Well guy's... I took my truck to the dealer this morning for
rough idle, what I thought was a slight exhaust leak and I noticed a little bit of smoke. My tuck is a 99 F-150 XLT with the 5.4. The dealer called me this afternoon and said that the passenger side headgasket has a small leak and one of the ignition coils was shot. I really love this truck but I have seen this same problem WAY too many times. The truck is under the factory warranty but this will soon run out. Is just replacing the head gasket a proper fix? Would the block need resurfaced? What caused it to leak with only 30,000 miles? What can I do to prevent this in the future? I take pride in my truck and I take excellent care of it but I am also worried that this may be a recurring problem. If any of you have any advice please let me know. Can you get the extended warranty after you purchase the vehicle and before the factory protection expires? Is this a good idea?
Sorry for so many questions but any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

My '98 4.6 Romeo developed the passenger side headgasket leak with 13000 miles. I traded her in and purchased a '00 with the 5.4. I lost on the deal, however I did'nt want to always be thinking about another leak. Live and learn I guess.

 

I noticed that my 99 f-150 has a slight head gasket leak as well. The truck is off warranty but the engine only has 15,000 miles on it (FQR due to piston slap). It sucks I know, but it isn't leaking even enough to smoke or drip on my driveway, so I'm going to let it go. I've talked with many people on here who had there gasket replaced several times, head machined, etc. and it still didn't cure it.

Its just another ford V8 bug. I think so far I had every common problem with these trucks with exception to the door cracks, knock on wood.

kev

 

i had mine replaced a couple weeks ago with 42,000 miles. and believe me, that extended warranty just payed for itself twice. i asked why it was leaking, and the service manager said ford got a bad batch of gaskets at the factory.

 

Had my 4.6 Romeo in two weeks ago for the head gasket leak..only 7951 miles! I was told that it was a torque sequence problem on the heads which created unequal pressue on the heads sealing to the block. Although, there are cases were a casting flaw in the block warrants total engine replacement! I know how you feel...do I keep her or eat the loss with buying a new one? I'm at 8890 miles so far everything looks dry underneath mine, but those who are close to their warranties end may want to consider an extened warranty if you emotionally attached to your 150 (and who isn't?).

My experence tells me that once you have a problem with an engine, it tends to rear it's ugly "head" again and again. Think about it...eveyone who's had this problem seems to be getting a different explanation from Ford and their dealers service depts. How can there be so many different explanations/ solutions to a similar problem? Thicker gaskets, head torque, casting flaws, but one thing remains constant...seems we've all had the "leak" in the same area - Passenger side! Ford really should be doing more to nail down the answer to the problem and putting owners fears to rest. Maybe a GM dealer will give me a good $$ when it comes time to trade...or that leak re-appears, which ever comes first.

JR

2001 F-150 Xcab, Deep wedgewood Blue, 4.6 Leaky Romeo, auto, Sportsmaster bed cover. 8890 miles and going to church on a regular basis!

 

Dood,

I would go and see if you can still purchase the extended warranty. That fix is expensive and plus you can take it in for anything you want and have it fixed under warranty. If i ever buy a new vehicle i think i will purchase the extended warranty. The manf turn out thousands of those vehicles a day, it is no wonder they have their little quirks and problems, or have "bad batches" of gaskets. If it has low mileage like it does, i would venture to guess that the head was not surfaced properly to begin with, thus cause it to leak. I would try to make them double check that or note it somewhere so if they decided not to resurface, and it leaks again, then you can have them repair it for free when it does go out of warranty. Engines are built around thousandths of inches, so mating parts MUST be flat.

Good Luck

 

I've heard the problem is with the casting of the cylinder block. Not the head gasket. If it needs a new head gasket more than once, that usually means the block needs to be replaced. Whoever the service writer was that said it was "a bad batch of gaskets", is lying.

 

Timberghost,

Ford just replaced my 99 Romeo plant 4.6 ( I actually made it to 64K before leak started) with a remanufactured long block because they couldn't stop the leak after replacing the head gaskets. Seems interesting that even the factory trained Ford mechanics could not fix the leaks in the original engine. My guess is that this not a "gasket" problem...leads you to think something must be drasticly wrong with the design of the head / block mating surfaces or tolerances. Its also interresting that the TSB that covers this particular problem is specific to Romeo built engines only...not Windsor engines. What are they doing in Romeo that causes their engines to leak ?? Head bolt torqing sequencing as mentioned in the one of the replies is certainly a likely suspect.

Here's the exact language, 1st paragraph, from the TSB covering 98 to 2000 F-150's FYI:

"Some vehicles equipped with the Romeo built 4.6L 2V engine may exhibit an engine oil leak or oil weepage from the cylinder head gasket at the right hand rear or or left hand front of the engine. Oil weepage is not considered detrimental to engine performance or durability. An oil leak may be caused by metal debris lodged between the cylinder head gasket and the block, chip debris between the cylinder head and the head gasket, or by damage to the cylinder head sealing surface that occurred during the manufacturing process."

If you intend to keep your truck, you may want to look into the extended warranty.

 

Hi Timber

Sorry to hear of your problem with the leaking head gasket.
Just giving my opinion...

Your dealer/svc. dept. is going to attempt a fix...thats good for openers. Hey, who knows for sure...if may work just fine?

As posted here....if you can still get an extended warranty..that is something you need to consider...Ask dealer if available.

My 99SC has the 4.6L ROMEO engine with 17000mi. Low mileage..so only time will tell. However, i do have ext. warranty.

I also had ext. warranty on my 88 F250...but that was really a great truck...minor repairs under factory warr...minor repairs with the ext. warranty...but as i recall those repairs were about what i paid for the ext. warranty....Kept truck 10+yrs.

You have to decide whats right for you and of couse the $ involved. Insurance has always been a crap shoot...Have to figure the pros/cons.

I think there should be a dealer warranty on the work there doing, so many months/miles...so you need to find out about there warranty, As i recall OEM warranty and dealer warranty are different...meaning you may have coverage even thou the factory warranty has expired.

So...the good news...yes...good news...this happened before warr. expired...its on record...

Try and update if you can. Good luck....OT

 

No extended warranty for me. I would much rather pull that engine out myself than deal with another ford service manager, LOL.

If I would fix mine, I completely pull down and get the block decked and the heads shaved very slightly and go from there. But this is awhile away, like I said mine is barely leaking at all and it leaks out of the engine not into it, not even enough to ever drop a drip onto the ground.

kev

 

I have to agree with Frank S.

My '99 5.4 has the leak too. I know my std. warranty is running low so I checked with a service rep I've known (and trusted) for several years. His response was that they would check the block for flatness and determine if a new motor was necessary. There may be a gasket problem, but there is definitely a block problem too.

 

Well.... They still have my truck. It turns out that after replacing the headgasket and various other items they noticed that my intake manifold was cracked?????? The service person told me that there is a TSB for this and they had to order the new manifold. I will be sure to voice my concern to the service dept. for my record and also to the sales manager. I have been a die hard Ford fan all of my 27 years and it is disheartening to see quality issues like this. I've got a 91 Mustang that had been a dream (maybe because the only thing ford made that is under the hood is the block???) and I've got a Contour with over 100,000 miles on it. Not one real problem with either. I'm going to make sure that they know my concern of the cause of the oil leak so that if it does ever rear it's ugly head again, I will have some ground to stand on in a battle! I'll let you guy's know what comes of it.
Thanks fellas!

 

Hmm, intake cracked? That is the first I heard about that. Where is it cracked? Can it be seen without tearing down? What are the symptoms of having this cracked manifold?

kev

 

I'm not sure where it was cracked. I also had never heard of this problem. When I pick it up I'll ask to see it/keep it. I would guess that since it is plastic that it is pretty easy to break. They probably had it on the floor and someone drove over it?!?
I'll take my digital camera and try to get some pics.

 

YES! You can buy the extended warranty at any time BEFORE your 3/36 warranty runs out. You'll probably have to pay a couple of hundred bucks more than if you had bought it when the truck was brand new.

There's a guy who sells them at less than retail. There's a number posted somewhere and buying it from this guy from this particular dealer really adds up to a significant discount from what I recall.

BTW, I agree with FrankS. There is a problem with some 5.4L blocks having to do with defective casting. Changing the gasket won't fix the problem permanently if you got one of these defective blocks. To answer your next question, I have no idea how to figure out if you got a defective block.