1.9 'Scort owners, read this

[butch100]

I did the heater core thing too about 3 yrs. ago. It took me 17
hours to complete and my hands looked like I stuck them in a
food processor. Still ,the estimate I got was $475 to change it
NFW, I did it myself.

[008]

Just had this problem this week. Car was running great but had something that sounded like an exhaust leak. Couldn't pinpoint it but now I know where it came from. Car finally just stopped running and making a knocking noise when I tried to start it. Thought it was a skipped timing belt but some online research gave me a clue about the dropped seat syndrome that these engines have. Pulling the plugs, I found shards of aluminum all over the #4 plug. Took it all apart today.

Here's #4.


Cylinder walls look okay. Piston has a few pits but no visible cracks.


I hope the bearings are okay. The car died in a parking lot and I only started it to try and park it. Also ran it at home to try to figure out what the noise was, but not more than 10 seconds.

$145 to rebuild the head sounds good to me. Did yours look as bad as mine? I hope it's repairable. I'm doing the timing belt while I'm in there, obviously.

My engine only has 65k on it, but I'm not sure if they changed the head at the time. My guess is no. Monkey Wards installed the wrong filter and the engine starved of oil and froze up. They replaced it no charge, but I'm guessing they only changed the block.

BTW this car has had zero major problems until now, at 130k miles. Had some odd trans leak at 17k, fixed under warranty. Heater core leaked but stopleak has held for over 20k now, I'll get to that someday. Engine compartment looks brand new, even.

[butch100]

My head looked similar to yours, My piston was worse off however
I'm changing it out too. On mine the piston crown was somewhat
flattened and was makeing contact with the cylnder wall, a bad
situation. To get the piston out you'll have to put the car on
jackstands, romove the O2 sensor, disconnect the 2 bolts that
connect the cat. convertor to the exuast manifold. The haynes
manuel says to remove the cat. convertor compleatly but I could
not loosen the bolts to do so. Just by disconnecting it at the manifold
will give you enough room to drop the oil pan and then you can remove
the rod bolts and pop the piston out the top. The piston wrist pin
is a pressed on deal, I'm going to have to go back to the machine
shop to have it installed on my rod today. Your piston might not
need replaceing, just sanding smooth. I just did not want to take a
chance after all the work I've allready put into this repair! If the
machine shop says it's too damaged then you could prob. find a
head at the bone-yard for a decent price. I would still take it to
a machine shop to have it re-done, this way you'll have a good
running motor when you put it all back together. My machine shop
put an oversize seat or something in there to stop it from happening
again, they will be quite famalier with this problem as this happens a
lot on the 1.9's. Make sure (if you replace the piston) you measure
the bore on your clynder walls as they might have overbored them
when they repaired the seized motor in wich case you will need an
oversized piston replacment. These are available at the same price
as standard size ones. Let me know if I can be of any help, hope-
-fully I can get mine running before wed, or so. Oh ,one more thing
definatly change out the water pump at the this time as well as if
it starts leaking you'll have to pull off the timeing cover all over
again and at 130k on a water pump, it's kinda due.

[hydrosmith]

A little bit of an update on my dropped #4 intake seat. I took the head to a couple of machine shops today and one said the head could not be repaired(it looks exactly like the picture above posted by "008") and another said he could except he would only gaurantee the fix if he could replace all four intake seats. The second machinist had an interesting bit of info though. He says he has not seen this problem on the 91 to 93's, just the 94-96's. Can anyone confirm this with their experience, knowlage, heresay, or know if Ford did a material change for the 94 model year? If this is true about the 91-93's then I may just go get one out from the local pick-a-part. One other thing not mentioned here yet is if you are having yours repaired make sure the shop checks to see if the valves are still straight. These are after all "zero-clearance" engines.

[92EscrtPmp]

I don't understand why your motor can look so bad! when I took my head off and looked at it after 6 months of sitting up, with water in the oil. and remember I drove it around like that. even after all that, it had no pits, no signs of it short stoping, there wasn't even any carbon build-up on the head. The only thing wrong was the head was warped. Now it may be the fuel you use, too. I only use 87 octane, and maybe if it runs like pure hell, then I use 93 with 2 bottles of Octane Boost. Mat the pedel one time and she clears right up. Run that tank down half way, then fill it back up with 93 again. Let that tank go Half way then fill it up with 89. Let that tank go half way, then fill it up with 87, and let the tank go damn near empty and fill it all the way with 87. You can't just go from 87 to 93 back to 87. it will create a carbon buildup that looks worse than the oil on that dudes head! trust me, I've seen it on my friends 4.9 I6!

[92EscrtPmp]

Okay, that explains alot! My Escort is a `92. Like I said, I've never seen the Cylinder head on my car get that bad, even when the head was warped! so I'll confirm the Mechanic. Mine never looked like that at almost 300,000mi now, is the car a AT or MT, cause an AT can put more of a strain on a motor than a MT. mine is MT.

[butch100]

His head looked EXACTLY like mine, that is it's not a carbon build up
at all, a valve guide fell into #4 cylinder and got pummeled by the
piston!

[008]

Unfortunately no local shops charge under $400 to rebuild the head. Must be the area I live in. Anyway I get new head, seats, and all my stuff from the old head. One lifter was busted and had to be replaced. I'll pick up the head tomorrow and collect all the various things needed to do the job such as gaskets, oil, etc etc.. sigh..

[butch100]

$400 to re-work a head is outragous! Hell, the reuse most of the
parts as long as there not bad. You can buy a new head for less
then 400 then put your parts (springs, lifters ,ect.) on it. Another
route is to go to a boneyard and get a used one. I decided to re-
ring all my pistons since I had to buy the rings as a set anyway
and put new rod bearings in as well. It all goes back together fri-
sat. I hope it works!

[hydrosmith]

Another little bit of an update on my '95 1.9L with the dropped vave seat. I have decided to buy a rebuilt head from the local Autozone, cost is $280. Pretty good I think. I even talked to their suppliers' customer service and he was amazed they were selling them at this price. I was hoping for a brand new cam but I am finding that anything under $425 has either the same cam in it or a reground one. This place also says they will take any core, even if it is broken in half! Has a 12month/12,000 mile warranty against any failure and towing if it fails and has to be towed.

[AaronR]

I heard a loud bang from my '95 1.9L too last nite! I was still able to drive it to my apartment, didn't notice anything unusual though, maybe sound came from other car nearby? hope my valve guide didn't drop. My escort only got 80k. I want to check the plugs before drive it again. Does it require the use of spark plug socket? I have some deep wall sockets. BTW what is the size?

[008]

Local chain stores wanted over $300 for a head, plus $150 for a "usable" core which I know mine isn't. The machine shop I took it to has been around for decades and builds race engines. He took apart the head, ordered a head with all new guides and seats, discovered one lifter's roller pin (not from the damaged cylinder) slipped and was gouging my head so that was replaced too. I now have a nice, all-new head without the chewed up combustion chamber and a 1 year warranty.

Aaron, it'll definitely run more than unusual if a seat dropped.

[92EscrtPmp]

Well, Mine finally gave up the ghost on me. The motor runs, but needs rebuilt, (which was never done) I replaced the Head on mine from the local Junk yard. the thing only had 20,000 miles on it, so I don't expect the motor to give out. But, the CV joints stripped out and the tranny only goes to 4th without a loud grinding noise. Total miles:
300,064.8 mi. She Served her purpose, but the body is shot. Looking into a 91 Pony w/135,000mi on it, supposed blown head gasket.

[hydrosmith]

Well the Escort is going to have to wait for now. Just when I was going to order the head our Windstar blew a fuel pump and cost $275 at the dealer which used up my available credit limit on my credit card. By the way don't run your EFI down close to empty a lot. My wife does this quite a bit and I came to the conclusion after seeing the way these electric pumps sit upright in the tanks that fuel is what cools them so if they are uncovered they are producing heat which will shorten the life of anything electrical. I would recommend refueling at a quarter of a tank always. My wife says she will reform her ways after this.

[butch100]

Got my '94 back up and running after a delay caused by hurricane
Charley. Funny thing was After it was finished there was no power
at any of the local gas stations to fuel it. I used it's battery as a
power source to run my 5" TV as we had no power for 4 days.
Lifters were a little noisey at first couple of minutes but it runs
fine now..