> I wanted to the collective wisdom of the list to answer a
> question about
> my friends 1997 Ford Windstar. He has apparently blown the head
> gasket and was
> told by the dealer that since water has gotten into the engine the engine
> needs to be replaced. The car ran when it went in and, while it was
> overheating, it was running with no blue smoke. My experience has
> been that
> repairing the head gasket and flushing the engine oil a few times
> would get
> him back on the road, but the dealer says no, he needs a new
> engine. Does this
> sound right?
Bob, I agree that most likely just changing the gasket (and addressing the
root cause of the gasket blowing, whatever that is) would be enough.
However, I would guess that the dealer would not warranty the engine after
just changing the gasket, while they should warranty an exchange engine. It
also conveniently ducks the root cause of the blown gasket in the first
place. I've no idea what motor would be in a 97 Windstar, but a warped head
on an OHC engine can be a major problem to fix right, especially if the head
is aluminum alloy. The labor costs if the head has to be skimmed and line
bored may make the engine exchange cheaper, too.
Plus there's the issue that it takes more than just ordinary mechanical
skills and care to successfully assemble an engine ... I'm not sure I'd
trust a dealer's grease monkey to do it right.
Randall
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