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Ford Escort 2.0 SPI Help


99FLHRCI

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The wife has a '98 Ford Escort 2.0 SPI SOHC with 205k miles. It developed a rough idle. I went out to check it tonight and it said misfire on cylinder 4. I pull the plug and the grond electrode is smashed. I could see scratches (shiny marks unknown how bad) on the piston head with a flashlight. The plus is all black. I pulled the other 3 and they are white. So I went to Advanced and grabbed some plugs and wires and Seafoam. Come home pull the battery cable to reset the computer. Change the plugs and wires. Start the car up and do the Seafoam treatment. Smokes like crazy as I expected. Take it for a ride and clear it out. Come home and it is still running rough. Check codes nothing. Took it out again hoping the relearn wasn't done. I get out on the highway and check engine light comes back on. Get home and misfire #4. Check the plug and it is wet but it good shape. Jump online and do some research. At this point I figure out that they have a bad head design and like to have a sticky valve especially #4. So I do a Compression Test. 150-125-150-50 BINGO! #4 is shot. Now here is the problem, I can buy the old problem design casting for $500 from O'Reilly and get a 12mo 12000 mile warranty (9 hr job with free parts) or I can get the redesigned head from Ford for $1500 BARE. Has anyone had any experience with these? What is the likely hood of the old design failing again? What would you do if it was your wife's car?
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I am pretty much at the point of buying a new (to her) car. As for putting a junkyard head on, fuck that. Spend a couple hundred on head bolts (torque to yield), and gaskets and 9 hours labor (that's what it calls for and working out of my driveway on a 205k 15 yr old car it I gonna take every bit of that) just to find out the head is warped or cracked or that it will drop the #4 valve a week later? No thanks.
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Sounds like the valve seat shit the bed. It tends to happen on the #4 cylinder. I have built a custom cvh engine (95 0.40 over bottom end, 87 carb head w/heart shaped chamber modified for hydraulic roller cam and sefi) after that valve seat destroyed the head. Hopefully coolant didnt seep into head bolt, I believe the rear one next to #4 which is common, because then it will most likely break.
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