I haven't had the Lightning out in a couple of weeks so today I took it for a drive and things turned ugly.

Here's a little background:
The truck has 1,500 miles on it with no mods, well at least until last night.
I bought a second air box and modified it by cutting out the the bottom of the box on the side exposed to the engine bay. I also installed a K&N in the modified box. I put the box in las night knowing that I was going to drive the truck today. i pull the truck out of the garage and sut it off and wipe it down with my duster. I get in the truck and start it and I notice a little White/Gray smoke that looks like it came from the tail pipe on the right side of the truck. It has never done this before and I figure it has something to do with the modified air box. I let it idle for a minute, no more smoke, so I put it in gear and take off. So, the on ramp for me to get on the freeway is close to my house, less than a half mile. The on ramp is almost two miles long and I often jump on it hard because of this. Well, the truck feels like it has more power and barks second pretty good, something it hasn't done before, a pulls hard to 100 mph and I back off to get on the freeway. I look in the rear view mirror and it looks like the same White/Gray smoke I saw before when I started the truck in my driveway. It's not that bad and again I contribute it to the air box mod, like the computer is still adjusting for the larger amount of air and is mixing rich or something. I drive at about 75 mph for 30 mile and stop to get my hair cut. Truck sits for about 45 minutes. I make the return trip home with no smoke until I get to the end of that long off ramp. I jump on it hard after making a left turn onto about a quarter mile pice of road and White smoke comes pouring out from under and all around the truck. My stomach drops into my shoes and I get out of it quick. The Truck is still running good and I go the last four blocks home, smoke still coming out from under the truck. I pull up in my driveway and shut the truck off. I look down my street and see a trail of fluid that leads to underneath my truck. I look under the truck to see that tranny fluid has come from the transmission somewhere and has blown all under the truck. It coated everything from the tranny back and the rear bumper and tailgate. Pissed, I crawl under the truck to look for the leak. Well, the tranny cooler return line is just finger tight. I tighten it up and check the exit line and it is just a little tighter than finger tight. I tighten that one up and start the truck to see if anything else is leaking, all is good. Now starts the cleaning process and five hours later, new tranny fluid, things are clean and all seems well.
Go figure, those lines must have never been tight. 1,500 miles and leaking like that, someone on the line screwed the pooch.
Crossing my fingers somebody didn't forget to tighten the main caps to spec.
Just had to vent. Has this happened to anyone else or am I the lucky one?

 

PoneyXpres

Can't say it happen to me, But dam that was a good ending to what I thought was gonna be a bad one.
Your Lucky you caught it when you did, how much fluid did you end up actually loosing ???

 

Suppose "quality is job 1" is a marketing ploy or a real thing?



WOT

BTW: Guess what I'm gonna check for tightness tonight when I get home?

 

Must have been a Job 2 truck

 

Nooooooo!

I let it idle for a minute, no more smoke, so I put it in gear and take off. So, the on ramp for me to get on the freeway is close to my house, less than a half mile. The on ramp is almost two miles long and I often jump on it

I hope your L lasts another 1,500 miles but it might not if the above is what you usually do---to a 'cold' truck. Everything(tires, eng., trans, etc.) needs longer than that to get up to operating temp. Please don't take this as a flame and I know this didn't cause the fittings to be loose but you're hurting your L by putting a high load on everything before the temps are up and stabilized.

Dan

 

I would second the thought that your truck may need a bit more warm-up time before you make a WOT run. I'm surprised that in stock trim you can "bark second"............Mine never would with the torque management in place.

 

Mine NEVER barked the tires in stock form, but then again I let it warm-up before I threw the hammer down

 

PoneyXpres, thanks for the idea, I am going to check my lines in the am just in case.

My '02 L is stock with K&N and barked second on occasion. Since the Factory Tech valve body, and the Metco uppers, totally lighting up the rears with a sideways kick when hitting second on WOT. I have 9,000 miles on it now and every day I drive it, I get another surprise in amount of boost or seat of the pants feeling of power. It is definitely getting stronger. WooooooHooooo

 

Rob_02 I put two quarts in.

As far as the cold WOT run, the needle does just start to lift in the temp gague by the time I reach my on ramp. I have to say though that the temp out side was 57 degrees and that I'm sure helped with the second gear bark.

If the truck doesn't make it another 1,500 it's under warranty. I understand what you guys are saying about the engine temp stablizing but things warm up in an enging pretty quick even if the water temp gague doesn't show it real quick.

Anyway, thanks for the replys.

 

Poney,

The temp guage you're talking about is for the coolant. Just a word of caution here. Just because the coolant is getting warm, the oil takes a lot longer to get up to temp.

Until the oil is warmed up, critical parts are running on the dry side. Also, oil pressure could go so high as to cause problems. I've witnessed an engine (not a Ford engine) that blew off the oil filter can because the bypass couldn't handle that much pressure.

You may not have a problem while the warranty is in effect, but those cold WOT IS going to shorten the life of your engine.

Sure glad you didn't melt down that tranny.

 

Dont' worry about it. Both of my Lightnings have done the same thing. Usually just some carbon buildup burning off.

 

Me too... Glad its alright and running well!

-Mike

 

Poney,

The temp guage you're talking about is for the coolant. Just a word of caution here. Just because the coolant is getting warm, the oil takes a lot longer to get up to temp.

Until the oil is warmed up, critical parts are running on the dry side. Also, oil pressure could go so high as to cause problems. I've witnessed an engine (not a Ford engine) that blew off the oil filter can because the bypass couldn't handle that much pressure.

You may not have a problem while the warranty is in effect, but those cold WOT IS going to shorten the life of your engine.

Sure glad you didn't melt down that tranny.


__________________
Dave DeWinter
Lovejoy, Ga.

2003 Screw Lariat, 4.6L

Dave,
in my post right above yours I state that I do understand the difference between water temp and engine temp.

I would have to disagree about your oil theory. I believe that there may be about 1-3 seconds that it takes for the oil pump to circulate oil throughout the engine once started. Also, with 5/20 oil circulation is pretty rapid, warm or cold.

I hope that you don't take what I have said and think I'm a D**k but I have never had problems that have stemmed from a short warm up with any vehicle I have had and I have owned several.
I looked all through my owners manual for the Lightning and I was unable to find anything about warm up procedures, however there is notes not to let the engine high idle for more than ten minutes.

I guess what I'm trying to say to everyone is I didn't pull my truck out of the garage directly onto the on ramp and make a WOT run.
The truck had pleanty of time to warm up, engine and all.

I too am glad I didn't melt the tranny.