hmmmmm.

The sister just sounds disgusted that what she views as an old vehicle past its prime that her husband keeps sinking money into. Anytime I fix something on my Ram my wife refers to it as bandaging it, despite what it is.


You hit the nail square on the head dude. I should have provided more detail-the nursing it along was fixing all of the things that normally go wrong in a severe service work van: the usual Ford exhaust manifold crack X 2, A/c, so much rust only the driver's door was not ready to fall off the hinges..... It was the E-250 version and the last time he had it weighed it was somewhere between 7200-7500 lbs. He carries a lot of stuff in it daily. This one has lead a hard life hauling HVAC equipment around since new. Never sat inside a garage a day in its life---in Buffalo. I think it is a HG issue, is there anything which 'typically' goes wrong with the 5.4? It only had 244K, not the 300K miles I thought. Every drop of oil in the crankcase has been M-1 5-30, changed at first every 3K miles, but I did get him to extend it to 5K intervals. I tried many times to get him to switch to PP

 

[steve20]

van has been replaced by a 2001 model-with-ugghhhh the 4.2 V6-only has 34K miles on it, but I predict it will not live anywhere near as long as the 5.4 did. That is a lot of weight to haul around everyday.
Had anyone asked before they bought it, I would have give a big thumbs down on the 6 for that type of duty. Hope it at least has a gutsy rear axle ratio

 

[Jarlaxle]

I have seen LD E250's with 4.2 power used in livery service. They do pretty well, BUT...my worry wouldn't be the engine...it's the light-duty 4R70W transmission.

 

[01rangerxl]

The 4.2 is pretty solid, but like Jarlaxle said that's a lot of weight on a 4R70W. If the van doesn't already have a standalone transmission cooler, I would get one. Maybe an extra capacity deep pan as well.