Engine Pi 4.6 - Smoking Issue

bhuff30

Founding Member
Dec 11, 2001
6,037
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129
Olathe KS
I bought some parts over the weekend, and included was a PI 4.6L with 28k miles. Unfortunately, it literally spews oil and blue smoke out the drivers side exhaust.

It is possible the issue is just a head gasket issue. Otherwise, it is probably something major, like a cracked head or cylinder bore (but I can't imagine why).

Anyway, what are your recommendations to do with the parts? My 97 GT already has a PI intake and cams, but no PI heads yet. It also has 216k miles. It drives and runs great with the exception of an occasional puff of smoke from the valve stem seals (which freshened PI heads would take care of ;)).

So what do you suggest?
Swap PI heads onto the 216k NPI shortblock for a nice bump in compression, and drive another 200k miles?
fix the PI engine and swap it into the GT, along with the existing mods I have? (keeping in mind my engine is perfectly fine and very strong).
Find a GT with a bad engine, repair and re-sell for a profit?
Sell the engine whole? Parted?

What about the COP conversion? Is it worth the effort, or just cleans up the engine bay? I have to say, I frequently read about COP failures, but the remote coils on my 97 GT have worked perfectly.


Hopefully, I can start tearing it down in the next couple of weeks to see what the issue is. If it is a ring/bottom end problem, that makes the decision pretty easy.
 
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