are supercoupes prone to headgasket blows like the n/a 3.8

C

coggonobrien

Registered User
just curious if I buy one if I should be ready to fix headgaskets at some point. Also I am right in assuming they would be a higher quality material.

Thanks,
David
 
If you beat on your car hard like many SC owners do, your car with go through many parts sooner. I don't believe the SC is more prone than the LX t-birds, the sc's run boost but they also have lower compression than the LX's. I've seen many cases on here where people have driven well over 100k without changing head gaskets. The fact is you have an aluminum head on a cast iron block, it going to happen at some point. When it does, use arp head studs which are reusable and it wouldn't hurt at any time to open the restrictive exhaust up a bit too.

With that said, I beleive they are just as prone to headgasket failure as the LX. I've done the job on both models several times, the SC is just more time consuming.

Chris
 
one of my SC's had 183k on it when I pulled the heads to do the gaskets and they still had the ford logo stamps on them from what I could tell. They were original for all I knew they were original unless done at a ford dealer with OEM gaskets. I put felpro's on it.
 
Same HG issues .. Ford didnt "fix" the problems until after the SC was out of production.


- Dan
 
There are two kinds of SC's Ones with blown HG's and ones that will blow HG's. :) They are kind of like light bulbs. Some go for years and some don't last long at all and you never really get much warning when they go. LOL I would have to say the SC is more prone to HG failure.

1. We have more cylinder pressure than a NA 3.8
2. Anyone with an SC is going to drive it harder than an NA 3.8. If not why have an SC???
3. Our stock cooling systems are on the ragged edge even for an engine in stock form.


You add all of that up and it means trouble. Of course there are always folks out there that have one's that have gone to see some high mileage and others that didn't get that long at all. Either way teh SC is more high strung than the NA motor and uses the same HG and TTY bolts as the NA motor.
 
No. They are not. It happens, but not enough to worry about. Like anything it is designed to do a job. It wasn't designed for the 24hrs of lemans to run at top output and come in with a smile. You beat on it, you can expect it to break. My DD white car had 200,000 on it with no problem. I replaced the HGs just because I suspected an issue. But they were just fine. Not totally wasted time because I cleaned the combustion chambers and viola!... lowered NOX emissions by 1/2. :eek:

My 5speed black car however, had blown HGs which is why I got it for cheap.. That engine still pulls great FWIW.
 
Last edited:
Detonation is always the most likely cause of headgasket failure on these cars. Fyi, I would be ready to fix head gaskets on one of these cars if you buy one with high mileage and don't know anything about how it was cared for. I have a 92 SC I might sell soon......That one I wouldn't be afraid of headgaskets failing for many years or anything major for that matter. I replaced them preventatively. Mine wont be a $1500 Supercoupe when it sells either, and I like everything to work on my cars. You kind of get what you pay for, many people are afraid to dig into these cars. Then you get a shop that works on it that doesn't know what they are doing either.
chris
 
Last edited:
TbirdSCFan said:
No. They are not. It happens, but not enough to worry about. Like anything it is designed to do a job. It wasn't designed for the 24hrs of lemans to run at top output and come in with a smile. You beat on it, you can expect it to break. My DD white car had 200,000 on it with no problem. I replaced the HGs just because I suspected an issue. But they were just fine. Not totally wasted time because I cleaned the combustion chambers and viola!... lowered NOX emissions by 1/2. :eek:

My 5speed black car however, had blown HGs which is why I got it for cheap.. That engine still pulls great FWIW.
Click to expand...

The only cars I have ever seen where people replace HG's for preventative reasons but at the same time HG's aren't an issue???? :)
 
Lol, I pulled the heads off because I had an exhaust leak at the manifold. I really didn't plan on it, but it turned out the leak was due to a bolt broken off in the head, and I wasn't going to do just pull one head so I pulled them both.

Chris
 
Last edited:
mywhite89 said:
Lol, I pulled the heads off because I had an exhaust leak at the manifold. I really didn't plan on it, but it turned out the leak was due to a bolt broken off in the head, and I wasn't going to do just pull one head so I pulled them both.

Chris
Click to expand...

If you are that far I would do the same thing man. It's kind of like pulling a transmission and replacing the rear seal while there. Crazy not to.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top