TomBoy_and_Intr
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Re: Engine Replacement - 2000 Rexhall with 6.8 V10
Day 13, the birthday of the engine: Saturday night I slept very well knowing the “heavy lifting” part of this adventure was behind us. Toni was not so lucky thinking about the what-ifs. Never the less, we took our time getting around Sunday morning in anticipation of day’s events. We arrived at the shop around 10am. Toni got on the computer to read the final checklist provided by Ford while I took care of a cooperative transmission dipstick which has absolutely no relationship to the *#@% engine oil dipstick. There was a unique calm to the morning, no rushing, no dreaded components that needed attention, just straight forward last minute items to be finished. The previous day we bought anti-freeze from the local parts store. It has been awhile since I’ve worked on engines, so I sought the advice from the guys behind the counter. They was helpful in saying one gallon of anti-freeze should be plenty. I’d like to take a moment to discuss a couple of things. Back in the day when I worked on cars, the parts store guys were a wealth of information. These guys back then always had grease under their nails and knew just about everything when it came to working on a car. I don’t know if it is this particular parts store we frequent during this adventure or if this phenomena is wide spread, but the parts guys we dealt with was basically clueless. I guess now they just teach them to read the computer screen and not think outside the box. And they all seemed to have clean nails also. Don’t get me wrong, the parts guys were friendly on each of our visits and would patiently listen to our questions, but offered no solutions. I was surprised to hear a recommendation of the amount of anti-freeze to buy. The other item I would like to discuss during this pause in the story line is my surprise that they sell pre-diluted anti-freeze that is 50% glycol/50% water at about 90% of the price of undiluted anti-freeze. Have we as a society became that elementary that we cannot understand how to mix the anti-freeze or are we just too lazy? Ok, back to Sunday morning. Toni had gone through the checklist and she not only checked it twice, she checked it a third time for good measure. The transmission dipstick was in place and it was time to add coolant. WHY IN THE WORLD would Rexhall locate the coolant reserve tank so close to the top of the front end compartment where one needs a long funnel to add water? It would have been fine if we were using a water hose, but it is impossible to pour from the container into the reservoir. So here we are using a make shift funnel made from a piece of garden hose and half a Coke bottle all put together with duct tape. It took two of us, but slowly we added the coolant until the 2 gallons of post-purchased mixed coolant was gone. We wasn’t even close to having enough coolant. Off to the parts store we went wondering why we would trust the advice of the new age parts guy. Surly the parts guy only slightly underestimated and we only need to buy another gallon to have plenty. Once back at the shop, we added the gallon of anti-freeze along with the gallon of water and still came up short. At this point we started adding pure water until we finally hit the fill mark. In total it took a little over 5 gallons of liquid. We had 2 gallons of anti-freeze and 3 gallons of water. In my mind, we are all said/all done and ready to fire the baby up! But first Toni was insistent on going through the checklist one final time. New pcv valve, check. Oil level, check. All hoses connected, check. Engine oil level, check. Coolant level, check. Bleed the coolant, … Stop right there! We haven’t bled the coolant. I explained to Toni that we needed to start the engine and when it warmed up, the coolant would circulate allowing the air to get out of the system. We just need to watch the coolant level and add as it got low. To satisfy the master mechanic, we referred back to the service manual to verify. You see one thing I have learned after many, many projects with Toni is when she brings something up, even though I am confident in my ways and she is questioning it, ALWAYS let her verify – I have been proven wrong before and I will be proven wrong again and she is the one that will save the day. Bleed the coolant, check (my process has been verified and is concurrent with the latest service manual). Now we are ready prime the engine. I offered the keys to Toni but she wanted no part of turning the key. I detected a little nervousness to her. Could it be because the day before someone from the flea market next door wonder into the shop to see what we was up to and claimed he was a seasoned mechanic, then proceeded to tell us how everything we did up to this point was all wrong and the slightest error would make the engine inoperable and impossible to diagnose? This guy from next door, I forget his name but we will call him BS for reference, was one of those people who knows everything and will make things up to prove their intelligence. I’m sure the flea market was lucky to hire him as a furniture mover since he has so much knowledge to share. I’m just glad BS doesn’t work at the parts store, I would rather someone tell me he doesn’t know instead of making something up. Anyway, I took the keys and climbed in to the make shift driver’s seat while Toni held the fire extinguisher close. Priming the engine: I spent a lot of time looking though the web and other resources trying to find this procedure. Since it is a newer engine, it didn’t have the traditional distributer you use to access the oil pump. I found some methods that used an external pump but we found this method overkill since the engine had been tested at the factory and the service manual that Toni has extensively researched made not recommendations of such. The third method, which was our chosen method, cranked the engine without starting for 3 cycles at 15 seconds each cycle. Some forums talk about flipping the inertia switch to keep the engine from starting. The method that interest for me was found to work for 2004 V10’s. Apparently, you can press the gas pedal to the floor and the computer will turn off the fuel supply through the injectors. This process is used to clear a flooded engine. I assumed it worked for the ’99 engine, but never was able to find it in writing. I figured I would try and if it started, I would turn it off quickly. Before cranking it, I warned Toni to expect the penetrating oil that was left on the exhaust system to start smoking as the engine heated up. Toni stood outside the motorhome and I pressed the accelerator to the floor. Like clockwork, the engine cranked when the key turned. The gas pedal pressed all the way down did keep the engine from firing. It cranked for 15 seconds then we let it rest. We discussed how long to let it cool before cranking again, but didn’t have the answer. As you can imagine, we are eagerly waiting when we can let it fire up so it just took a few minutes to rest before the second dry crank started. And then the third. Now we can start it for real. Sunday, January 3, 2016 at 2:24pm the engine took its first breath. Without pressing the gas pedal and turning the key, it took about a quarter of a second for the engine to come to life. It was beautiful. We rejoiced, yelled and screamed! I could hear the Queen song “We are the Champions” playing in the background. All the work had paid off. Pressing the gas pedal to raise the RPMs to 2,000 was so sweet until a rattle started to sound off towards the top/rear of the engine. It sounded like something wasn’t tighten. By the sound, I could tell it wasn’t internal, just more of a nuisance. The engine was purring perfectly in spite of the rattle. As I was trying to determine the cause of this rattle, Toni was on the lookout for any leaks. As predicted, a thin layer of smoke started rising from the exhaust, but no big deal. The rattle would stop when I brought the RPMs down to an idle. Just about the time I had the sound pinpointed, Toni came screaming “Shut it off! Shut it off!”. As the engine shut down, I could hear water pouring on the floor. Our faces grew long, our voices was quite as we approached the front of the coach. Water was all across the floor. Then Toni pointed to the reservoir as the source of the leak. Somebody (me) didn’t put the lid on the reservoir. I let out a heavy sigh of relief, simple fix. We mopped up the mess and fired it back up. Finally the sound was pinpointed at the EGR valve. The water leak was no more and all gaskets was holding. Later that evening I would read where the EGR valve is susceptible to the diaphragm getting clogged with exhaust residue which makes sense considering we had the intake manifold upside down while cleaning it. Around 3:30 we cleaned up our tools and went home to get ready for a steak dinner in celebration of our success. We can replace the EGR valve another day, now is the time to bask in the glory.423Views0likes0CommentsRe: Engine Replacement - 2000 Rexhall with 6.8 V10
Day 11 & 12: These two days (Friday and Saturday) run together. We got an early start on News Years Day after a calm New Years Eve. We finished up the upper end, worked the exhaust and the front of the engine. A few things stand out about these two days: The engine oil dip stick. What a PITA. We (me not Toni, she reads the manual) had decided to put the dip stick in before the driver's side exhaust manifold so we didn't have to worry about getting it between the manifold and the engine block. The dipstick is bent in so many ways and is routed though the fire wall, along the valve covers, through the exhaust manifold and behind the oil cooler. So many twist and turns, we worked on this stupid dip stick for about an hour. We had to pull this end while pushing that end meanwhile using a foot to lift this end and an elbow to press on that end. HATED every minute of this chore, couldn't wait to move on to the dreaded exhaust system. But finally, it went in. On to the exhaust manifold. We left the pipe from the exhaust manifold to the EGR valve on the manifold since there was no way this pipe was coming off. Removing the exhaust manifold from the old engine was like working a puzzle getting it between the frame and the misc engine parts, but there is a solution to the puzzle with the right angles it does come out. Putting it on was just as tricky but with a little patience it worked itself right into place... except the EGR valve pipe would not go back into place because it hit that evil dip stick! We tried so many different approaches to maneuvering the exhaust manifold/EGR pipe so that the manifold was on top of the dip stick and the EGR pipe was below the dip stick. The solution: Does Not Exist. We had no choice but to remove the dip stick and reinstall after the exhaust manifold is installed. Please refer to previous paragraph. Connecting the exhaust pipes to the manifold wasn't fun, but it went smoothly. Our next complication was installing the radiator. We had removed the radiator and had it cleaned at the local shop. It's large and bulky. Toni took top side and I took the underside. She was able to guide it in place, but trying to put the metal mounting bracket under the radiator while holding it in place came with it's challenges. Before long, Toni was by my side lying on the floor struggling with this bracket. The biggest problem was getting the bracket above the transmission cooler lines and under the radiator while installing the 4 mounting bolts. Try as we may, we just couldn't get it. Here is where the pictures came in handy. After looking at the pictures, the transmission cooler lines are above the mounting bracket next to the radiator. Per Toni's suggestion, we loosely bolted the mounting bracket then slid the radiator over the mounting bracket into place. It's amazing how the little things can take up so much time. As the sun was setting Saturday evening, two things stood between us and starting the engine: The transmission dipstick and filling the radiator with coolant. We (Toni, not me = we) decided it was time to put up and come back the next day so we would be fresh when starting the engine.422Views0likes0CommentsRe: Engine Replacement - 2000 Rexhall with 6.8 V10
RLS7201 wrote: Way to go! It won't be long until you're back on the road. I'm sure the Accel super coils are the way to go for you. I some times assume a higher level of risk on some parts, that I consider a easy change. I'm also sure we have different tastes in ice cream. GRIN. Nice pix. Keep em coming. Richard If it was our Jeep, I would go with the lower cost coils, but the working room through the doghouse door isn't very accommodating and who wants to work on it while on vacation! And by the way to answer you previous question: yes, we carry a spare tire. Sometimes I wonder why, but yes, one is on board.423Views0likes0CommentsRe: Engine Replacement - 2000 Rexhall with 6.8 V10
Day 9: We went back to the shop on Sunday (weekend before Christmas), the day after we put the engine in but the energy just wasn't on our side that day. Basically we just cleaned up the area and put the old engine in the crate so we could return it and get the $800 core charge return. Our next opportunity was the following Saturday, the day after Christmas. We started on the bottom side with the flex plate and starter along with a few misc. connectors/hangers. We returned on Sunday to install the passenger side exh manifold and basically piddled. We still didn't have the motivation this weekend to make much progress and was trying to recoup from Christmas and the amount of work up to this point. I believe we were starting to feel burned out. Truth be known, the three days following installing the engine, we only accomplished a days worth of work. With this Jeb Bush style of low energy ;) let's consider these three days as Day 9. Day 10: Thursday, December 31st, New Years Eve, and most importantly Toni's Birthday. Yes, out of all the things we could do on her birthday, Toni's request was to work on the engine. Energy was back on our side. Instead of working on the underside, we attacked the intake manifold so we could see progress and keep us motivated. Amazingly, everything just fell into place that day. It was fascinating to see the transformation of the top end coming together. And yes, we installed a new knock sensor under the manifold without using an impact wrench. Toni, the one that reads instructions, found on the paperwork a website with the service manuals available at www.motorcraftservice.com. By registering at this site, we were redirected to a website with the service manuals that could be purchased for hundreds of dollars or the option we chose was to "rent" the online version for a month for a small fee around $20 (a 3 day subscription was also available for a few bucks). The service manual was specifically for the F53 and gave us step by step instruction including the critical torque specs. This is a good resource for future needs. And those bright yellow Accel ignition coils are so pretty. They look Super!422Views0likes0CommentsRe: Engine Replacement - 2000 Rexhall with 6.8 V10
Day 8: Busy Christmas holiday, haven't had time to update this forum. Day 8, the day to install the engine. The actual date was December 19th, a little over three weeks since we started the project. We started by comparing engines making sure we had all the parts swapped that was needed on the new engine. After using an impact wrench to install the knock sensor that is located below the intake manifold, Toni read the warning tag cautioning against using impact wrenches on the knock sensor...lesson learned. All in all, it took us about 3 hours from the time we put the new engine on the cherry picker to the time we had the engine bolted to the mounts and transmission. I'm sure those that do this often have tricks we have not learned, but it drove us crazy trying to get all of the angles/bolts lined up between the engine and transmission. One of the best tools we bought for the project was the engine leveler that went on between the cherry picker and the engine. I think we spent around $70 from Amazon for the tool, but it made adjusting the angle much easier. Money well spent. As far as the coils, we went ahead and splurged for Accel ignition SUPERcoils. We decided it wasn't worth the chance to go generic for the coils. Plus, if it has "super" in the name, you know its gotta be good! A few pictures: And our prayer that we get the bolts to line up and did everything right ;)422Views0likes0CommentsRe: Engine Replacement - 2000 Rexhall with 6.8 V10
Day 7: Day 7 is really two days of piddling. We got the new engine from the local Ford dealer and set it next to the old engine. I was really surprise that we didn't need to take many parts from the old and put onto the new. The new engine is complete with heads, water pump, oil pan, spark plugs and even oil in the pan! Also, as a separate item was a new oil cooler and filter. Gaskets included the oil cooler gasket, intake gaskets, and exhaust gaskets. The new engine in it plastic wrapping:196Views0likes0CommentsRe: Engine Replacement - 2000 Rexhall with 6.8 V10
ernie1 wrote: Tomboy and Intrigued: For what it's worth, when I run across pesky exhaust nuts and bolts that won't come loose readily, if it's possible, I use my oxygen acetylene torch on the offending part( I know you said bolt)and after it's cherry red, it'll loosen easily. Ernie, I'm almost embarrassed to say, but I read on Richard's account of changing his engine he used the term "blue tip wrench" which I never heard before. I googled and found the method you are talking about heating the offending part. When we hit the stubborn bolt and after soaking it many times with penetrating oil, I told Toni that I was going to heat it up. She was fearful that I would catch the entire coach on fire, but me with my chest stuck out firmly being the man, told her not to worry. Well you can guess that when the flame heated the oil, the oil started burning off. WE HAD FLAMES EVERYWHERE! I put the torch away after we put the fire out and decided not to use that method again.195Views0likes0CommentsRe: Engine Replacement - 2000 Rexhall with 6.8 V10
westend wrote: Gol dang it, that's so great to see an owner of an RV like that take on one of the biggest tasks at hand. To see your Wife right on the job also warms my heart. Congrats on being many times more resourceful than any Joe on the street. Good luck with the rest of your engine project. I bet you're going to feel even better than I did, today, changing out an ignition coil and feeling the truck come back to full health. Thanks Westend! And congrats on the coil change out. Let me ask you a question: What brand name of coil did you get? I've been researching since the cost of the OEM coils are outrageous.196Views0likes0Comments
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