OT: 99 Expedition head gasket issue
 

I'm posting this for my brother in law. He's got a 99 Expedition with 37000 miles on it and noticed a burning smell. Took it into the dealer and they said he needs a new head gasket. Cost for this little operation - $2500. They say the engine needs to be pulled for it to be done. Now there was no milkshake oil or anything, just a burning smell. That's all I've got on the problem, but does this sound right??

Is the sweet burning antifreeze smell coming from the tailpipe or under the hood, If it's from under the hood it's probably a coolant leak most likely from the heater core hoses where they go into the firewall they start to leak there and spray a fine mist of coolant on the exhaust manifold and the #4 coil pack and that causes a rough idle too, replace the wire spring clamps with hose clamps. If the smell is from the tailpipe he's bumming.

Yes, it's not uncommon. Go to F150 Online and you can look up TSB's and recalls. There are TSB's out on it. Also do a search and you'll find quite a few posts about it.

Standard warranty is out but I "think" it's covered by the TSB, although I can't swear by what the TSB says about it. Is it the passenger side?

By the way, most people that have the problem only have just enough to seep and burn a little. Rarely enough to actually drip.

Also, there were 2 issues with certain 4.6 qand 5.4's in that time frame. Head gasket (see TSB 13846) and valve cover gaskets on 4.6 Romeo's (TSB 14846).

Jim is right. They are having a problem with the rear of the cylinder head leaking. Ford should cover it.

Yes they do have a TSB on it but there is no warranty extension per say. He needs to find a dealer that will go to bat for him or ***** to a factory rep long enough and loud enough. One other little ditty for you-part of the TSB states that some of the block decks and/or heads were damaged by metal debris trapped during assembly. If the surface of the block or head is damaged-then the fix is to replace the motor:eek: Also it can be done in the car.

Thanks for all the info guys. I'll pass it along.