The Autopsy....oh, my!!!

[F100lady]

Well, got the radiator support out & engine stripped yesterday. We pulled an all-nighter to get ready to ship the old one back first thing today... [smilie=pdt_au.gif] Worked our behinds off... [smilie=pdt_drv.gif]

Imagine the horror as I removed the left valve cover---intake #6 pushrod out from under rocker arm & bound against it! :shock: :shock: :shock: OMG!

For the record, it wasn't running THAT crappy until the Start-up-before-last, when I knew *something* was terribly wrong & decided to do compression test. Before that time, it seemed like a simple mixture and misfire issue; have driven worse-running vehicles in my day! :wink: Perhaps bumping the engine during compression test jolted stuff into the 'final' position?

Anyway, upon the final start-up (to get 'er turned around & into the shop) I knew *something* was worse than ever, and was very glad I didn't have to leave my own property. Couldn't wait to open it up.... [smilie=pdt_bot.gif]

I've gone over everything in my head :? (at least a dozen times) that I did on the last swap. Makes me a little nervous about the warranty since I had to remove/replace the rocker shafts to install the intake manifold. But I checked and double checked, primed the engine, checked oiling action by turning oil pump drive manually; turned it a little with the starter too---and *watched* rocker action before installing covers---man, I'm just so sure I did things the way they should've been done.

Well, gonna take my time putting it all back together. Thanks for reading this far. Your words of encouragement (everyone!) gratefully acknowledged. 8)