#7 cyl 85 psi

[QuickSilver]

I took my Marauder in for a check engine light that came on and it was running rough at idle. The light stays on. I was driving a little fast that day. THe car has 92000 miles on it right now ( mostly freeway miles.. have not even had to replace the brake pads yet ).

The dealer said the coil needed to be replaced and did replace it( along with the plug), then discovered the low compression in #7.
He is saying the the head needs to be replaced, but I not sure what diagnostics or checks were done. I will pick it up today and look at the diagnostic report.

I talked to an independent shop and they said they would take a look at it, and said they might be able to repair any valve problem with a time cert, but will have to do their own diagnostics for another $150.

The dealer was saying it would cost 4500 for the head, and reccomended a new engine that would cost 7000 in all....
The dealer is saying that I will face other problems if the head is new and the lower end is old...
I think this is too much money

Has anyone had similar problems ? Any suggestions / Ideas ?

[CBT]

For 7 grand, buy another Marauder.

[Zack]

Sounds like the falling valve seat other members have been plagued with.
Luckily its the drivers head and easily removed (as compared to the other side)

[merc]

The cheapest route is to have a someone replace the head. Used or rebuilt is what I would look at. Spending 7 thousand dollars is putting you into a performance engine. Take your time and survey the options.

[RF Overlord]

The dealer is saying that I will face other problems if the head is new and the lower end is old...Your dealer is either a moron or crooked...or both. One has nothing to do with the other.

[LeoVampire]

Where the lower end of an engine can be hurt when the top end is rebuilt but this is something that happend with older engine's and with high mile's on them and old technology not the newer engine's of today.

But it happend when the entire top end of the engine was rebuilt and the lower end already showed some sign's of wearing out from abuse and improper maintance over the years.

I only sugested to customers to rebuild an entire engine after a full look at everything. Like checking compression on all the cylenders to see where they are at and if nessasary pull the oil pan and take a look at at least 2 set's of bearings to see how the wear and tear on them are.

[Dennis Reinhart]

I took my Marauder in for a check engine light that came on and it was running rough at idle. The light stays on. I was driving a little fast that day. THe car has 92000 miles on it right now ( mostly freeway miles.. have not even had to replace the brake pads yet ).

The dealer said the coil needed to be replaced and did replace it( along with the plug), then discovered the low compression in #7.
He is saying the the head needs to be replaced, but I not sure what diagnostics or checks were done. I will pick it up today and look at the diagnostic report.

I talked to an independent shop and they said they would take a look at it, and said they might be able to repair any valve problem with a time cert, but will have to do their own diagnostics for another $150.

The dealer was saying it would cost 4500 for the head, and reccomended a new engine that would cost 7000 in all....
The dealer is saying that I will face other problems if the head is new and the lower end is old...
I think this is too much money

Has anyone had similar problems ? Any suggestions / Ideas ?



If it is a 03 A it probably is a bad head if its SC it could be a broke ring

[Efren]

I had the same problem with my #8 only getting to 100 PSI and then i would hear the "hiss" of a leak into #7 when checking compression. Thinking it was a head gasket i removed the head, but the gasket was fine. The problem was an exhaust valve was bent, so i got the both valves replaced for 110 including a new head gasket. Before i fixed the problem my check engine light would show Cylinder 8 Missfire Detected and the car would kinda shake at stop lights. Now i feel the full power that my car was holding back!

[Blackmobile]

I took my Marauder in for a check engine light that came on and it was running rough at idle. The light stays on. I was driving a little fast that day. THe car has 92000 miles on it right now ( mostly freeway miles.. have not even had to replace the brake pads yet ).

The dealer said the coil needed to be replaced and did replace it( along with the plug), then discovered the low compression in #7.
He is saying the the head needs to be replaced, but I not sure what diagnostics or checks were done. I will pick it up today and look at the diagnostic report.

I talked to an independent shop and they said they would take a look at it, and said they might be able to repair any valve problem with a time cert, but will have to do their own diagnostics for another $150.

The dealer was saying it would cost 4500 for the head, and reccomended a new engine that would cost 7000 in all....
The dealer is saying that I will face other problems if the head is new and the lower end is old...
I think this is too much money

Has anyone had similar problems ? Any suggestions / Ideas ?

Looks like the dealer was guessing at the problem at first and then when it still acted up they did the compression test, which should have been done in the first place. And for $7000 you can get a built up engine rather than a stock one, so it looks like they are trying to make the morgage payment with your car.

[CKMustangCobra]

Buy a leak-down tester and find the exact problem yourself. It isn't hard to do.

Did you check compression while the engine was cold or hot?

[QuickSilver]

the independent shop is saying that as far as they can tell it is a burnt valve, but they have not pulled the head. They had recommended a leak down test so i am ssuming they did one. On the phone they said their recommendation was to do both heads... which would run about $2750

I am not sure what this insistance with doing both heads is, other than to have them both at the same wear point. They said because the timing belt goes through both heads.

Apparently they do not just replace one valve if there is a problem, they take it to a shop where the "soft" parts on the head are replaced ( i think they were talking about guides and seats )

[CBT]

I just saw 2 complete Marauder engines on e-bay yesterday, both were less than 7 grand. And one was shown running.

[Stranger in the Black Sedan]

The actual repair at a machine shop will only be in the few hundred $ range if it needs a guide or seat replaced. If you can take the head off yourself and bring it to a machine shop, I would do so

[RF Overlord]

They said because the timing belt goes through both heads.You might want to find a different independent shop, too. This motor doesn't have a timing belt, it has chains, and they don't go throught both heads. There's a separate one for each head... :shake:

[QuickSilver]

I talked to the mechanic/owner and he gave me better information than what was left on my voicemail by the woman at the front desk.

he also said that the ford computers don't pick up these type of things very well, he had another customer with a navigator and low compression in two cylinders that had no "check engine" lightcome on. The reason the check engine light came on is because i was doing a little more spirited driving than usual and tha probably cahsed the number of errors to go up hegh enough for the error threshold in the computer to trigger the light to come on.

He also said they have timimg chains on each head.

I cannot pull the head myself, I have no where to do the work, and the marauder is my only vehicle.

I am gong to the shop when they pull the head to look for myself.

[Glockafella]

http://www.fordracingparts.com/parts/part_details.asp?PartKeyField= 6229

For $6,850.00

I am and always will have a ford powertrain warranty...I refuse to have this kinda stuff happen to me without a rental car and a small deductable fix.

[guccijayda]

lol timing belt?:lol: seems like they never even worked on crown vics or grand marquis! Dont even think about letting that shop work on a marauder!!

[torotoy]

My 04 has 87,000 miles bought it new this is my favorite car want to keep forever.

I just got it back from the dealer with an 8% compression loss in # 8, I feel cheated!

My mechanic is good he performed an induction cleaning pre and post leak down test, it was a 12% loss prior to cleaning. He did a bore scope inspection also and I got to see the valves through the scope.

I just read some 2004 posts about the coolant flow problems in the drivers side head and the cooling mod sold by Reinhart Automotive in Florida.

The mechanic showed me the TSB from ford, says to replace head. This stinks IM calling Ford in the morning. Why replace a head for one burned valve? Did Ford change the head design? If I get a new head will this happen again? Would the cooling mod, allowing for better coolant flow through the back of the head, prevented this from happening?

This is crap, it's been known since early 04 that there is not sufficent coolant flow through the back of the divers side head and all ford can do is sell a new head?

[Dennis Reinhart]

My 04 has 87,000 miles bought it new this is my favorite car want to keep forever.

I just got it back from the dealer with an 8% compression loss in # 8, I feel cheated!

My mechanic is good he performed an induction cleaning pre and post leak down test, it was a 12% loss prior to cleaning. He did a bore scope inspection also and I got to see the valves through the scope.

I just read some 2004 posts about the coolant flow problems in the drivers side head and the cooling mod sold by Reinhart Automotive in Florida.

The mechanic showed me the TSB from ford, says to replace head. This stinks IM calling Ford in the morning. Why replace a head for one burned valve? Did Ford change the head design? If I get a new head will this happen again? Would the cooling mod, allowing for better coolant flow through the back of the head, prevented this from happening?

This is crap, it's been known since early 04 that there is not sufficent coolant flow through the back of the divers side head and all ford can do is sell a new head?


Well the TSB is really not for a 04, it was for early 03, please do not loose faith in this car call me I will tell you, exactly what you can do.