Plastic in the engine?

bretferd · May 8, 2014

One of my dads work trucks had blown head gaskets and it just started having coolant blow out of the degas yesterday. So he called a shop and they said they would do the head gaskets, arps, egr delete, and all the updated parts for $3800. I told him make sure it has water in it and drive it to the shop. Well I guess it got to hot and shut off and wouldn't start back up. So he had it towed to the shop. Today they called and said that the engine is toast because there is plastic pieces through the hole engine. What plastic pieces could have gone through the hole motor?

backwoodsboy · May 8, 2014

Is it on the oil side, or the coolant side?
Water pump impeller is the first thing that comes to mind...

bretferd · May 8, 2014

He didn't say which side but ya that would make sense. Do you think it would need a new engine because of that though? I'm thinking about pulling it taking it all apart cleaning it very good and just doing all the head gaskets and other things myself.

Mdub707 · May 8, 2014

If it got too hot to the point it shut off, I bet the oil cooler is clogged which caused the headgaskets to blow and oil temp probably soared up over 300* and melted the stand pipe inside of the oil filter housing. Which would mean a new short block would be needed. Worst case scenario, but that'd be my guess.

Radioflyer · May 8, 2014

I would venture to say that your gonna run into more issues along the way....and may be worth it to just drop a new motor in it with the updates and call it good. Warped heads and such come to mind as well if it started melting plastic pieces. If those are out of spec where they can't be machined, your looking at new heads and such along with other things that could've been damaged along the way. Just my .02

Mdub707 said:
If it got too hot to the point it shut off, I bet the oil cooler is clogged which caused the headgaskets to blow and oil temp probably soared up over 300* and melted the stand pipe inside of the oil filter housing. Which would mean a new short block would be needed. Worst case scenario, but that'd be my guess.

That also ^

bretferd · May 8, 2014

Thanks guy for the quick responses. I'll have to check the standpipe. Y'all are probably right about putting in another motor. So does anybody have a good used engine?

backwoodsboy · May 8, 2014

If the plastic melted, my gut tells me you are better off swapping in a new engine. Or a used engine and doing the updates prior to swapping it.
If the impeller grenaded and sent chunks through the engine you may be able to get by rebuilding it.
The fact that it got hot enough to shut down and not restart tells me either way you are probably looking at a short block. When oil gets that hot and thin there isn't much lubrication going on.

backwoodsboy · May 8, 2014

PM airfish on here if you are looking for a good used engine. He seems to have engines fairly regularly.

Radioflyer · May 8, 2014

Idk about used motors but I can get you a long block with all the dressings and more for a decent price. Let me know if ya want a quote.

bretferd · May 8, 2014

Ya I pm'ed him earlier today. Still waiting on a response back.

sootie · May 8, 2014

bretferd said:
Thanks guy for the quick responses. I'll have to check the standpipe. Y'all are probably right about putting in another motor. So does anybody have a good used engine?

i have one...pm me

webb06 · May 8, 2014

Mdub707 said:
If it got too hot to the point it shut off, I bet the oil cooler is clogged which caused the headgaskets to blow and oil temp probably soared up over 300* and melted the stand pipe inside of the oil filter housing. Which would mean a new short block would be needed. Worst case scenario, but that'd be my guess.

Seen this happen. End result was new (used) engine for the customer

suprdzlduty · May 8, 2014

I would look at it myself if I were you. Unless it has high miles and had a lot of blowby, a new engine would not be my first thought. I would like to see the evidence of this said plastic then go from there.

78f100 · May 8, 2014

I can't believe they were gonna stud it and new oil cooler for 3800$ that's cheap

Dave · May 8, 2014

78f100 said:
I can't believe they were gonna stud it and new oil cooler for 3800$ that's cheap

Thats about average. I had mine studded, new oil cooler and bpd water pump put in for 3500 2 years ago

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sootie · May 9, 2014

78f100 said:
I can't believe they were gonna stud it and new oil cooler for 3800$ that's cheap

i get 6ohs studded for 2500 labour & fluids+550 studs+250 oil cooler and gaskets.

Mdub707 · May 9, 2014

The more I think about this... I highly doubt it's the water pump. A ton of guys have found plastic pieces of the water pump in their systems before, without ever overheating. They spin on the shaft sometimes, they crack and fall apart sometimes.... they still don't go to 300* oil temp.

bretferd · May 9, 2014

Yup stand pipe melted.

Going to look at a used motor this evening.

78f100 · May 10, 2014

Dave said:
Thats about average. I had mine studded, new oil cooler and bpd water pump put in for 3500 2 years ago

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sootie said:
i get 6ohs studded for 2500 labour & fluids+550 studs+250 oil cooler and gaskets.

Maybe I'm just expensive then, I am a little cheaper than everyone else around here. Labor does work out to about 2500 for me also but ford gaskets, ford oil cooler, arp's, and egr delete work out a good bit more than that. That's the only way we do it though.

bretferd · May 10, 2014

Well I picked up a used long block with 91k miles for $1000. So pretty good deal. I'm going to get the heads decked, arps, egr delete, and all the updates.

What do y'all think about changing out the lifters? Is it hard to do? Does the cam have to come out to get the branch tubes out?