06 needs new engine. Reman, or used?

[lacofdfireman]

I recently bought a 06 Mustang GT and stupid me didn’t compression check the engine because the compression tester we rented won’t fit down far enough to screw into the spark plug hole so bought it anyways. Well after about 50 miles I got a check engine light and thought for sure it was just a vacuum leak or something but could never find one. Finally was able to compression check it and found cylinder 1 had no compression. Weird thing is I couldn’t really hear it at idle but I’d did kinda feel a little low on power driving it but never really hear a miss. Pulled the valve cover and the retainer and spring were just sitting under the cover not in their right place. Took my bore scope and looked into the cylinder and you can see the must be bent and just sitting there at the top of the cylinder. Also my Ford racing hot cam is scared on one of the lobe’s. So now I’m gotta replace my engine.

Current engine is at 127k miles. Wondering if I should replace with another engine with around the same miles as mine or if I should consider a reman engine. I don’t want to be into this for any more than another $4k or so at this point. No interest at all doing a Coyote swap. I wanna stick with the 4.6l 3V. This is just a fun car for me. HPDE track days and drive around town once in awhile. It’s not a daily for me. So in your opinion what’s the best smartest use of my money. I would like to cam the new engine again and I believe that will void any warranty. Not sure if i wanna go with the Ford Hot cams again or maybe a Detroit. But for sure something that will work with the stock springs.

Any input appreciated. Hoping to keep my engine I pull out and rebuild over time as a spare.

 

[Dino Dino Bambino]

I don't think you need to go as far as replacing the whole engine. Even if you get a used replacement engine, you'd be playing Russian roulette with it anyway.

I suggest you pull the passenger side cylinder head, replace the bent intake valve, replace the cams, replace all 24 cam followers/lash adjusters, and you'd be good to go again. The cam followers are known to go bad on these engines at some point and it looks like one of yours seized altogether. You were actually lucky not to have catastrophic engine damage. You may find the two valve keepers sitting in the bottom of the oil pan.

It's up to you if you want to add a timing job and new oil pump to the job list but judging by how clean the engine is inside, someone has clearly maintained it well.

 

[lacofdfireman]

I don't think you need to go as far as replacing the whole engine. Even if you get a used replacement engine, you'd be playing Russian roulette with it anyway.
I suggest you pull the passenger side cylinder head, replace the bent intake valve, replace the cams, replace all 24 cam followers/lash adjusters, and you'd be good to go again.
It's up to you if you want to add a timing job and new oil pump to the job list but judging by how clean the engine is inside, someone has clearly maintained it well.

Only bummer is I couldn’t find all the metal pieces (valve keepers) and not sure where they ended up. They could have fallen into the oil pan but not sure.

 

[moooosestang]

so you bought the car and it was running fine. Installed a cam and then had a failure? Just trying to get the timeline right. I agree on pulling that head. Pull the pan too. Seems crazy to replace the engine when all you might need is a new valve and obviously new cams. do the hot rod cams not require new springs? Get detroit rocker cams. Those don't need new anything.

 

[TexasBlownV8]

I agree with Dino; pull the head before determining what needs to be replaced. If the cylinder is ok, and if you're lucky and the piston is ok, then it's just a matter of head work, or worst case, replacement of the one head.
Replace the front timing components at the same time.
It might be easier to pull the engine and find any missing valve keepers or pieces.

As far as cause of the issue, probably related to the cam work. Is there a limiter or lockout installed? Doesn't hotrods require limiters, if they're not vsr's?

You don't want to repeat the problem after repairs are made!

 

[DieHarder]

Only bummer is I couldn’t find all the metal pieces (valve keepers) and not sure where they ended up. They could have fallen into the oil pan but not sure.

Pull the pan. Easier than pulling the engine.

 

[lacofdfireman]

so you bought the car and it was running fine. Installed a cam and then had a failure? Just trying to get the timeline right. I agree on pulling that head. Pull the pan too. Seems crazy to replace the engine when all you might need is a new valve and obviously new cams. do the hot rod cams not require new springs? Get detroit rocker cams. Those don't need new anything.

I bought the car with everything already done to it. The cam’s have been in it for 40k plus miles. Car was built for the track and then sold to his brother in law who owned it for 2 years but only had maybe 6k miles put on it in those 2 years and according to thr guy I bought it from his teenage son mostly drove it. They were selling it to get more money for a down payment on a house.

The Ford Racing hot cams are built to run with the stock springs. The Detroit rockers are also built for stock springs but I believe it’s a more mellow cam than the Hot cams.

Theory is most likely it had a money rev done to it and bent the cam. I’ve only owned the car for less than a month. I believe it was bent before I bought it but I truly believe the previous owner did not know. Previous owner has also stated he will help pay for the new engine which I declined. This is all on me for not doing a thorough pre buy inspection. So I’ll eat the costs.

Bought this car as just a fun car for me. Won’t be a daily and planning just having fun at the track on HPDE track days. It has like $10k or so in track mods done to it. I don’t need a super charged motor just something fun to pull me around the track. Half tempted to not even cam it again but it’s been tuned for a cam so figured I’d just put one back in so I can use the same tune.

 

[lacofdfireman]

I agree with Dino; pull the head before determining what needs to be replaced. If the cylinder is ok, and if you're lucky and the piston is ok, then it's just a matter of head work, or worst case, replacement of the one head.
Replace the front timing components at the same time.
It might be easier to pull the engine and find any missing valve keepers or pieces.

As far as cause of the issue, probably related to the cam work. Is there a limiter or lockout installed? Doesn't hotrods require limiters, if they're not vsr's?

You don't want to repeat the problem after repairs are made!

Agree 100% with what you’ve said. Don’t want to repeat the problem again. The Ford racing Hot cams are built for the stock 4.6l and using with stock springs.

 

[lacofdfireman]

I agree with Dino; pull the head before determining what needs to be replaced. If the cylinder is ok, and if you're lucky and the piston is ok, then it's just a matter of head work, or worst case, replacement of the one head.
Replace the front timing components at the same time.
It might be easier to pull the engine and find any missing valve keepers or pieces.

As far as cause of the issue, probably related to the cam work. Is there a limiter or lockout installed? Doesn't hotrods require limiters, if they're not vsr's?

You don't want to repeat the problem after repairs are made!

Are you talking phaser limiter? Or Lockout?

 

[Dino Dino Bambino]

As far as cause of the issue, probably related to the cam work. Is there a limiter or lockout installed? Doesn't hotrods require limiters, if they're not vsr's?

You don't want to repeat the problem after repairs are made!

The Hot Rod cams are considered to be NSR so no springs or phaser limiters/lockouts are required.
I reckon the mode of failure was a seized no.1 intake rocker. It's a known Achilles heel on these engines and it usually begins as a ticking sound. Left unattended for months, the needle bearings will eventually seize and the rocker will eat into the cam lobe. At some point the rocker will break and a flying remnant could take out the valve keepers and the retainer. The OP was very lucky the valve didn't drop into the cylinder otherwise it would have been goodbye engine.
An engine overrev from a money shift would have bent both intake valves in the same cylinder so that seems unlikely.
The OP should drop the oil pan in addition to performing all the work I suggested earlier (including a timing job and new oil pump), as I suspect the valve keepers are probably sitting either in there or inside the oil pump pickup screen. I reckon that for not more than three grand, he could rebuild his engine and it should be reliable enough to last another 100k miles. One other thing I'd suggest while the oil pan is off is to inspect the rod bearings. Since this is a track car, it might be a good idea to upgrade to a road race oil pan to prevent oil starvation during hard cornering.

 

[XJCasper]

After pulling tge oil pan, I would pursue Dinos plan. If it's necessary ro replace the engine? Save up and rebuild it correctly or pick up a reman. I would play any roulette games with a used similar engine without rebuilding.

 

[whitmanink]

i wouldnt put a new valve in that head just yet,, i can guarantee that valve guide is anything but ok, infact ill tell you its not ok,, i would replace that guide or you are risking alot,, i would have the valve guide replaced and obviously a lapp to seat the new valve, you got lucky , mine eat the valve, thats all im here to say lol

 

[short circuit]

For 4K, you could get a used low mile long block.

 

[87rsrjcar]

When I got my 2007 Gt/CS with 218K on it, sounded good cold then rattled like crazy when warmed up found one cam cap bolt broke on drivers side and caps loose on passenger side, and caps worn out, I did timing job and it sounded worse lol, so ended up finding 2010 explorer 4.6 with 52K on it from craigslist, I didn't know this but its an iron block so no worries about broken spark plugs runs great.