GregH Posted September 7, 2006 Share Posted September 7, 2006 I've been assigned to an 04 f-250 with a repeat headgasket failure. The owner abuses the truck, and it is equipped with a 120hp programmer. It is repeatedly overloaded and pulls excessive weight at high speed. Classic case for warranty denial, but I'm in a tight spot. Management says fix it under warranty, and I like this dealer enough to do what they wish. My question is what can I do to this truck to make it stand up to higher than rated loads? I don't want to re-engineer the truck, but I had thought about putting in customer-supplied head studs and getting a quote on having fire rings added to it. Management will stand behind the modifications and cover my ass, as long as the modifications will fix his problems. I know that I'm in the right if I raise a red flag with Ford. But this dealer has been very good to me (see my post about moving to a new dealer under the water cooler forum) and this isn't a deal breaker. I've resigned myself to repairing it under warranty - I'm just trying to get a little more life out of the truck. So what do you think? Headstuds? Fire rings? Something else? Thanks for the input. -Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Browning Posted September 8, 2006 Share Posted September 8, 2006 The last line of your signature says it well. Quote: "Customer expectations exceed design limits." After we get done laughing about that we might think about just how true that is. You might try hinting to the guy that he should consider going 1 class higher in truck next time around. Until then, I have read that head studs and fire rings are effective but I have no experience. Of course you realize that once you, your dealer and the customer agree to go that route you own it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joey Kaylor Posted September 8, 2006 Share Posted September 8, 2006 just make sure you get a good machine shop to cut the heads for fire rings! ARP studs will work well, but i think there is a different torque spec on them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Warman Posted September 8, 2006 Share Posted September 8, 2006 Fire rings work... the ARP studs come with a torque procedure... and special goo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mekanik Posted September 12, 2006 Share Posted September 12, 2006 What exactly are fire rings? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joey Kaylor Posted September 14, 2006 Share Posted September 14, 2006 fire rings are stainless, copper, brass, or steel O rings that are installed into a groove cut into the head or block. they are what seals the compression in the cylinder. most head gaskets have a small steel ring that is part of the gasket. these are seperate from the head gaskets, and seal the compression. we run a few of them on high boost gas engines, usually anything over 20psi on race engines gets them around here. the B series cummins usually get them when they are running sequential turbos in the 60-90psi range. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOLEMAN Posted September 27, 2006 Share Posted September 27, 2006 USE THE FIRE RINGS THE HEAD BOLTS TORQUE BETTER THAN STUDS BEEN THROUGH THIS HAVE ONE WITH 30 PSI BOOST AND 220 SHOT OF NITRIOUS THIS IS NOT UNDER WARRANTY OF COURSE AND THE SPECIAL GOO IS ANTI-SEEZE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turbonotch Posted November 4, 2006 Share Posted November 4, 2006 I've installed hypermax head gaskets with fire rings along with ARP heads studs. No problems so far, even with a 100 shot of nitrous. The heads did not need to get machined for these gaskets, but hypermax does offer another set of gaskets that require machining to the heads. The special goo is ARP moly lube. ARP wants the studs torqued to 245 ft. lbs. with their moly lube. Are the heads warped ? Is the deck of the block flat? What programmer does the customer have? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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