One isle over, I think they sell Daisy Red Ryder's -Lever action. The funny things people do when they get stung by one.

Their pretty accurate as well, I turned off the neighbors porch light @ 300 yards

 

Well I ordered the COP's from ebay and was hoping they would be here so I could put them on today. Unfortunetly they didn't eeven ship them for two days. So I don't have them for this weekend. Oh well, that's life and shipping.

I never replaced the fuel filter so I picked one of those up from Ford. I thought I would replace that and see if that does anything to help. I have never gotten a code or anythpcving from the problem and I did run out of gas about a month ago. So never chanin the fuel filter and running out of gas maybe I should just see what happens with the filter change. Can't hurt, and in fact it's recommended to change your fuel filter:o

Do they sell the fuel filter clip tool at Auto Zone? I sen the kids in there yesterday and they told the guy a fuel filter line wrench so I do not think the guy knew what they were talking about.

At Ford they didn't have PCV valve in stock Seems like they would have that little item doesn't it?

 

Usually takes 3 days.

Fuel filter is VERY important, I change mine every 9000 miles or 3rd oil change. It's nasty at that point. I didn't do that when I first purchased the truck. My fuel pump still went 90,000 miles before it puked. The fuel pump I'm running now has close to 200,000 miles on it, -so keep those filters changed.

Wow lol, that is unusual. I order those from Rock Auto. They have warehouse's all over the US so shipping is quick. No substitutes, these need the Motorcraft valve only, -unfortunately. Other 3rd party valves don't meet spec, but are cross referenced anyway.

 

I changed the fuel filter today and it didn't help but it did need it so no harm there.

I took the truck out today and tried to get the CEL to light up. It took a bit of doing but I finally got it. Then it stayed on. I took it to AutoZone and had them put the tester on it. Came up with one code P0301 - number 1 cylinder misfire.

I checked the heater hoses and I can tell from the dust on them and such that they have not been leaking so I think that I am good there for now.

Whats got me really bugged at theis point was that "oil leak" that I talked about. I tried to see where it's coming from and the best that I can see is behind the starter. It may be the head gasket leaking and I can't really tell if it's oil or water/coolant. It doesn't have a smell that I can tell and because the engine is pretty oily it seems that as the water runs down it appears like oil.

It looks like it coming from the back outside corner of the passenger head. Then it runs down and cover the starter and the bell housing of the trans.

I took some pictures and I just need to look at how to post them on here.

The truck doesn't seem to be steaming or at least not very badly. It's cold out so it hard to tell steam from warm exhaust. What can I do to diagnose if this is for sure a head gasket?

I was considering getting one COP from ford just because it's the front one. Also, because I don't know yet what the bigger isssue is yet so I may have to get into changing the head gasket. At that point then I could put in the whole set that I bought from ebay.

What would you do?

 

Throw a coil into #1, use one of your Global coils for now, no problem there.

How bad is it?

Idunno, - Do you have the time to clean her up well to determine where she's leaking?

Coolant can look like oil if it's dirty from touching the engine. It may smell/ it may not.

Sounds like a gasket though.
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It's an 03 tho... -Do this first, take a flash light , look behind the alternator/ top of the block, in the cavity. Is there coolant standing on top of the block ? You might get lucky.

Yea don't thro a coil in there yet until you check the cavity and check #1 plug chamber for coolant as well.

 

Here are the pictures. They are not very good but you can see that the fluid is all over the starter and bellhousing. The place that it is leaking from is right where the head meets the block at the gasket joint. Right near the back outside of the passenger head. The arrow in one of the pictures shows the wet area where it appears to be leaking.







I did look at the valley under the manifold. It's pretty dirty and oily but not real wet with coolant and not puddled with anything.

Do you suggest pulling the #1 COP and checking the port for coolant, if there isn't any, then drop one of the globals in and drive it? If it fixes the shuddering then replace all or jut leave the one in there since it's so easy to get to the front one?

I really believe it's the head gasket. My wife took the car in not long ago and had the oil changed. I checked it today and it was halfway between add and the bottom of the stick. So it's using a lot of oil.

Knowing that it's probably the head gasket I need to decide my plan of action. Replace the engine, rebuild the engine or replace the head gasket on both sides.

With 205,000 miles I don't know if I am in love with changing the head gaskets. Seems like putting the money into the top of this engine is like putting whip cream on dung. if coolant is getting into the cylinder it just doesn't seem great.

if I replace the engine I could get a new Jasper motor or one from the junk yard.

 

Well those pictures came out pretty small in the post. They are in an album that I made on this site. They are larger there if you need to seem them bigger.

 

Yea, I looked at them, - head gasket.

Click on the pick in your album, when it's in large view, two URL's display directly below your picks IF you are signed into your album. C/P the bottom URL into your thread here.

I'd be tempted to check the condition of the motor first, before changing them. It's a good size job.

You have over a 200,000 miles right. These engines should run 300,000 easy. Only if they were taken care of.

Can't really do a compression test with a bad gasket tho. Idunno, let me get someone else to take a look and advise you.

In the mean time, yea, just use one of your new coils in #1 for now, as long as it's dry in the chamber. Then post back how much better she runs. This will at least show you have enough compression to fire on all 8. You won't hurt the new coil.

 

 

 

thats head gaskets. Been there.. What year is your truck?

 

2003 F150 supercrew lariat 5.4 4x4

205,000 miles

 

Yeah when you take it apart you'll probably find its leaking in the valley to. Mines a 99. I went with another engine for a variety of reasons.. With that many miles thats the direction you might consider. Mine was doing the exact same thing oil dripping down on the manifold and all.

 

Thanks for posting Jethat - Yea, you found a low mileage 03 engine. Wasn't that about 40,000 miles ? I know you found a nice one, how much was it ?

BTW- mainjet - User Dynotech just did the gaskets in his engine. He'll probably post later on this morning. So he may post the cost and time it takes going thru that. He has a nice write-up as well in the "How To" section.

Hows it running Jethat?

 

Thanks jbrew PM sent. Mainjet, welcome to the head gasket club. I have a 97 4.6 so the basics are the same as the 5.4. Took me around 18 hrs to change both sides and I also installed new heads and intake manifold so some of that time was used building both those components up for the install but with a helper I think you can shave a few hrs off. I used Felpro head gaskets and they were around $43.00 each at Murrays. I installed new head bolts on one cyl head and reused a few on the other. I know some will dispute reusing head bolts but the head bolt supplier explained to us that they could be reused with no problems. Testing proved that they were infact reusable. That's your call obviously and if it makes you sleep better at night then buy new bolts just be sure to prestretch them before performing the final torque. There are others on this site that change cyl heads etc.in vehicles on a daily basis and I'm sure are much faster than I was but this was just my experience with my truck. Good luck