Working on a 2000 F150 with the 5.4 and as near as I can determine its leaking antifreeze externally at the front of the passenger side head gasket. Seems a little odd. The coolant is a nasty dirty orange color. With the truck running on the hoist it was dripping very steady off of the very front exhaust manifold bolt.
View 3 RepliesI have a 97 with a 4.6 Triton motor I need to replace the head gasket on the passenger side number 3 is leaking nothing else is wrong with motor so I have it torn down to timing chain cover and ready to remove. do i have to take the drivers side valve cover completely off to take timing chain cover off or can I take to first 2 studs out of the drivers side front valve cover and side the timing cover off. I just want to replace the passenger side head gasket and get rid of truck.
View 6 RepliesOur 05 Elantra (170k miles) is leaking coolant externally from the head gasket. At first I thought it was coming from the freeze plugs, but it's actually leaking from above. I'm mechanically inclined but have no experience with head gaskets. I have access to Alldata but no service manual. Will it tell me everything I need to know? The farthest I've gone inside an engine is removing valve covers car runs great and we like it enough to want to keep it for a while ... I'll also mention I will be replacing the timing belt as well.
View 7 RepliesSo I've put about 1000 miles on my 03 F250 since buying it, and just the other day it's started leaking from the rear of the passenger head gasket. Enough to drip on the driveway and exhaust, and have some exhaust smell. 126,000 miles, 5.4
I've checked with my local ford dealer, and It also needs passenger exhaust manifold and studs, so the dealer price to tack that on would be a whole lot more too since there are already a couple studs broke. It would be best to get it done when the head is pulled.
I've checked with several local mechanics, and none of them are interested in pulling the head on this engine. That has me concerned about doing it myself too..especially since it fits in my garage with only a few inches to spare..
99 f150 4.6 4x4 ... auto.. so, driving on the interstate I had to accelerate hard to avoid hitting a crazy driver... after that I smell antifreeze... get home can't find a leak.. wait a bit and I see antifreeze leaking passengers side coming down the firewall outside... if you are laying behind the passengers front tire with your feet to the back tire.. looking up you see the catalytic converter.. behind that on the firewall a stream of antifreeze... follow the stream up and there is a piece of plastic just about were the firewall starts to go straight up from the floorboard bend.. putting my hands in that it goes inside..and its wet inside..
I can't tell what that's for really but. Am I guessing evap coils access? any rate. I don't feel any dampness inside yet.. but I do smell it in the cab stronger now. I haven't ripped up the carpet either. Im suspecting my heater core sprung a leak?? there is a good amount of fluid coming out and down the firewall outside I would say I have about a 6-foot puddle now. course I parked on a hill too. no fluid that I can tell is at all leaking off the heater core hoses.. they felt dry. Im guessing there is a drain port in that black box inside and that is where this is coming out?? no noticeable leak from the motor side.. it's all dry.. its actually going down the firewall and hitting a metal plate that carries out to a cross member on the transmission and then leaking down.. motor area is dry.
Have my oil leaking-passenger side head gasket replaced (along with the drivers side for preventative measures).
To ease my mind at such an expensive repair on a truck I just recently bought, I was wondering what else gets replaced with this repair.
Obviously the head gaskets along with head studs, coolant and oil, but anything else? valve cover gaskets? intake gasket?
My wife has a 2002 F-150 King Ranch 5.4l. Recently I noticed a oil smell and I had the mechanic take a look. He said the head gasket is leaking oil. Not a bad leak but it is leaking. The truck has 160k miles on it. I can't decide what to do...
What generally happens with a head oil leak? Will the engine crater or just keep leaking? My plan was to buy my wife a different truck and I would keep the truck, but I don't wont to keep it if the head leak is terminal for the engine...
Radiator replaced 2 yrs. ago - required major rust cleanout; reservoir replaced shortly thereafter. Recently engine always hot, antifreeze disappearing, reservoir always looks rusty, nothing much coming out underneath, mechanic pressure tested and couldn't find a leak, told to watch for antifreeze in oil, none apparent. Now suddenly car ran hot, antifreeze came out of reservoir, cap replaced, still couldn't find leak. Today said head gasket blown. Repair head gasket, but can't guarantee wouldn't still have radiator problems. Suggested could try Blue Devil head gasket repair but may not work.
Is it worth :
(a) trying the Blue Devil;
(b) repairing the head gasket?
Or will I still have major repair needs with radiator etc.? I really can't afford even a cheap replacement car.
Ok I got this truck from my mother-in-law for free with a blown head gasket cylinder 6 driver side. I did the replacement had the heads machined put it all back together by the book. Now I can't get it to fire on all 6 cylinders only 5 I think. Thought maybe bad gas (it sat since late November) put 5 gallons (over double the gas) fresh gas and half a bottle of b-12 chem tool. Dubble checked all plugs wires connections (coils plugs wires all new). I drove for about 10 miles oil pressure and temperature stayed perfect but no change in running truck shakes a lot and no real power. Don't sputter or backfire no engine codes other than imcr bank 2 open. Engine is 4.2l v-6 170k miles.
View 2 RepliesI have a 1997 Saab 9000 CSE Turbo. It has been a great car overall. Last summer, our water pump died while cruising on the highway, leading to a major overheat, leading to warped head. We decided to roll the dice on a rebuild, which was done by a reputable import specialty shop that has worked on many Saab 9000s. Since we got the car back 5000 miles ago, we have lost a few miles per gallon, and we hear a rough noise in the engine (particularly when it's cold). In the last few thousand miles, we lost a lot of coolant, apparently because the new water pump is faulty (the shop looked at it and agreed to replace under warranty). In the last 1000 miles (but no evidence of it previously), we have begun losing oil like crazy and occasionally (but not most of the time) smelling burning oil (the heater is on, moving air around). We are now adding about a quart per 200 miles. When we inspect the block, there is some small evidence of oil leakage, but not a lot, and there are never drips on the driveway.
Where is all that oil going? I showed it to the shop, we put it on the lift, and there is no spray on the underside, leaking oil pan, etc. I suspect the new head gasket is leaking, but there is little enough residue on the block that it's hard to be certain. What other explanations are there, and is it fair for me to blame the repair shop and insist that they redo the head gasket? The shop is a 6hr drive from my house, so I can't just drop by to discuss it with them.
I bought this Subaru outback with 100,000 miles- clean car fax, etc, did the timing belt, water pump, thermostat at 102,000. Now at 116,000, the head gasket is leaking ($2,200 estimate) so the repair shop is working on that and they called today to say the #2 cylinder is scored and the engine needs to be rebuilt. ($4,000 estimate). I'm not sure if I should have them proceed with he work- that's a bunch of money or look for another engine, or what to do !! Its a great little car- but geez- what to do-
View 5 RepliesMy 97 f150 5.4 started missing on 5,6 it had antifreeze on top of the spark plugs but i cant figure out where its coming from my truck has been loosing coolant and it seems like the system is holding pressure because every time i take the cap off the radiator overfill i can hear it hissing then i see the antifreeze level plummet there's no visible leaks that i have seen when the truck is running an missing it steams out the exhaust but when its no missing it doesn't seem to be there's no milky oil or anything the thermostat doesn't seem to be leaking either the truck has over heated a couple times due to the antifreeze disappearing or the temp wont move at all then it shoots all the way to hot and cools down within seconds to normal i just put a new thermostat in. Also it sometimes misses on 4 and my exhaust smells like straight gas i put 4 gallons in it got 29 miles out of it .
View 10 RepliesI just bought a used 5.4 for my 99' F150 4X4. My current engine has a blown head gasket. Anyway, I was able to hear the engine run before I bought it, and was able to check it out some. (oil, anti-freeze) I was told that this engine was bought from a salvage yard with 50K, and 50K more put on it before I bought it.
I was also told that the intake manifold is newer, from Autozone, and it has newer Accell coils. My question for you all, is ..... What do YOU think I should do otherwise before I install this engine. Oil pump? water pump? seals? ...
I have a 03 5.4 F150 SCrew... The intake was leaking on the passenger side (water outlet tube meets plastic).
Putting in the Dorman replacement and noticed that the front cylinder drivers side (#5) had a decent amount of coolant in it.. None of the others did. I've drained the coolant already and was wondering should I just put this back together and see?
The water outlet crossing has a hole right next to this cylinder and I can't see any cracks and not sure if the gaskets were leaking under it.
Seems like if the head gasket was blown I would see it in more cylinders? It never smoked or run bad before I got this leak... Drove it maybe 10 miles with it leaking out onto Cyl#1. Ran fine, never missed.
I just don't want to put this back together if the head gasket is blown but I don't know what to do.
I have my 4.6L engine on a stand in the garage. I think I have a blown head gasket. I am ready to remove the heads.
My Haynes book says: "Caution:Use the required camshaft retaining fixtures to lock the camshafts and leave the tools in place."
A google search shows nothing. Why, what does it do?
The problem is my new-to-me 97 Ford F150 5.4L SOHC engine, auto transmission, is overheating after driving it for a short while. Seems to be fine at idle. I have read previous posts with the exact same issue, but the consistency seems to be all over the map from burping the system, head gasket, thermostat, and possibly a plugged radiator.
Backstory:200,000+ miles.
Truck sat for 6 months after previous owner broke the shift cable.
Truck was in a front end collision. Frame looks bent underneath the engine.
Previous owner had overheating problem. He said he changed the heater core. Looks like brand new coolant in the system so story probably checks out. Desperately needs an oil change. Very black oil.
Previous owner thought the system needed a burping. So I'm largely assuming the problem started after the heater core change, or he misdiagnosed an overheating problem and thought the heater core could cause it. I have found a radiator cap and thermostat in the truck which seems to indicate he tried many things to fix the overheating and was unsuccessful. Engine looks pretty clean for the miles.
Symptoms/Backyard Tests :
Blows cold air with heat on highest level and on defrost.
Blender door fuse intact.
Doesn't overheat at idle.
Ran the truck for 15 mins with the coolant bottle fill cap off on level ground to try to burp it after draining some coolant and checking the thermostat orientation. Coolant level increased in the bottle. Large air bubbles came out. (Another session before this one, I ran it for 30 minutes with no coolant cap, and eventually coolant overflowed the fill bottle. Normal or no?)
Seems to overheat after the thermostat opens. After doing the 15 minute warm up/burp, I took it for a test drive. I drove it about 20 blocks with the temperature gauge on the dash reading the same as the warmed-up idle temperature. Got to the 20th block and the gauge immediately spiked to overheat with the oil pressure dash light coming on. I could be mistaken as the oil pressure light almost looks exactly like the overheat dash light. But I'm pretty sure the temperature icon was on the right side of the oil can icon and not the left.
After the above drive: Upper rad hose too hot to touch.
After the above drive: Lower rad hose medium warm. Could hold on to it if I felt like it.
After the above drive: Upper part of rad pretty hot. Not Insta-burn but hot. Tempature decreases to warm to cool as you go lower down the rad.
After the above drive: Both heater core hoses going to the cab luke warm.
Coolant looks brand new.
Radiator looks slightly bowed. Probably from the accident? Otherwise looks clean and minimal bent fins.
Drained some coolant and pulled the upper rad hose to see if the thermostat was upside down. Looks installed correctly.
No signs of weep hole leaks from the water pump.
Fan seems solid. Has maybe 1-2mm of play in the bearings.
Something that looked like steam from the muffler at startup, that disappeared after getting closer to a normal range warm engine.
I have driven crap cars for many years and I've never seen a plugged radiator which makes me skeptical of it being that. All the radiators I have changed were because they were eventually leaking from cracks in the radiator.
I would also be interested in doing an informal poll if you have read this far and have had this era of F150 that overheated. Have you ever repaired the head gasket? And/or have you ever changed the radiator?
I just purchased a 2003 F150 Supercrew 4.6 that had been wrecked, but somewhat repaired. I knew the owner said it had a blown head gasket. It has water in the oil (small amount asi it is lightly milky) and water starts dripping from the exhaust after it has run for a few minutes. I did not run it long, but throttled it up to warm the engine. It started dripping soot filled water from the exhaust connections. I bought it to put a 4bt in it anyway, but want to sell the motor with the ability to tell the buyer the skinny on it. I drove it on the trailer and off with no apparent loss of power noticeable.
View 2 RepliesI have an 08 Explorer with the 4.6v8. I've noticed the clutch fan on at start up the last few days. Check anti freeze and I was empty in the reserve. While filling the reserve there is a steady drip from the passenger side but I can not see it. It's trickling down the radiator but can't see from where. Is there a common hose, sensor or crack in reserve tank I should be looking for? Car hasn't overheated as of yet. It leaks with no pressure in radiator as well as with.
View 1 RepliesWent to start my truck to leave work yesterday and blew the coil on #2. It's happened before and I can fix that. The other weird thing that happened was that the radiator leaked out some antifreeze. Not a lot, but a good 2 foot puddle. The reserve was still full and it leaked from the passenger side at the bottom (below the upper hose). Upper and lower hose show no sign of leakage. I suppose the drain is on the lower end of the passenger side of the radiator and it leaked from there. Would the compression from the engine cause that to happen? Or is it something more, dare I say, like the head gasket blew?
View 7 RepliesI have a quick question, I just replaced the head gaskets on my 4.6 with 301,000 miles on it and now my battery only charges when you punch it and when you lift off the gas pedal, in town it does fine, but on drives 25 miles on the highway the battery guage goes to the line on the bottom. What could be causing that?
View 2 RepliesNew truck to me. Truck was advertised with a slow coolant leak. Figured I would trace the leak down and get it repaired no issues. Anyway, working on it this evening I take a close look around the oil filler area and notice the dreaded milkshake color.
I drained the oil out of the truck and the oil actually came out nice and black. Is the headgasket the only area that would cause the oil/coolant mixture? Supposedly the truck has never been overheated.
At any rate, on to find articles on how to pull apart a 4.6L Triton head. I'll see if I'm up to this challenge.