Looking for advice on a 2013 Ford F-150

[jspy5]

A couple weeks back I had an issue on the F-150 that I thought was fuel related or a possible fuel pump gone bad. Found out yesterday that it appears the timing belt/chain broke and caused possible engine damage. Short story long is the engine has 137,000 miles on it and the price to replace it with either a used or new one is about $7-8000. To fix the original is upwards of $4000. Keep in mind these totals represent the cost already incurred in towing, replacing fuel pump, etc up to now. I'm curious if anyone can advise me on whether or not to spend the money on new/used engine or take a chance on repairing the old one. Either way a truck that doesn't run is useless but the thought of putting a lot of money in a 6yr old vehicle is a hard pill to swallow. What say ye ?

 

[femurphy77]

What are your plans for the truck if you fix it? Is it paid for? Drive the wheels off of it and get rid of it in 10 or 15 years? You're cost estimates seem extreme to me but I do 99% of my own work. My bigger concern would be why did it fail at such a young age/low mileage? Improper maintenance? Driving it like you stole it? If you're driving/maintenance habits contributed to its demise and you don't owe anything on it just go out and buy a 7 or 8 thousand dollar truck and start over.

Yes spending that kind of money in maintenance and repairs on a 6 year old vehicle is tough to accept but you need to look at the underlying cause before spending any money. JMHO, sorry.

 

[Old Dog]

You have a truck that is only 5 years old, fix the current engine and keep the truck till it dies (assuming everything else is working properly). $4K is only 4 or 5 monthly payments on a new one, maybe 7 or 8 payments on a used one. If the truck goes for a year after the repair, you are at least even, maybe way ahead if it goes several years.

 

[Sigblitz]

Gaskets for the parts you pull off, timing chain and gears, oil change because oil will be full of gas. 1 day labor. You can do it. Shouldn't cost that much. But it is freezing cold.

 

[Biggredchev]

If you have the 3.5 ecoboost engine, this is not all that uncommon and could have been caught prior to failure. They tend to stretch out over time and eventually break in the first generation ecoboost. That being said, if the truck is paid off or close, i would just go ahead and have another engine put in. Its hard to say how extensive the damage really is without opening the engine up, but it could be as bad as valves and pistons meeting and damaging each-other, cylinder walls, cylinder heads, bending connecting rods, and shooting shrapnel out of the turbos (which would damage those as well). If your dealer will give you some sort of warranty on the rebuild and don't mind the time it will take to have it rebuilt then i would consider the option. Also its kind of a roll of the dice when buying a used engine, it could do the same thing in 5000 miles or it could last forever and generally used engines don't come with a warranty. New engines usually have a 3 year 50000 miles warranty (or somewhere in there). If it were mine and i could handle the cost of a new engine, that is exactly what i would do.

i guess

 

[jd4320t]

Dang. Which engine??

 

[Sigblitz]

Non interference engine, fix it. Not that big of a deal.
Interference engine, trash it.

 

[BugI02]

You have a truck that is only 5 years old, fix the current engine and keep the truck till it dies (assuming everything else is working properly). $4K is only 4 or 5 monthly payments on a new one, maybe 7 or 8 payments on a used one. If the truck goes for a year after the repair, you are at least even, maybe way ahead if it goes several years.

THIS^^^ If you're confident the rest of the mechanical systems are good, then why buy into someone elses problems (if you go used) or spend ten times as much (if you go new). Not to mention a quick internet check in my area shows a value on it of $12-20000 depending on model and condition, so you're out most of that if you just junk it

The big question for me would be how much confidence your chosen shop would inspire in the repaired engine

 

[Thor]

We have an '97 F 150. Got it from my dad who had garaged it for a decade or more. My son drives it to work every day. We put about $4k into updating it a couple of months ago but that's still way short of a comparable vehicle. YMMV

Also, the guys at the shop noted that it was a darn solid truck.

 

[thunderchicken]

What engine is in the truck? 4k would be a whole lot better than dropping 7-8k for a new engine. However it still depends as someone else mentioned if its an interference engine...which likely would have serious internal damage from valves hitting pistons.

 

[jinks]

You could purchase a Jasper rebuilt engine with an installation kit (all the maintenance parts). The Jasper engines have a 3 year - 100,000 mile warranty.

https://www.jasperengines.com/

 

[bwframe]

Are there other factory engine options for that model year? Would they be better option for a longer term investment?

 

[Sigblitz]

I believe the eco boosts are interference and the rest not. Both have a 200,000 mile timing chain. Me having a Ford truck non interference engine, I would just do the work and replace the chain. I've done it before and it's actually pretty easy. Drain oil. Recover antifreeze in an under the bed storage container. Trans cooler hose has the push in thing to unlock it from the radiator. Keep pulling parts till you get down to it. Number 1 at TTC, pull the old gears and install the new ones with arrows touching. Go get some oil and gaskets. I did a diesel fire truck once and the pan was full of diesel, then I was full of diesel. Oil may come out fast.

 

[Sigblitz]

You could purchase a Jasper rebuilt engine with an installation kit (all the maintenance parts). The Jasper engines have a 3 year - 100,000 mile warranty.

https://www.jasperengines.com/

Good company. We used to use their rolling dynos back in high school after 5 until they put the brakes on it.

 

[CHCRandy]

I would get a hold of Bill Bryant down in Mooresville at Bryant's Auto repair. He is a hell of a Ford mechanic and will give you an honest price. I personally would yank the engine myself and take it to him, let him rebuild it...then put it back in myself, but I bet he wouldn't charge a lot more to remove and replace it as well. Them engines sure seem expensive....rebuilding may be best way. He is a small shop, but I swear the guy is a Ford genius!

 

[jspy5]

Thanks for all of the replies guys. I've decided to go ahead with the new engine figuring that to replace the truck isn't possible for the money to replace just the engine. Truck is payed off so for now I'll just suck it up and drive it.
I will keep the suggestion of Bryant's Auto repair in mind. If I had known this earlier I may have used him since the truck broke down in Mooresville.

 

[1DOWN4UP]

Car-Part.com - Used Auto Parts Market . I would recommend Jasper over a factory Ford Replacement.

 

[femurphy77]

Thanks for all of the replies guys. I've decided to go ahead with the new engine figuring that to replace the truck isn't possible for the money to replace just the engine. Truck is payed off so for now I'll just suck it up and drive it.
I will keep the suggestion of Bryant's Auto repair in mind. If I had known this earlier I may have used him since the truck broke down in Mooresville.

If the truck is still in Mooresville, Marino's is an honest mechanic to deal with. We've used him for a couple of things I didn't have time to mess with and he ended up saving us some money. He has an excellent reputation in this area. https://marinosautomotive.com/

 

[w_ADAM_d88]

I'm curious as to what engine also. I've got a 2012 F150 with the 5.0L. Mine only has around 74K miles on it tho.