Want to Rebuild my Engine, What to do?

Jiggaman6751 · 08-31-2006

First and formost I must say I am a working college student so I do not have a lot of money. With that said I think I need to rebuild my engine and need to know what should I have replaced. The engine is stock in my 95GT (302 HO) and has 115,000 miles on it. A couple months ago my car overheated and I blew my head gaskets. Well I had them replaced and for 3 months it was doing fine. Now it is heating up again quickly (in about 20mins) when I am in stop and go traffic. The engine temp gets to the point where the gauge will stop at the last white line. Yet when driving on a highway it stays in the normal range. Also since replacing the head gaskets my Check Engine, Low Coolant. and Low Oil lights keep coming on and sonetimes stay on the whole time I am driving. I know my Coolant and Oil are not low because I check them every week. Also my car is idling very rough. The rpms seem to jump up and down between 800 and 1200 and feels like it wants to cut off. Also when I idle or brake my Volt. meter seems to drop quick but jumps back up when I drive. So my solution to these problems is an engine rebuild. Now I need to know what should I replace and if anyone has a price range for parts. Thanks in advance for any help.

**74stang2togo** · 08-31-2006

who replaced the head gaskets? If it was a shop, take it back (check your receipt to see if there was a warranty on their work) have them fix it.

Also, have you started the car and run it with the radiator cap off to see if it's sending blow-by-blow gasses into your coolant? That will cause it to run hot (blown head gasket again). Did you have your heads and block checked for warpage when the original gaskets blew out?

Not saying you shouldn't necessarily rebuild (go with a full kit from Ford Racing or Sealed Power, don't cheap out on rings or pistons if you go with Sealed Power though!!!) but you need to find out what you broke in the first place before you rebuild it, otherwise, you could find yourself repeating history.

BadlandsGhost · 08-31-2006

Yeah, (what he said) and it sounds like there might be some electrical issues too, Both with the charging, and the "rolling idle" which is well known in 'stangs. I had a good page written on troubleshooting the surging, IIRC someone linked it off here a while back, anybody remember what I'm talking about? Sorry, but I lost all my favs a bit back, still rebuilding.

J