i bought a 92 cougar for $250. he made sure i was aware it didnt run, which i was. he says there was a constant overheating problem, and would rarely even start. i did some research before buying it, and figured it was headgaskets. apparently, this year with the 3.8 V6 is notorious for gasket problems. i figured if i put $500 in parts into it, i would still have a 92 coug for less than a grand. the body / interior still looks great, so i went for it. if i dont keep it myself and turn it into an autocross toy, i'll give it to my nephew at the end of the year for his first car. i asked him how long he had been driving it with the overheating problem, and he said a few months. he replaced ... the radiator... in an attempt to solve the overheating problem.

got the heads off, and sure enough, there's coolant everywhere, head gaskets are gone. took the heads to a machine shop to see if they're even any good, and of course, they're warped beyond repair.

i have a new set of heads, all the piston heads appeared to be fine (no visible cracks / holes). the shop said my valves were seating properly, so just carried them and the springs over to new heads. i need at least 1 new injector (best to just replace the whole set?). new head bolts, head gasket kit which has a ton of gaskets for stuff like the intake manifold, exhaust manifold, etc.

im about to start putting it back together, and i was curious if there is anything else i should keep an eye on while im at it, or look for while reassembling. any tips / tricks are also welcome. the starting problem, im assuming is because there was coolant in the chambers instead of fuel, but any other thoughts about that issue while i have it apart is also welcome

 

Sounds like a nice project. The only thing I'd be concerned about would be the cylinder bores. In my experience, people ALWAYS lie about how long, how hot, blah blah. There's a fair chance the pistons are galded. Look for scuff marks on the bores. Tops of pistons are nice to check, but if the piston rings have fused to the cylinder bore or piston the engine is trash or at best a mega smoker. Can you turn the motor over w/ the head off?
We get at least one customer a month that says" It didn't quite get to the red" or "It just needed a tune up and then it quit running". Like I said, should be a nice project...but check the bottom end before you put many dollars in it. And, I've never really heard 3.8's really heating up that often. I've always thought they were a pretty stout little motor.

 

honestly, turning it with heads off sort of scares me - would i need to worry about the injectors spraying fuel everywhere, the water pump going with 0 coolant, and cranking with no oil in the engine?

it cranked in the past, just didnt start. i tried to drive it to the garage its sitting at to get tore down, before i knew of the head gaskets, but had to tow it (glad i did now)

 

If the heads are off the motor, so are the injectors. Coolant isn't an issue as the engine isn't hot. Of course it is ok to turn the engine over by hand, putting a socket on the crank pulley. I'll tell you right now...I checked with a buddy of mine that knows Fords...he told me 3.8s were notorious for heating up and that more likely than not, the motor is toast.

 

i did turn the crank via socket, and didnt see any scuffs, cracks, or shiney parts on the chamber walls (which also let me clean up the top of all the pistons) - so far, ive spent a total of $560. if i cant get it runnin, i'll think of it as a college course on replacing 3.8 heads, with no credit hours lol. my money line is $1k. i figure if i need to replace a water pump, and it still doesnt work, its trash, or a fuel pump, doesnt work, its trash. its got 1 more strike and half the money to go. i put my line at $1k, so i can part it out and probly get around my investment back from the parts. the wheels are great, interior not so bad, and heck, i have a new set of heads i got a deal on

 

ok, so heads are back on, engine assembled... and wont start. :| i know i have spark and fuel, since i pumped the gas, and then had a backfire strong enough to break my air filter box. timing is on (although, we chewed out the threads to the bolt that holds the rotor in place, in the water pump, but separate issue). cranks fine, no grinding or whining or any other noises besides the ones thats supposed to be there when cranking.

any ideas?

if it ran poorly, i would still consider it a victory, but its not even starting, i have no idea why.

 

Valves adjusted correctly?
Do you have compression?

 

valves were done at a shop - i had to buy new heads, and he said that only 1 was seating improperly, which he was able to resurface to save, and the heads were bad anyways. he carried the valves / springs over to the new set of heads, so im assuming they're good

is there a way to test compression without a shop? say, if i take out a plug and put my finger over the head opening, i should feel air pressure on the upward movement, right? granted, that wouldnt be the same as a numbers run, but shouldnt i still know if its more than 0?

 

Yes you can do that to make sure there is compression.
But do you have the rocker arms to tight causing the valves to stay open some?

 

hmm, was using allData's website, arms were torqued to the spec's they had listed (no idea what they are off the top of my head). i'll do the basic compression test and get back, thx for input