Unfortunately there were/are several problems with the upper parts of the engine and to correct those problems required the cab of the vehicle to be removed. That gets into additional labor costs and from past experience the only real solution to the problem was to replace the engine. Believe it or not your situation was not that unusual. If you can, check with a few Ford service departments and they should be better able to help understand the reasons for replacing that engine. It won't remove the pain of the $$ spent, but it should clear up a lot of questions. I'm trying to be a little discreet and stop short of badmouthing someone.

 

Ironically, while my engine was being replaced by Ford, because they said they no longer tear down engines to work on them, my son-in-law was having his engine torn down by Chevrolet because of an oil bypass problem on his Chevy Silverado truck. The difference I believe now, is that his truck was under warranty and my truck was not. I just wonder that had my truck engine still been under warranty, if they would have spent more time establishing the problem and repaired the engine under warranty rather than replacing it. It is really hard for me to believe that Ford does not tear down engines whenever there is an internal problem. Maybe that was just the philosophy of this particular Ford Dealership, but I really don't think so. This is, I believe, my problem with Ford in a nut shell. Rather than spending the time to establish the problem and offer a less expensive, but more time consuming alternative, they elected to take the easy way out on their part and hit me up with the more costly alternative.

 

You are probably right. Most dealership mechanics are only trained to replace parts. They have no idea how to repair anything. It is faster and cheaper for the dealer to replace parts until the problem is corrected. Our local dealers won't work on carburetors on older
vehicles, they will only replace them. Instead of replacing a $15 accelerator pump on my van, they wanted to sell me a $450 carburetor, and the labor time was almost identical. An independent shop replaced the pump, parts and labor for $60.

 

the dealerships where I live don't even work on vehicles that are seven years or older. and I think that all dealerships on new ones anyway would rather spend their time replacing whole engines as to paying the cost of having to rebuild one because it's faster and more cost effective on the labor side of it. I would rather have a carb. over the fuel injection any day of the week at least then one could keep it running longer and have more control over the vehicle instead of letting a computer do it for me

 

I don't like the newer vehicles. When my wife bought her Dodge Caravan, I told her that I would not work on it. I am driving an '85 Ford Econoline. A lot easier to work on.