2002 F150 4.6 167km



So over the past few weeks I've noticed that I've been losing coolant. Not a lot, and not very quickly. I haven't really noticed any symptoms of a blown head gasket.. No codes. No loss of power. No oil in coolant and no coolant in oil. I was however getting some white smoke out of the tail pipe, but only in the morning and for maybe for the first 5 minutes.

I also have a oil leak that has been getting worse. Only leaks when the truck is running. Down the passages side... I assumed it was the head gasket problem that has plagued these 4.6 engines.

So after doing some research I thought I would removed the intake and take a peak in the valley and inspected/replace the intake gaskets. I had read a lot of issues from bad gaskets, and I figured I'd get a good look at my oil leak. My thought was I had a small leak in the manifold gasket and while the truck was off it was leaking into a cylinder collecting and once the truck started it was being burn off... And once the truck heats up it was stop leaking... Or it was a small leak and it didn't cause any white smoke once the collection had burnt away.

All that said.. Now that the manifold is removed I have discovered some issues and I have some questions that I would like to propose to the experts here on the forum.

In the picture you can clearly see that the far back left and the front left intake are cleaner than the rest.. The far back being very clean.. Would this be due to the intake gasket leaking coolant and it being steam cleaned? Or would this be due to a bad head gasket and it being steam cleaned? Or both are possible? I've attached a photo of the gaskets too, you can see the areas of concern. Or, am I right in thinking that the gasket failed, and this is the cylinder where the coolant was collecting?

Also, when I took the manifold off the truck, I placed it on my garage floor. Not thinking to much of it. Fast forward 5 minutes later and oil began dripping out of it. Which I don't know why? My only thought is either there is a ton of blow by coming up the intake, but one would assume you would get a lot of blue smoke out the back of that was the case. Which I don't have. Or my PVC is bad or weak and I'm sucking a lot of oil up into the intake. The air filter is clean and I didn't really notice any oil in the Throttle Body.


In regards to the head gasket oil leak.

In the pictures you can clearly see that oil is seeping out of the head. It's very dirty in the far back left side. But it's not soaking wet.. One would think that if it was at actively leaking it would be soaked. Which it really isn't... Dirty yes. But not soaked. Could my oil leak be caused my the oil in the manifold? Could it be caused by a bad pcv??


I take no enjoying out of doing a head job. Especially for a truck this old. I have done some reading on people cleaning up the joint between the block and head and giving that a good coat of JB Weld to atleast slow down the leak. Has anyone tried that?? Anyone can say it works it doesn't?


Your thoughts and opinions are greatly appreciate it!

Thanks.

 

I was getting white smoke out of my 97 5.4L and only for the first few minutes. No loss of power or any fluids, but the white smoke bugged me. I replaced the head gaskets, and all the gaskets that came with my Fel Pro kit and the problem is solve. Actually runs better than new. I hope that helps with the white smoke question.

 

Well, I will take a bit of a different recommendation. It does appear that the leak was coming from the intake gaskets... that could easily leak into the cylinders, leak past the rings into the oil causing the milky appearance..... and it wouldn't take much to do that to the oil. Since your compression test is good, IMHO I would put the intake back together and do a dye test on the coolant..... it's quick, not expensive and if it 'all good ya just saved yourself a bit of work... if not, you really only lost a couple of hours to R&R the intake manifold. The V6 & V8 engines of that era are not known for "head gasket" issues so I would lay odds if I was a betting man, and looking at the intake, that all is good below the heads.

 

6 year old posts..........