Showdown with the Thunderbird

[amdforever2]

A haynes manual in my left hand, the part and tools in my right, I stare down my thunderbird from across the sidewalk.


The Thunderbird glares back, knowing it can do little with bad head gaskets and warped cylinder heads.


Can I take it? Should I attempt to fix it on my own?

It's this or $900 to a mechanic. Even then the mechanic can't tell me if I have cracked block until after the head gasket repair.

*sigh*

 

[geno]

Do it dude! take your time! You'll be happy you did this yourself in the long run

did I mention take your time? good luck!

 

[Warthog912]

warped cylinder heads

I think my Thunder-chicken shares the same problem
Oh well it'll die one day.

 

[amdforever2]

I'm kinda worried.

I have zero car mechanical experience.

I'm told fuel lines and fuel injectors and EVERYTHING must be removed from the engine before I get to the gaskets.

 

[T2T III]

Which year is the T-Bird? V-6? V-8?

 

[T2T III]

I have zero car mechanical experience.

:Q :Q :Q :Q :Q

I'm told fuel lines and fuel injectors and EVERYTHING must be removed from the engine before I get to the gaskets.

Make sure you re-read the section on de-pressurizing the fuel system before starting your work.

Is the car worth $900 to you? If so, you might consider having a mechanic do the work. Also, consider your time. Are you a professional person that makes $50 per hour? If so, clearly you shouldn't be spending 15 hours doing mechanical work when you could be doing work in your area of specialty and then paying the mechanic. Plus, if the mechanic determines that the block is bad, you won't have to pay $900. You'll have to pay him/her for the cost of tearing apart your engine - but, if the block is bad, you can salvage the car at the point. The tear-apart work should not consume more than $250 - $300.

 

[crab]

V6

amd, go on AIM pls

 

[FrustratedUser]

I was facing a similar problem last year but I onlu had a bad intake manifold.
Fixed it myself without any experience. You can do it but take it slow and mark every cable there is.
Be careful with the fuel lines.

Saved me $1000

 

[Tominator]

If the car is in above average shape and you want to keep it, I'd recommend a rebuilt motor. It would be easier to do that than replace the warped heads imho. Plus, you may have ruined more than the heads and THAT would no be evident until you started it up later and found little or no compression.

 

[amdforever2]

This is what I was told tominator.

They can fix headgaskets for $900 and resurface cylinder heads included in $900, but they won't know if it's fixed until they start it up after that. Until they start it up after that they won't know if there is cracked block or other problems.

Rebuilt motors is $2000 at Advance Auto Parts. $1000 installation.

I've already lost $1,150 buying the lemon from a shady individual.

 

[T2T III]

I've already lost $1,150 buying the lemon from a shady individual.

I think the proper advice would be that one should set their emotions aside when buying a vehicle and take their time. Invest $50 and have a mechanic perform a pre-purchase inspection on the vehicle. Plus, a purchaser can get a CarFax report for $15.00 - or, unlimited reports for a limited period of time for $20.00. Sure, CarFax is not the "end all, be all" of reports. However, CarFax will tell you if a vehicle was ever a rental car -- and probably beat into the ground during the first 25,000 miles of its life.

I think the idea of looking into a rebuilt engine is a good one. If the vehicle is worth it to you, then this might be a good move. Also, you might consider checking with local junk-yards to see what their supply of engines look like. You might find a good, used engine with lower miles for $500 - $600. Then, you just need to pay someone $1,000 to get it installed.

 

[amdforever2]

I did carfax it, I didn't inspect it, and with the symptom it was having, the only way to isolate the problem would have taken more than a $50 glance.

Again, a remanufactured engine is $2000 + $1000 installation.

That is huge cost. I don't know how much to have mine rebuilt, if it is even rebuildable.

 

[T2T III]

I did carfax it, I didn't inspect it, and with the symptom it was having, the only way to isolate the problem would have taken more than a $50 glance.

Yeah, but sometimes a mechanic's $50 inspection will spot some obvious issues that a buyer could over-look. Plus, they'll usually give you their opinion which is worth more than $50 because they see patters with certain vehicles. For example, I was just talking with a mechanic this past week that mentioned transmissions on Ford Contour and Dodge Intrepid vehicles are some things to watch out for.

Read through my previous post where I suggested checking with a local salvage yard on used motors.

 

[amdforever2]

The head gasket issue is a common problem with Thunderbird motors.

A salvage yard motor is bad, because bad head gaskets are the main reason Thunderbird's go to the junk yard.

 

[thedarkwolf]

Originally posted by: amdforever2
The head gasket issue is a common problem with Thunderbird motors.

A salvage yard motor is bad, because bad head gaskets are the main reason Thunderbird's go to the junk yard.

3.8l thurbirds suck the 4.6l ones are fine.

 

[T2T III]

Originally posted by: amdforever2
The head gasket issue is a common problem with Thunderbird motors.

A salvage yard motor is bad, because bad head gaskets are the main reason Thunderbird's go to the junk yard.

Actually, some of the motors in the salvage yards could come from vehicles that have been in accidents and the cars have been determined "totaled" by the insurance companies.

 

[notfred]

Here's some encouragement:

Ford motor before starting working.

Ford motor taken far enough apart to replace the headgaskets.

Compare the location of the AC lines (2 lines connected to the big shiny thing at the bottom left of the second pic), and you'll see roughly how much stuff you have to take apart.

And then you have to put it all back together again.

 

[amdforever2]

*decides mechanic is best*


Anyone know the approximate temperature needed to crack an iron block?