[pwr strokin]

A friend of mine has a 96 and recently he has had blowby problems. If you removes the oil filler cap or the dipstick, you can actually see and feel the air escaping. He took it to the steelership( They did the 0-rings and replaced an injector) and they now are telling him that they think the head gasket between 5&7 is bad. My questions are, is there a way to tell for sure if the gasket is bad?, and would a strong shot of either be enough to take out a head gasket? The reason I'm wondering is that the guy he bought it from, just recently told him that before he sold it, couldn't get it to start so he fed it a bunch of starting fluid. From what he said, he got enough of a pop out of it to feel it out of the intake. If it is the head gaskets, how hard are they to change out and how much money is he looking at? Also is there anything else he should consider or do while at this stage?
Thanks in advance
Don

 

[Partsman]

Is it running bad? If not drive it and see how it does. Yes either could do it.

 

[pwr strokin]

Yea it's running kind of crappy.I think that it's not wanting to start too. I dont know how bad as I have not been in it. From what he has said, it is smoking and using a lot of oil. He made a run to Nebraska and it used over a gallon of oil there and back. I think that Ford either did not change all the o-rings or damaged some of them putting the injectors back in and now may be covering their butts by saying that he has a head gasket failing.That is why I was wondering if there was any way to check their story out. It does make sense to me the if you stick enought ether into the motor and ignite it that you could hurt the gasket though.
Don

 

[Partsman]

I guess I would pull the fuel filter and see if its black. If it is they probably just changed one bank of o-rings or screwed one up. Then I would pull the VCs and see if all the jectors were spitting the same amount of oil and look for the one jector that says reman on it. If you don't find reman one on, somethings fishy.

 

[gw66]

injectors also have internal o-rings that fail,the only way to fix that is to replace the injector.

 

[pwr strokin]

What will checking the fuel filter do? They turn dark fairly quick don't they? I hadn't thought about loooking for "reman" on the injector. That may be as good a place to start as any.I have never ran mine with the valve covers off, should they put out a lot of oil or a little? Thanx for the input, I'll pass this on to my buddy tomorrow morning.
Don

 

[arizonaonion]

It's not the filter, it's the color of the fuel you want to look at. If the fuel looks darker than it came out of the pump, one or more O-rings are leaking.

Bill

 

[fourhatz]

Two tests would need to be done, a blow-by test and than a compression test. Blow-by is gases getting by the piston rings. A head gasket failure will not cause blow-by as the piston rings are still tight and sealing. It will cause low compression and to run bad though. I think some further diagnosing is needed.