Plan B Forum

No, not mine...but my uncle's F-250 came home on an International 4700 rollback today. He was driving his truck (1979 F-250 4x4 XLT Ranger Sno-Fiter) for the first time since last October, having visited a friend about 3 hours away. They spent all day shooting rifles & pistols, he was heading home. About half an hour from home, he downshifted (460 engine, T-19 4-speed) from 4th to 3rd to pass a slow-moving car on a 2-lane. He did, winding the engine to about 4500RPM as he did so. He shifted back to 4th...and it just quit. Turning the key resulted in the fast cranking of an engine with no compression. There is no possible way this is good!

Calling AAA, they said it would be an hour and a half. Calling Liz's boss (a AAA tow contractor, located about 4 miles from where my uncle lives) resulted in his driving the rollback out & retrieving the truck. It's in his garage, he'll be tearing into the engine tomorrow to see what happened.

Cam gear went south?

The timing belt went snap on my heap last year ( thank dog it was a non interfernce engine).

I hope it might be something simple and cheap, but it rarely is.

Best of luck!

That's my guess: the timing chain. If that's the only problem, he'll have it running before lunch tomorrow.

It's not. My uncle just called. The timing chain didn't jump...it BROKE, stripping half the cam gear in the process. The engine now has the super-rare three-piece timing chain! (His exact words: "I've been wrenching going on 50 years, never seen that before.") Draining the oil through a strainer showed a bunch of metal in the pan & the (magnetic) drain plug totally covered in flakes.

He is currently cleaning up & on his way here to borrow my new extended-reach engine crane to pull the engine. (His isn't long enough.)

Engine out...and will need a full rebuild. Near as we can tell without pulling the heads, it has six bent valves.

Buy a new one.

Haven't been any "new" 460's for a while! He'll probably rebuild the one he has, if possible. (He built it the first time, after all.)

Ah, ok, I'm always envious of peole who can do such things. Wiring a plug is about my limit.

He's an amazing mechanic & I owe him plenty...he taught me most of what I know.

But he needs to get the engine torn down so he can start rebuilding it...he plans to leave to visit one of his nephews in Coeur d'Alaine, Idaho in late April, and his Ranger will not tow his Airstream.

Jarlaxle wrote:The timing chain didn't jump...it BROKE

Wow, I didn't think that could even happen.

But if he's tearing it down and rebuilding it, it sounds like it happened to the right person!