HE NEEDED NEW HEADS!!!!!!! ACK!!!!!

 

the surface had defects and wont seal properly.

 

I had oil leaking what seems to be the same spot you are talking about. it got to the point where there was oil on the floor after setting all night. when i took it to get looked at they found it to be the head gasket. Took it in two weeks ago and have had no problems of any oil leaks. sounds like you have a head gasket leaking. mine was leaking in the back, hard to see with out removing some stuff.

 

Thanx to everyone who replied... I wish that it was warmer in Connecticut so I could try everyone's awesome tips and hints to finding this leak...

But a couple of people had a couple questions about my truck...
It is a 1997 F-150 with a 4.6L and it has around 110,000 miles on it. I still owe money on it and love the truck so I want to fix it so that I can keep it for life.

Again I am thankful to everyone who has written on this post everyone has helped. And if any of you are in the Norwich, CT area let me know... I owe you a beer!!!

Matty Sabs

 

You have the famous head gasket failure. Right hand, rear side of the engine. I notice you have a 1997. The symptoms are always the same. Smell of burning oil and oil saturated starter. The defective gasket can't seal oil from the high pressure oil port. The numbers and cause I am showing are for 1998-2001. If you look at your build date you may find your engine has the infamous gasket. The cost to repair is about $1500 and the new proceedure is to pull the engine.

Here are the TSB's involved for the leak. Ford’s service bulletin numbers for this defect are TSB 03-06-02, TSB 01-21-10, TSB 02-01-04, TSB 02-21-13, and 02-22-07. TSB 02-22-07 is for the CYLINDER HEAD DECK
LEAK in a 5.4L engine.

This defect is in every motor made at the Romeo and Windsor plant from 1998-2001.

Here is an excerpt from an internal Ford document on this defect. My job is to make sure everyone knows about it. Everyone needing repair needs to go to the NHTSA website and fill in the boxes with their model and year. Do the same at the Center for AutoSafety.

*Ford Document
Head Gasket Leaks
1998-2001 MY
- Head gasket intolerant to manufacturing variations/dirt
- Revised processes at Romeo Engine Plant
- Changes to head gaskets - 4 valve in 2002
- 4.6L Head Gasket Oil Leak: (*my note, also 5.4L)
- TSB 03-06-02 - New Service Only Gasket
- TSB 01-21-10 - Head assembly kit w/gaskets
- TSB 02-01-04 - Head gasket service procedures
- TSB 02-21-13 - Staightedge Procedures for checking cylinder head and block flatness

Sorry for the length, but allot of posts at this site are about this problem.