Help Cleaning engine components and Cylinder heads

Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

damojocon

New Member
Joined
Mar 14, 2014
Posts
3
Reaction score
0
Location
Houston, TX
I have a 2000 Ford Expedition 5.4L and I am doing a top end rebuild by myself due to blown head gaskets. I have 195K on the engine and I bought it fairly recently so I have no idea of past maintenance or upkeep. I am going to be replacing the head gaskets, plugs, igniters, and all the gaskets I come across. As I'm pulling things off i'm coming to realizing that the head gaskets were not the main problem. The entire throttle body is clogged up, the iac is pretty bad, and generally my engine is just terribly dirty. I've used TB cleaner and gotten the TB cleaned up pretty good and I used some TB cleaner on the iac as well.

My question is what can I use to clean the TB to factory condition, like no carbon buildup at all.
Also, how do I clean the egr? Everyone says it needs to be cleaned, but I don't know how.
I have the fuel injectors removed, is there anyway to clean them outside of the engine?
The entire Intake manifold is disgusting and I've used some brake cleaner, but it doesn't seem to be making a huge difference. What can I clean it with?

I am obviously going to have the heads machined flat, but they need to be cleaned thoroughly as well. I don't have a huge budget so I would like to clean it myself. Is this a plausible thing to do and what would I be using to clean it?

Is there a good concentrated solvent that I can dilute in a bucket and soak bolts and various smaller parts in?

I pulled my coolant crossover off and it, along with the rest of my coolant system is ridiculously dirty and almost rusty looking. Is there something I can do while the engine is dismantled or should I just do a coolant flush once its reassembled.

Is there anything else that I can/should clean while I have everything torn down? Anything that is common to break or deteriorate? I'm almost at 200k so should I be doing the 200k routine maintenance as well?

Sorry for all the questions, but i'm trying to do this right so that I don't have to do it again. Thanks everybody!
 

stamp11127

Full Access Members
Joined
Mar 10, 2012
Posts
6,218
Reaction score
1,250
Location
Temple, Georgia
Welcome to the forum. I like people whom aren't afraid to tackle work they haven't done before.
Get a book on engine rebuilding - and I mean a good one. What you will get from it is "good standard practices" on doing this type of work. Let me know if you want a few recommendations.

1) Use throttle body cleaner to clean the throttle body
2) Replace the egr valve and clean the egr passages- don't waste time
3) Replace the IAC - don't waste time
4) Clean the engine with Gunk Engine Cleaner or have it steam cleaned
5) The machine shop will hot tank the heads - just do a half decent cleanup
6) Berryman has a 1 gallon parts cleaning solution that is safe for plastics
7) Change serp belt, idler pulley bearings, tensioner, rad hoses, water pump, t-stat.
8) If the radiator is original I would replace that also
9) Use new grade 5 or 8 bolts/studs on exhaust manifolds
10) If you plan on keeping it I would also consider "Timeserting" the spark plug holes while the heads are at the machine shop.
11) With 200,000 miles I would also change the timing chains and guides

Your also going to need a good quality torque wrench.

Tom will be able to answer this - are the head bolts TTY? If they are you will need a new set of head bolts.

If you haven't torn the engine down I would do a compression check to determine if an engine that has 200,000 miles is worth investing in just upper end work.

You may think that the above list is overkill - but every man made product has a life span. If they are original then they are on their last leg.
 
Last edited:
Top