I currently own an 02 Mustang with this engine and did a lot of research before getting it. When Ford, pretty much, fixed the head gasket issues on these later aluminum head engines with the MLS gaskets, these engines were known as some of the most reliable Ford ever put out and there were definitely worse engines you could have chosen than this one. Also, as you pointed out it's a pushrod engine, so if it does need to have head gaskets changed, they're much easier than the huge, wide, complicated OHC engines like the 4.6 or 5.4.
I always thought it was neat that the oil pump could be replaced about as easy as an alternator on these engines. No need to drop the pan or even drain the oil. A few bolts and it comes right off the bottom of the engine.
As a long time viewer of your channel..........I just wanna say I continue to Love watching You tear down different engines on here!!! It's cool to see the "Guts" on engines that you normally,never get to see!!! Also,I'm glad you do this all year round too! As I LOVE watching You tear down engines in freezing cold temperatures!!! Lol. Keep keeping on Man!!! : >)
I have 217,000 miles on the 3.8L in my 2003 Mustang. I bought it with 47,000. Head gaskets were this engines main problem. And that's because Ford used aluminum heads on a cast iron block. If they had used cast iron heads, everything would have been fine. Aluminum and iron expand different amounts and at different rates as the heat up and cool down, and with the head gasket sandwiched in between them, it will eventually fail. However, the head gaskets can be made to last much longer by simply letting the engine warm up to operating temperature at idle. The slower it warms up, the less stress is put on the head gaskets. Ever since I first bought mine, I have allowed it to warm up to operating temperature at idle before driving it. Overheating the engine can also cause the head gaskets to fail. There are new aftermarket gaskets out now that hold up much better than stock. If I decide to keep my car, I'll just put a rebuilt long block in it. V6 Mustangs through '04 make excellent daily drivers for someone who doesn't want a front wheel drive four door sedan or worse yet a "crossover", which I consider to be the ugliest vehicle ever made. The 3.8L V6 make plenty of power for daily driving. I bought my '03 because I wanted a 2 door rear wheel drive American car with a solid rear axle. It also happened to be Zinc Yellow, which is a bright lemon yellow, and really stands out in a sea of black, white, and gray transportation appliances. The '03 V6 came stock with 16" wheels, which I am not a fan of, I replaced them with a set of 15" wheels from a 2000 V6 model, so I could use normal sized tires.
I’ve got 330,000 original miles on my 2003 4.2l. Still running strong just leaks a little oil other than that it’s solid. No knocks. No ticks. No rattles. Run signature series 5w30 AMSOIL
Used to work on 2.0 Split Port in 1st gen Focuses. In my country, the 1.8 and 2.0 Zetec engines were much more popular, but sometimes Split Ports imported from the US showed up. And it was a disaster. The engine was overall fine, but they all had one huge problem - valve seat inserts detached and fell into the cylinder. And most owners either sold the car to the scrap yard afterwards, or swapped it for any zetec available. So there's not much left now. But apart from that issue, it was overall a fine little engine
Late to comment but had one of these in a 98 Windstar, and for a 4,000 lbs van it was pretty quick. Never had any issues with the motor other then the egr problems they had. I had it for nearly 20 years with 190,000 miles (118,000km) but it finally was done in by a deer air bags cooling etc, I cried:) PS my dad had a 92 continental he drove it 300,000 miles before a push rod broke right thru one of the rockers. Never made a sound until it failed. So I think Ford got the head gaskets working, we sure had good luck with them. PS I never overheated it, ran it out of oil, or left the oil in more then 5,000 miles, well maintained, could be the real key!! Nice video Thanks
Can’t imagine the side torque on the main crank pulley, it’s spaced like 8” from the front main bearing and serpentine belts can have quite a bit of tension.
I maybe mistaken but those piston tops look very similar to diesel pistons. Also spilling the oil drain pan by dropping the filter into it reminds me of someone else I know. Where is the dog running through the oil then into the house from the kids calling him in? Yeah, the noise from the neighbor building is nothing like I heard coming from my house as the dog ran into the kitchen then living room and on to the couch. Great tear down! That engine reminds me of a BMW air head motorcycle, "simple by choice". Thanks again 99.
My friend in the UK had a MK1 Granada with a 3.0L version of this Essex engine in the late 70s. Carburetted and with coil and distributor of course. He hade it a few years with no trouble got board and swapped it for a Triumph Dolomite Sprint..... endless trouble.
Totally unrelated engine. The 3.0 you site is of the 60 degree variety. FOE had 2 60 degree V6s one built in England and the other in Germany. While the 3.9 is pushrod, like the FOE, it is actually 3/4 of the Cleveland/Modified engine family of V8’s.
Oh boy a new video, I am not a mechanic I have never worked on a car myself always in the dealership, but somehow I find your videos so satisfying and educational. keep it up
A copy? Making a 3/4 of an existing 90 degree V8 is not terribly innovative. The 4.2 version of these engines is actually quite good and as evidenced by the tear down a well built motor.
Why are they considered unreliable? What goes wrong with these, looking at buying a car with one of these engines soon, and all I've found so far is just that the headgaskets go wrong, can you please enlighten me as to what other problems can occur with these motors?
I have a 94 V6 manual. As you can see a lot of us don’t agree that it is unreliable. My 94 has over 162k miles on it but the odometer is broken on it so it likely has more. The previous owner had a friend that filled it with I think double the amount of oil there should have been and he only got the top half of the engine rebuilt and it is currently running. I actually still race the car and bring it to redline fairly often.
The 3.8 isn’t much to shake a stick at BUT for what they were back in the day and for what numbers were back in the day (350 out of a v8 back then was the norm where as now it’s 450 ) so like many v6 owners over a decade ago (like my self) would put a bigger cam in it and home port and polish the heads with a wind star intake. Match that with 3.73 gears and dual exhaust these cars were pretty fun for their time (again over a decade ago ) most H/C/I swapped 3.8’s and stroked to 4.2 on an average day would see low 14.s in the quarter mile which to be fair these things did mid 15s bone stock Couple that with some suspension upgrades these things were a blast to drive on the back roads !! Not the best exhaust note but a blast to drive
I'm a new subscriber and I just wanted to tell you that your style is absolutely phenomenal and unmatchable. I never watch +5 min videos but here I am finishing all your vids whatever the vid length is. Keep up the great work, kudos!
Failure was the lower intake manifold gasket to head due to aftermarket gasket. 30$ fix. Them head gaskets was good. That v6 using no name lower intake gaskets wich only have single o ring per water port where oem have 2 and contribute to most "head gasket" failures with this engine.
GM and Chrysler are still making them in 2023 lmao, and some damn good engines they are (ignoring a few faults). I think Bentley was using them too not to long ago.
@@sgbawg0V8 Camaro, Corvette (non-z06) Silverado, Suburban. All the “LS” and “LT” V8 engines. 4.3 V-6 with pushrods was used until last year and most of their V8’s. Ford just started making pushrod V8’s again a few years ago, they make 6.8L and 7.3L versions of their new OHV HD truck V8 known as “Godzilla”. Chrysler is killing off the Hemi V8 soon and will use a 3.0 i6 twin turbo in it’s place.
@@speedkar99 I'll take it. I really appreciate your "tip to tail" mechanic overviews. What you like and what you don't. Since I already bought one, I guess it matters less. 😉
Just a reminder, ohv can have vvt, Ford simply didnt do it. Chevy was/is doing it in the C6 Corvette through to the Silverados. Hemis have also been rocking it. I wonder if anyone has put this 3.9 Essex into an old Capri (not those Fox body or FWD veesions, of course).
While us, the normal people always drop a 10mm socket into a bucket full of oil or antifreeze, you go all balls to the walls dropping oil filters flipping the bucket over. Make that into a short clip and get like a million views on it .
What do you do with the engines afterwards? I remember you showing some pretty sweet tables. Do you part them out at all or just recycle the leftovers?
Send it to scrap. The tables aren't worth the huge amount of effort it takes to scrub, paint and assemble them. I keep the Subaru's though since they'll make really nice low coffee tables ...if I get around to it someday 😅
this isnt a exhaust video however, I have compiled a list of almost every single 99-04 sn95 3.8-4.3L v6 mustangs on a playlist. So watch that there's a few great builds in there. Mustang Man ( bright lime Green mustang on list ) has an inverted m90 super charger on his v6 build, basically the m90 eaton super charger is not located on the upper intake instead its "remote" located where the airintake is. I'd check out there video on the list. V6 Mustang Tech Support has a GTR upper intake conversion on one of his engines, I'd check out his build, he also has twin turbo water cooled upper intake on his other build. Theres a 800 hp tbird on the playlist as well by CMac, and recently came across a 700hp compound turbo/supercharge sn95 who is on the list as well. Its important to have a video like this tact on to this playlist so i appreciate your break down of the engine.
Every time I look at one of these 3.8s, I cant help but think of this as Ford's clone of the venerable Buick 3800, down to the displacement, V angle, timing cover and water pump arrangement. These were stout engines found in almost everything from the 70s into the mid 2000s from a humble taurus to an F150. Far more reliable than anything Ford makes today.
Gm overhead valve engine have variable valve timing. Ford could have went that route and kept this engine in production for another 10+ years. All they had to do was forge the crank and rods and it would’ve been an eco boost killer. And already is for some people who’ve really built them
Anyone know the actual reason for the head gasket failures on these? After owning a couple of these (yes the gaskets failed) they were generally good to me except for the one not so small issue. I caught it before being serious but always wondered the root cause with these.
I want to say it was something to do with how the heads were aluminum and the block was cast iron, so the heads would get hotter and possibly warp slightly or it might have just been the temp difference. To fix the head gasket issue they likely just chose a material that transmitted less heat to the heads.
The Ford 3.8/3.9/4.2L is one of the most reliable series of engines ever built, up there with the Buick 3800. So I don't know why you're claiming it's "unreliable". I'd take a Ford Essex engine any day over ALL of the Ford engines made since. The water pump bolts are different sizes because some are for the pump, others go all the way through for the timing cover. Electric fuel pump, not mechanical. Yes, you can have VVT on an OHV engine. You're slipping man. Don't take that the wrong way, enjoy your videos, but there's a lot of fans of the Essex engines out here.
@@johnnyblue4799 Oh yeah. Swap out those crappy MLS head gaskets for the traditional graphite ones and it'll never leak coolant again. Swapping head gaskets on that engine can be done in hours. vs days for a modern engine. I've done a few of them.
@@JohnDoe-ml8ru I'd also get new valves, new pistons/rings and of course the crankshaft bearings and timing chain. Fresh gaskets everywhere and it's good for another 300k kms. I don't know that engine, but I'd think that the fuel economy would be it's only issue with it.
@@johnnyblue4799 Fuel economy is not a problem. Typical fuel economy with the 3.8 in a Mustang was around 30-35MPG highway. My 94 constantly got 35MPG on long trips in stock form.
@@JohnDoe-ml8ru That would be awesome, but fueleconomy(dot)gov has it at about 26mpg hwy, 20 combined and 17 city. 26mpg for that engine is more likely. And that was decent for its time, but engines today do much better. It probably can do 30 on hwy if you drive it around 55mph. But as you step on it it starts gulping.
I’ve replaced many head gaskets on these engines. As long as the bearings aren’t damaged (usually revealed by engine knock), I’ve usually just had the heads machined and the gaskets replaced. And the engines usually lasted for many more miles.
Does this engine use a distributor or does it just have regular coil packs? I’m curious because on old V engines that one gear and shaft that was part of the timing assembly usually connects from the camshaft to the distributor, which then distributes electrical current to the spark plugs.
This particular V6 used a single coil pack, that controlled the ignition firing for all 6 cylinders. The older versions of this engine (my old '94 Taurus) had a distributor with a single coil, and wires going to the plugs. The latter Mustang, Windstar & F-150 Essex V6's had a single, 6-plug coil pack with wires to each plug.
Thanks for the new great video, these are multi-layer steel plate gaskets right? I thought that these do not allow the block and the cylinder head to warp, I only imagined this about Klinger and asbestos seals. I just put together an old diesel, already with the second cylinder head, because I don't know where the water enters the combustion chamber. I also used 3 asbestos seals, and 2 liters of water are consumed per 100 km.
Given that the head gasket is caused by the difference in thermal expansions between the block and the head, is there anything an owner could do to help alleviate this issue? Thicker gasket? Maybe a larger radiator?
Not really, aside from a redesigned gasket with some sealer between the surfaces, but they will all do this with time. Essex engines are pretty reliable though, not going to give issues other than those head gaskets, simply from the conservative design. The only way to fix them would be a cast steel head, which ISTR was an aftermarket thing, that made them really bullet proof. They did a good bit of work on them over the decades, as this started out with a single barrel carb, and had fuel injection added later. Just they did find a lot of use as power plants for other applications, little more pep that a 4 banger, but not too much change in length, so lots were used in agricultural and specialist equipment. Not a bad V6 engine though, friend had one in his Ford, and the engine was not an issue, but the diff, sure was, little underspec for the 3.0l power plant. Sure was heavy on fuel though if you were ever hard with the right foot, but enough torque you could drive all day in 4th gear in town, and never change gear.
If you' engine is running good, not worth doing much aside making sure you're running a good, maybe full synthetic. Just got some full syn at Walmart for $19-20 5q jug. If you have a blown head gasket, pull the heads and and check or have them checked to insure no warpage. If so, get them milled/resurfaced. Might need a thinner head gasket depending upon how much is milled, but if its not much you can probably get away with standard. Just research which manf. seems to be the best for your engine. If you're really worried though, couple things that might help a small amount. 1. Do a coolant system flush and replace with good coolant. 2. Replace the thermostat. 3. You can add a water-wetter to coolant which improves the heat transfer of the coolant a bit. Most people seem to see 10' f. lower temp. 4. If you want to go whole-hog though, a radiator flush might help depending on if/how much debris build-up it has. Also, double-check if you are even supposed to use gasket sealer, how much, and where. It was pretty common in the day to just use black RTV or similar, however my valve covers said explicitly not to use any. The mech. apparently did and I was back shortly after with a far worse problem.
Not too much besides frequent coolant changes and checking the thermometer if it starts overheating or leaks for earlier signs of failure. Don't run it so far like this engine where it caused bearing damage.
Wow, not sure how I stumbled across your vid, however pretty nice without a lot of extraneous blah blah. 165K on a Murano and going to do a flush. I think I'll drop the pan and try to clean out the oil intake screen since you showed it.
Sorry but I had to laugh when the dropped oil filter caused the drain pan to do a tripple backflip. 75 yrs old here and been changing my own oil on every vehicle I've owned for 50 years (!). Should be good at it by now but it's a cause for celebration when I don't do something dumb that results in a similar big mess.
Yes done that a few times as well, and it is a pain cleaning the oil up off the floor. Good thing there was a lot of newspaper around, and a few large garbage bags as well.
These engines end up in the junkyard because their owners overheat them. Otherwise, they are one of the most reliable engines Ford makes, being simple they don't have dozens of sensor and control failures.
@@speedkar99 he bought the car with 220k on it, he never did a head gasket on it but the previous owner might have, car was not really driven hard, maybe that's why it lasted...
Are you a real mechanic? You said there was an "old" mechanical fuel pump...you realize the "new" style pump is in the tank, like any other multi point fuel injection system ?? That piece you held in your hand is not the pump. Then you failed to notice there was nothing wrong with the head gaskets. We amateurs can see there were no problems with the gaskets you were working on!! Those engines are quite reliable, but for a few years some did have issues with the lower intake gaskets. You could have learned that by doing 5 minutes of internet searching. The new style gaskets have double o rings around the water passage and intake openings, the bad ones had only one o ring section between those openings. BTW your general comment about aluminum heads was way off base. Lots of iron blocks are outfitted with aluminum heads. Have you ever heard of racing?? Plus, different size bolt heads were used to match appropriate torque specs for the pieces being held together. It's called engineering.
Ah wait up, this is the Canadian Essex, not the British Essex! Now it makes sense, different engine!! en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Essex_V6_engine_(Canadian)#:~:text=The%204.2%20L%20Essex%20has,a%20bad%20front%20cover%20gasket.
These engines are junk, you can say it's simple, but simple isn't worth much when they have so many problems that they (or any engine) shouldn't have. Compare this guy to the competition the buick v6s and even the cheaper chevy v6s and they where dogs. Even when the fwd v6s showed up they where thrashing everything ford had short of mustangs, some fwd cars where outdoing the foxbody. Not even gonna bring up the GNX which had the same buick 90 degree v6 since that guy was thrashing corvettes at it's time, nothing ford had could really hold up to it.
Because it was a heavy low powered piece of cr@p. Originally designed as a diesel ... Hang on I'm thinking of the English Ford Essex v6. Don't know this engine
