I know there are a hundred threads on this but I wanted to ask those people who had the gasket fail. My brother has a 98 4.2L and it is low on coolant. The oil shows no residue of coolant in it. But the Oil filler cap tube is covered in a yellow white greasy film. I was assuming this is from the vehicle not getting warmed up very often to evap. Or is this just a definite exaple of that lower intake gasket failing.

Also how big of a procedure would it be for a shop to test the gasket?

 

also another thing to add, I have never added coolant in the 4-5 years I have owned the truck. Is it normal for it to loose coolant at all?
Its not completly empty is prolly down to about an inch above the bottom.

 

Then stuff on the cap is prolly just from evap from too many short trips.
If you see the level in the overflow bottle going down and there are no visible leaks, the coolant is going somewhere in the engine. Wait till the motor is cold then top up the overflow bottle to the cold fill line. Then check it every day, if its going down with no leaks then its going into the motor which is bad. If you leave it too long you run the risk of hydrolocking your motor. $$$$$ to fix.

Not sure how they would test it? maybe a pressure test?

When I had mine changed I did the upper/lower intake gaskets and the timing cover gasket. If you go this route get the Motorcraft gaskets. I've heard that the felpro one can leak again after a few years. The gaskets are relatively cheap, maybe $100 for all of them, its the labour that will hurt. My job was quoted at 11.5 hrs..took them 14hrs.

 

Look on the drivers side valve cover for the engine build date decal.What is the date on it?

 

try this link. Hope it helps. hydraulic lock
https://www.f150online.com/galleries....cfm?gnum=7479
Gill.

 

The sticker is gone on my motor. The Build date on my truck door jam is 01/98. I dont know if I have the bad gaskets or not. Its so border line.

 

If that's the truck's build date, 99% sure you have the bad gaskets if it's the original engine and they have never been replaced.

 

Figure about 3-6 months before your truck was built was when the motor was made so I'd bet you have the bad gaskets.

 

is there any other way to find the build date on my motor without the valve cover sticker?

 

If your truck was built in 1-98 you most likely have/had the bad gasket.

 

Considering the date the new gaskets hit the engine assembly line was 1/15/98 (I believe) it's almost certain yours are old.

 

I'll give it a shot give me your vin

Dennis

 

Dennis... I hope you don't take this personally... but you site is not a well-formed e-commerce site that I would trust shopping at, or even browsing. It sucks.

That banner is annoying, the text and color scheme are yack...

Just giving you suggestions.

 

OK,

thanks, We were invited to sponsor this page, of the 1000's of customers we have from other sites this is the first time we have heard that someone didn't like the color scheme or been able to use the site with ease.

I would be glad to walk you thru it if you are unable to navigate it.

Sorry to hear you don't like it. But thanks for checking the site out.

Dennis

 

Oh, I know how to use it... but since it is the general TradeMotion system, I know exactly how it works.

I only am saying this because I am in the IT field, and I got a general baseline on what would make someone want to go to your site and buy something.

It's not that I don't necessarily like it... but I feel for average computer user, it might be kind of difficult or the coloring might be too... oh... um... childish... and distracting. Having the grays and appropriate form colors would help.

And get rid of the marquee at the top... it's sooo distracting.

Hope this clarifies things a little.