WEll It has happened to me now. I m in the mddle of doing my tranny and was waiting for a buddy to finish up some body work on the truck and i decided to drain my oil..since it had 2700 miles on it i said ill change it. Well I take the bolt out and <SPLASH> Come flying out at me for about 2 second then drips like regular oil.. Gets All over me. I start smelling all Sweet!! OH NO ANTIFREEZE!! THere was not to much. But here is my question. SHould I be ok if i dotn do anything stupid with the truck till the end of march, then yank it apart then or should i do it now?? Let me know.. Dont want to break my engine but i need a vehicle to drive.

Joe

 

You could try putting a stop leak in the rad & keep a close eye on oil level if it goes up park it. I do hope it's a head gasket, not something horrible I wish all good luck with it. Had this problem in a Crown Victoria 5.8 L figured it was a hairline crack in block I sold it

 

I lose all the coolant in my recovery tank every 2,000-3,000 miles but I can see that it's all ending up on the driveway so far. My coolant doesn't have any oil in it and there is no coolant in the crankcase either but I know it's just a matter of time.

Ford has serious deficiencies when it comes to gaskets. Not only is there the all out recall on the front cover gasket but there is also a TSB for the the Right and Left side Lower Intake Gaskets causing coolant to leak into the oil.



For those that did experience connecting rod failure, it was always very sudden so it's hard to say how long the engine will last if there is coolant in the crankcase. Worst case would be that you are driving on the highway when it goes because then you'll destroy your transmission as well.

If I found coolant in my oil, even though it's a long shot, I'd contact a compassionate service rep and see if Ford will cover any of the repair bill for either replacing the gaskets or the engine. (Ford recomends replacing the engine if there is coolant fond in the oil)


You may look at this as bad luck but I see it as a Ford design issue and feel that they should take responsibility for it.

 

Antifreeze in the oil is what won me a new 4.2 from Ford when I already had 50,000 miles on the truck. I loved that recall on the 97 4.2. Ford replaced the motor with no questions and it didn't cost me a dime. Gotta love that.

 

Is there an official recall from Ford on the 4.2's? I have a 1998 F150 and have coolant in the oil. The local dealership replaced the water pump one month ago after it started leaking. The engine never overheated before the pump was replaced. Now the coolant disappears into the engine. No external leaks. However the oil on the dipstick is milky and the residue on the inside of the oil cap is white.

I took the truck back to the dealership. They looked at it for two days and pressure tested it among other things. They claimed they weren't sure what the problem was and would need $467 dollars to take the engine apart and look inside. They never mentioned anything about gasket recalls or TSB. I told the dealership "No thank you!"

The truck is now at a reputable mechanic. He says that the head gaskets are blown and need to be replaced and the heads will need to be resurfaced. The same problem Ford had with this engine as a 3.8 V6.

My truck only has 63,500 miles and no severe wear. I don't think I should be having this kind of problem. Any info on official recalls or where to locate them would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Randall

 

Sounds to me as though the Ford tech is the one who caused oil contamination if it wasn't there before the water pump change.
You'll need to take this up with the dealer and don't allow them to get anymore money out of you, call Ford customer service and tell them what happened.

The gasket problems on our 4.2L's are for the front cover (timing chain) and lower intake manifolds.

You need to communicate with the dealer and Ford Corporate if the dealer caused the problem.

63,000 miles before an engine failure is pitiful.

 

Well, I have something strange going on with the coolant and think that the dealer is starting to blow smoke.

I had the timing chain cover leak repaired about 6 months ago at 52000 miles. Earlier this winter, the heater was not working so good due to low coolant (it is not leaking visibly...). The coolant was over a gallon low. I had the oil changed and noticed the white film on the filler cap and asked the folks changing the oil if they had seen any problems with the oil, which they had not. I chalked up the low coolant to the dealer not filling up all the way and went on. Made a mental note though to keep an eye on it. Well I checked again on Friday and was 40 oz. or so down again. The oil was not milky, but didn't seem right either for only 1500 miles on it. The white residue was on the cap again. Checked here again, and noticed the problem appears to be wide spread. Took it back to the dealer yesterday and checked with them the oil on the filler cap and dip stick. Both looked clear!
I had them check over the engine anyway and pointed out the TSBs referenced in the previous post. Today they come back and say they have found nothing wrong.

Any ideas? I guess I am going to take it back and keep a really close eye on things now....