well yesterday i was pulling out a chevy that got stuck
and about half way out my engine died down and smoke started coming out
i tried reving it while in drive and the rpms would barley jump up. i turned the truck off and smelled coolant. all but a little bit was gone.

i left it off for awhile and turned it on and it ran fine. i went to autozone
later last night and got my CEL scanned. i forgot what the code was but the
possible reasons were...low coolant, a cylinder overheating (guy said to check for water), and some sensor that is next to the intake manifold(not the MAF).

i put more coolant in today and added a quart because i was low one, but
after i took out the funnel i noticed a mustard color on the tip. so i look at where
you put the oil in and their was a mustard color substance on the top.

truck runs fine and im going back to pull him out today but what do you guys think??

the CEL is still on and my coolant seems to be fine. you think i got water in it?

any advice/ideas will help

 

Hello,
I am the technical manager for Prestone. Not sure what the mustard colored stuff is your looking at but would be happy to try and help you figure out what is going wrong. Your engine shutting down is a system that temporarily disables fuel and spark if the engine temp gets too hot on any cylinder. It is Ford's way of saving you from blowing a head gasket or engine if your engine is overheating. You really need to figure out where you lost coolant as that is your number one issue. It didnt evaporate!. You can usually borrow a coolant system pressure tester from Advance or Autozone. This will allow you to artificially pressurize the system so you can look for the leak. If you can get your cel codes checked and give me the code, I can send along troubleshooting information to help figure out the code. Send a pciture of the mustard goo and I will ask our chemists if they know what it is.

 

I would check compression. Sounds like a head gasket to me. Loss of coolant, overheating, yellowish color oil, Running rough, smoke coming out, after you let it cool off it runs a little better but when warm it doesnt... etc
Do a hydrocarbon test on whats left of your coolant and a compression check..

 

thanks for the info motorking!
i talked to a guy i work with and he said i may need a new cap for the resovior or the radiator.
when i opened the hood the cap was on but there was coolant on top. so i think it just leaked out the top.
as for the oil. it wasnt in the oil on the dipstick. just around the top tunnel where you put the oil and i whiped that off.

my truck stoped running rough ever since i first turned it off yesterday when all this happened. seems like i need to do that compression test though. ill go back to autozone later today and post the code here.

 

The smoke/steam you talked about was coming from under the hood or out the tail pipe?
If your talking about the filler cap for the oil, the yellowish residue on the bottom of the cap is normal.
You said the cap was still on the reservoir and had coolant around it, but it didnt blow off. Yet all but a little bit of your coolant was gone? Bit stumped

 

ya it was coming from under the hood. and ya man i dont get it either.
the code is p1299

definition:
-cylinder head over-temperature protection active
explanation:
-the ECM detected an over heat condition- failsafe cooling strategy activated
Probable cause:
-low engine coolant(jsut checked it. its fine)
-drive belt off(no idea where thats at to check)
-failed cylinder head temperature sensor(no idea baout this either)

got that info from autozone, no idea what to do now.

 

Replace the CHT Sensor.

 

Before you replace the CHT sensor these would be a good idea:

- Thoroughly check all coolant hoses for any possibility of leaks. This would be where I would start, as replacing a bad hose is fairly easy compared to a cracked head or bad head gasket.
- Compression test. If it overheated and blew steam out underhood, you may have cracked a cylinder head or a bad head gasket. A compression test will find the cylinder(s) with the leak. A bad cylinder will have a lower pressure reading than a good cylinder. If two adjacent cylinders read low, then you probably have a head gasket leak between the cylinders.
- Check for combustion gasses in the coolant. This is another way to determine if you have a bad head gasket or cracked cylinder head, as combustion gasses will get into the coolant.

 

It wouldn't hurt, but I think it's less than that. No hose leaks, oils VISUALLY good, - I realize that necessarily doesn't mean it is lol. Well, he's been directed to the Degas cap which is most likley part if not all of the problem. The engine didn't over heat from what I've read, - over pressurized maybe, the OEM hoses usually won't giveaway unless there's a bad connection.

rudes did you notice any bubbles on the dip stick ? That's one indicator of a compromised HG. Also, I'm not positive on that model, but the CHT harness may run in front of the DS-head. When the Degas over pressured, -coolant could have soaked the harness and in that area those harnesses chaff the wires.

Changed my mind :o - CHT's do go bad, but in conjunction with posted problems, it doesn't seem likley.

You can also just clean your Degas cap btw.

 

It appears that the CHT sensor did its job as it signaled the PCM to go to failsafe. You have white smoke out of tail pipe. You have cream colored oil on oil fill cap which is usually normal in cold weather except I see you live in Texas and I suspect it is getting warm there. Usually what happens is that in cold temps the oil, engine, etc. is cold, you drive a short distance and condensation builds up like water on the outside of a cold drinking glass. This condensate (water) evaporates but has no where to go once it hits the inside top of the oil fill cap and it collects there making white oily deposits. In warm or hot weather this doesn't happen as easily. Since you have it now with warmer weather I would suspect its because you are getting coolant into the oil from a blown head gasket. You also are overpressurizing the coolant system proof being coolant overflow from the DEGAS bottle (I had to use it jbrew). Does your temp gauge spike at all even for a few seconds? also is your upper radiator hose getting real hard after driving?These are things that tend to indicate a bad head gasket IMO. Mine was blown and had most of your symptoms and also ran perfect. Like others have said a hydrocarbon test of the coolant would be a good thing to have done as well. Good luck.

 

where can i get a compression tester? and how would i use it? also how would i check for combustion gases??

and no jbrew i didnt notice any bubbles. oil seemed fine, even after i added a quart.

and dynotech, when everything happened that day i had white smoke coming
out form under the hood, not the tailpipes. as for the temp gauge, it doesnt move at all
when i turn it on, it just stays low until the truck finally warms up
and its not warm here in texas lol
its been cool and raining for about a week, and its gonna be raining for about another week

anyone know how much the CHT sensor is? im just gonna take it safe
and replace that and the belt.

 

Should be able to find a compression tester at any good auto parts supplier.

As for using one, it should be explained in a repair manual. It does involve removing plugs, and screwing the compression tester in place of the plugs. You also have to have the throttle plate fully open, make sure the ignition will not start the vehicle, and remove the fuse to the fuel pump. You then simply rotate the engine through 5 compression strokes on each cylinder, and record the pressure recorded on the tester.

Again, before you go through with a compression test, and from the 'Old Faithful' style eruption I think you may have had, I would first look at ALL hoses and hose connections first, as you may find that one of those may have cracked and now leaks under pressure. If the engine was cold (not warmed up) when this happened, and high RPM when trying to pull something out, I would HIGHLY suspect the bypass hose burst. I've seen my share of hoses go bad in the 30 plus years of automotive repair I have done, and it is usually one of the heater hoses that does it, followed in close second by the bypass hose. Plus, replacing a hose is A LOT cheaper than rebuilding and replacing heads.

One of things I recommend when an 'Old Faithful' eruption happens is to see where the geyser is erupting from at the time it is happening. It makes it A LOT easier to repair later.

 

how do i check if theyre leaking under pressure though?
what do i do? sorry i know nothing about this kind of stuff hah


and even if there is a leak. my coolant level is still fine right now.
so wouldnt it not get rid of the CEL?

 

Look around all of the connections for any puddling. That is usually a good sign of where a leak is. If you do not see any puddling, the next step would be to fire up the engine and to see if anything leaks then, as once the engine is on you will have pressure on most of the hoses, except upper radiator hose. If you do see a leak, then you know where the problem is. If it is a head gasket problem, the upper radiator hose will become pressurized and difficult to squish with your fingers due to combustion gasses in the cooing system.

One thing that is starting to sound fishy to me is you said you only added 1 quart of coolant to bring thed system to full. Did you mean 1 gallon (standard jug of anti freeze)? If the vehicle did an 'Old Faithful' eruption, it should have taken more than that to fill it, I would think. Also, with the way the temperature gauge is working now I am beginning to wonder if it isn't a cracked head or a head gasket, and the block has a gas pocket in it. Not being around the vehicle when the event occured, and not seeing the vehicle in person is making this difficult, but there may be another way to troubleshoot this. Bear with me one moment, getting a MGD to lubricate the brain to think better .........

Okay, here is how I would go about this problem, and get it solved to possibly a component level this weekend:

1 - Go out and look for ANY puddles left ANYWHERE there is a coolant line on the vehicle (including the one under the intake manifold).

2 - If no puddles are visible, then let's look for ANY signs of leaking. If hot, pressurized water escaped from somewhere, it would show as a neatly steamcleaned area on the engine or wherever the leak occured. Look for steamcleaned areas. Also look for coolant trails ANYWHERE a cooling system component is (water pump weep hole, etc.)

3 - Once we have exhausted ANY possibility of leakage through these signs, then let's do the pressure test. Fire the truck up, with the hood up, if it will fire up. Now is when you need to be VERY CAUTIOUS.

4 - Look for water escaping from any hoses under pressure. This should happen quickly in any heater or bypass hose.

5 - Check the upper radiator hose to see if it is 'squishy'. If this hose is hard as a rock after the engine runs but is not up to thermostat opening temperature, then we have either a cracked cylinder head or a blown head gasket (and then the fun begins).

By doing this testing, you can disregard my previous posting about the need for a compression tester. However, if after you do all of the above and it comes back as either a blown head gasket or cylinder head crack, then the compression tester will come in handy to further evvaluate the problem as to location and exact problem, plus it could tell us whether the engine needs a complete rebuild, and not headwork or head gaskets. I'll walk you through how to determine where the problem is if it is one of these problems.

PLEASE keep me (and others) informed on what you find on this, and I will do whatever I can to help you through this as much as possible. I just wish I was closer to your location so I could see this first hand, and get a more thorough understanding of how this problem occured and a better feel for what is going on and how to fix it.

I sure hope, for your sake, that it is one of the simple hoses that failed and is an easy replacement, because cylinder heads or head gaskets on a Triton are a pain in the wallet.

Wow, 30 years of 'Busted Knuckle Garage' homeschooling in auto mechanics sure is starting to pay off.

 

He is losing coolant out of his degas bottle because his coolant system is overpressurizing. When the coolant burped out of the bottle thats where the smoke from under the hood came as it hit the hot manifold. If it was a bad hose he would be losing coolant constantly as even after the truck is shut off the system holds pressure (16psi) for a while and a hose will continue to leak. Also a bad hose should bleed off pressure before the degas bottle cap would see enough pressure to pop. Yes the bottle cap may be defective. You won't always get enough coolant in the oil from a bad head gasket to make all the oil in the pan milky. Its rare for one of these heads to crack, a 1.9 Escort head yes, a 4.6/5.4..rare. Save some time and do a hydrocarbon test as suggested several times here.