2015- 4.6L (E-250) Right Cylinder Head @ 30,000km

the_twig_187 · July 17, 2015

so I lost about half a weeks pay on the most recent trip down warranty lane

I had a 2015 E-250 with 30,00km and a very loud tapping noise coming out of the right side cylinder head. I removed the engine from the chassis and also removed both valve covers to inspect the cam bearing caps. I ended up finding a very small piece of silicone had wedged itself in the oil feed/restriction passage in the right side cam bearing cap. this starved the cam of oil and eventually the cam made contact with the bearings sending little metal flakes everywhere.

warranty paid 14.8hrs with all the diag and it took me about 30hrs to complete the entire job and have the truck out the door.

here are some pics... in the last picture you will see the piece of silicone in the little passageway just between the top and middle cam bolts

the_twig_187 · July 17, 2015

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tonybullitt · July 18, 2015

Nice find. Nice pictures. I still do all 4.6 5.4 and 6.8 E series head jobs in chassis. I use the cylinder head lifting brackets like old shop manuals shown. If you look up a 98 e150 it shows the in chassis procedure. I think 99 paper manuals showed in chassis but then they updated during the year to engine removal.

Lifting Handles303-572 (T97T-6000-A)

forddieseldoctor · July 18, 2015

Nice. I got good at ripping the motors out to do valve seals. I've done head gaskets on one side in chassis, but I think if I had to do both sides it would come out.

the_twig_187 · July 18, 2015

Valve stem seals? Was that not a TSB?

forddieseldoctor · July 19, 2015

Yeah it is. I've done 4 sets in the last 6 or 8 months. 2 of them were customer pay. We have seen it on a year or two older ones than what the tsb shows.

Keith Browning · July 22, 2015

Actually, pulling these engines is not all that bad in my opinion. Maybe its because we did so many of them in the past they seem to just come apart easier not to mention the front end has a LOT fewer parts to remove to open up the front. Anyone that has pulled an engine on an 80's or early 90's Econoline knows what I mean. Knock on wood it's been a while since I have had one out. A LOT of the local bus and ambulance fleets went back to gas engines a while ago even though 6.0L engines were still available. I just wish we knew why so many modular engines were losing the top ends.

cbriggs · July 23, 2015

My theory on that Kieth is a combination of blown out tensioner gaskets and too low of idle speed. Oil starvation to the top end at hot idle. Ever notice what happens to hot idle oil pressure when you bump the idle up to 7 or 800. I wish there were accessable pressure taps on the heads to prove it.

I think on an e series one could tap into the back of the rh head, where the tensioner oil feed is, but on f-series it would be almost impossible.

the_twig_187 · July 23, 2015

yes Brigs...the heads are interchangeable so you have a tensioner oil port on both the front and rear of the head. there is a 6mm Allen plug on the back side of the head which can be removed for testing. I used this port to inject fresh oil to prime the engine before reinstalling it.

cbriggs · July 24, 2015

Yes and always remember to transfer the plug to the new ford head, as they don't install them. Years ago a guy at our shop put a rh head on a lightning, and didn't notice that plug was not in. Holy f*&cking mess. He somehow managed to get the plug in without pulling it back apart. I put a head on an 08 f-150 4.6 the other day and I still remembered to look, and nope, it wasn't there.

lmorris · July 24, 2015

Yes and always remember to transfer the plug to the new ford head, as they don't install them. Years ago a guy at our shop put a rh head on a lightning, and didn't notice that plug was not in. Holy f*&cking mess. He somehow managed to get the plug in without pulling it back apart. I put a head on an 08 f-150 4.6 the other day and I still remembered to look, and nope, it wasn't there.

:haha2: :crazy: :poke: :boink: :twack: :hahaha: :facepalm: :banghead: I am allowed to laugh and poke fun at this because I have done that myself.

mchan68 · July 24, 2015

Me too.

ktmlew · July 24, 2015

Me too.

Me three.

Keith Browning · July 24, 2015

Me four. Its a stupid but easy mistake. Make a mess and that cool squirting ketchup out of the bottle sound don't it?

amailloux · July 25, 2015

Me 5 on a v10 excursion.

cbriggs · July 25, 2015

They should put a big fluorescent pink sheet in there with a reminder to transfer it. I can't understand why they would leave it out, all the other plugs are installed, and they know what side the head is going on, as the cam is already installed.

Aaron · July 26, 2015

Did you clean the metal contamination out of the rest of the motor?

the_twig_187 · July 26, 2015

yes I changed the oil pump, oil pickup tube, chain tensioners and I flushed the engine with 4L of clean engine oil before re-assembling and re-installing it. there was only very small traces of metal particles from the cam caps that scored. there was no chunks of metal found.

I wanted to put a long block in it just to be on the safe side but the shop foreman wouldn't let me and said it would be an "over repair" so my hands were tied and I just replaced the right side head and cleaned as much as I could.