I have been noticing a small leak of coolant into the oil, as evidenced by the whitish mixture on the dipstick. In fact, I am a little suspicious, as this problem seemed to come up right after I flushed the radiator, and put in some extended life Prestone coolant. There is nothing on the coolant bottle that would indicate it being incompatible, but anyway, where do I go from here? Its a little difficult of a diagnosis, since the engine was run with about 3 quarts low of oil, due to a rusted out oil pan. (and let me add that the pan looked like new, except where the hole was found) The pan was replaced, and there were no signs of engine damage when the cam and cylinder bores were inspected. Is there any way to pinpoint the leak? Assuming its a head gasket leak, is there any way to locate which cylinder bank has the leak?

Thanks,

Chris L

 

I forgot to mention that its a 5.0 V8

 

Perhaps it is something minor like a head gasket. How did you inspect the cylinder bores?
I don't know how to determine which head, if it's a head. But since there are only two, it might be a good idea to make sure the gaskets on both sides are fresh.
Good luck.

 

You can/should perform a cylinder compression check, followed by a leakdown test. If that fails to isolate it, you can remove all the spark plugs, pressurize the cooling system for five minutes, and then crank the engine over and observe which cylinders spark plug hole the coolant comes out of.

Take care,
-Chris

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'95 Eddie Bauer F-150 SC & '64 Falcon/Ranchero
-------------------------------------
Are you A.S.E. Certified ? If so, ask me about
iATN...the best tool you'll ever have ! ! And it's
free

 

If the head gasket is also allowing coolant into the combustion chamber there wold be a little steam in the exhaust...and you would smell the coolant (you need to sniff pretty close to the exhaust pipe to smell it). If you have dual exhaust...then you know which bank. If you don't have all of the above conditions though....Off with the heads!

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'99 XLS Shortbox RC 4x4
4.2 5spd 3.55 tracloc
Wedgewood Blue

 

couldn't you just take one spark plug off at a time, and use a new q-tip for each or something to swap inside and see what comes out? I'm guessing.

------------------
David
'99 F150 XLT SC, STYLESIDE
3.73, 4X4 ORP 5.4L, AUTO,
139wb, Medium Red Tor.,
Rhino, K&N, BugGuard,
RainGuards, Superchip
f150online sticker!!! GET ONE NOW!

 

Put flourecent die in the coolant and run it a while and then "black" light the oil. It will glow and if its where its not supposed to be. Hopefully not!

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97 F-150 SC Lariat, Styleside, White over Gold, 4.6L (Windsor), Automatic, 3.55 rear end, electronic 4X4, w/ every option of Lariat and ORP packages except the 17" wheels and the 4X4 decals, MODs so far: K&N air box mod, Gibson Super Truck, clear Bugflector II, Leer TSC 600 hard cover, Bridgestone Dueler OWL ATP 265/75 R-16's, TrailMaster Invader N7 shocks, Smittybilt step bars, Ford moulded mud guards, "White-white" head lamps.




[This message has been edited by cphilip (edited 11-04-1999).]

 

cwlo

I noticed in your post that you said your coolant was reddish in color. If I'm not mistaken your trucks cooling system was not designed for the red long life coolant, it should take the standard green one. If you have been using the red for a while this could be the cause of your problems.

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99 2wd S/C s/b XLT 4.6 Triton auto. w/3.08
BONE STOCK...for now

 

NotirT- Where did you hear that the red long-life coolant is incompatible with my engine? That was my first suspicion, but I checked the Prestone bottle, and it said it works with all engines.

Anyway, I have since flushed out the extended life coolant, installed regular coolant, with leak stop, and changed the oil later in the day. The oil had NO sign of coolant anywhere, so I'm hoping this problem will be a thing of the past.

Chris

 

cwlo

I am just assuming that its not compatpatible. I have friends with 95 and 96 5.0's and they have the stock green coolant. 97 and up trucks also spec green coolant.

 

PKRWUD has the correct diagnostic technique.
SHORTBOX has a good idea if you have dual exhaust - it'll be a "sweet" smell.
Good luck.

 

I just re-read our symptoms. Sometimes you can get condensation in the dipstick tube & pcv pipe...this causes that white goo as well. Has it happened after oil changes etc. Has the vehicle been sitting around unused? (rusty oil pan?!?) Does your engine get up to operating temp and stay there for a long time?
Just some thoughts...

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'99 XLS Shortbox RC 4x4
4.2 5spd 3.55 tracloc
Wedgewood Blue

 

I have ruled out condensation, since I noticed some reddish residue on the oil, which is the same color as the coolant.

I also sniffed the exhaust, but haven't noticed the sweet smell of coolant.

So, today, I put some radiator stop leak, and will see what happens. Since taking the heads off is a big job, I figure I might as well try it, and see what happens.

Thanks everyone for the great responses,

Chris