I just bought a 97 F250 with a 5.8 in it. Im loosing coolant somewhere. Did a pressure test it checked out fine, no steam from exhaust, no coolant in oil. Nothing on the ground, it making me nuts. Truck has 182000 miles on it but its clean, no rust and runs to good. I don't know much about Fords but someone told me it could be air pockets. It just got a new radiator b4 I bought it.
View 1 RepliesMy 2006 6.0 is blowing white smoke/steam and Im losing coolant (not out the top). Pulled the EGR valve and its wet down there. All signs lead to EGR cooler? I've been reading a lot on this forum and Ill do the oil cooler at the same time. I seems VERY important to flush the coolant system before I tear into this. I am afraid of hydro locking the motor or ruining the head gasket or stretching the head studs if I run the truck. How can I do this without further damaging the engine? I am doing this myself. I'll have 3 solid days to finish this job because I have to tow my trailer in 5 days.
View 5 RepliesAbout mid-October I noticed when it as real cold out and I had the heat running whenever I would come to a stop I noticed there is very little to no heat coming from the vents, despite the engine being warm and running at operating temps. At the time I was working for a shop and I asked one of the mechanics what the problem was. He said that it was the radiator not having enough coolant.
Turns out when we pulled the cap the coolant res, was just about bone dry. So we added in about a gallon or so of coolant with the truck running and sure enough at idle the heat was back.
Fast forward to the last couple of weeks and when I am sitting at idle again same thing happens. So somehow the engine is losing coolant. Its not ending up in the oil (no white on the dipstick) and there is not a coolant leak. As it sits there is 255,300 miles on the truck now. 1999 5.4L F150....
I have a 1997 f 150 4.6l, 145k miles, it seems that very slowly it is loosing coolant but i haven't noticed any leaks, it also burn about a quart of oil every 3000 miles but i was told that was normal?
View 6 RepliesSo the wife's 08 Mountaineer 4.6 likes coolant. None in the crank case. I suspect head gasket, since I can smell it a bit in the exhaust, but I have also noticed steam coming from the drivers side firewall area, but can't see anything. If it is head gaskets, am I pulling the engine? If I have to pull the engine.
View 5 RepliesI was driving my 97 F250 2wd the other day and it started blowing steam out the tail pipe. In recent months I have replaced the thermostat, heater core, and pressure cap on the reserve tank. I do believe I have blown a head gasket. I did check my oil fill cap and it showed signs of milky residue..
The motor in trouble here is the 4.6L gas. And I have yet to talk with my mechanic I had the thought to replace this one as it has over 330K kilometres on it. I wonder if a newer 4.6 from a similar F150 or F250 would have the same motor mounts. No, I am not looking at brand new as my budget isn't that of a millionaire. I have found a few younger 4.6 motors within my budget.
1999 F250 super duty w/ 5.4... My truck seems have issues keeping speed on the interstate like its not wanting to switch gears on time. Its auto by the way. Gotta little hesitation in the idle exhaust due that I have several leaks in my exhaust. Could that be the problem?
View 3 RepliesMy truck over heated and I now have a looks like a pin hole leak next to the front injector on the left side looking at it. I have used sealers and it does not work. Water pools around the injector. Does this sound like a cracked intake housing? I have done many repairs but this is something I'm not sure I want to do. I can get a new intake setup for 160.00 on rock auto but ford would be in the 300 or more just for the part.
View 6 RepliesToday I opened my oil fill cap while my truck was running to find a milky substance on it and then noticed lots of steam coming out of the oil fill. I assume this is a head gasket as I have hard miss at idle on cylinder number two and cannot get it fixed. So far I have replaced a plug hoping it would fix the problem, it did not. I also noticed my temperature gauge going from normal range all the way up to the hottest it can go. Is all this just a coincidence or am I looking at a blown head gasket? 1997 4.6L F150.....
View 8 RepliesSince changing to ELC a couple years ago, my truck will leak a small amount of coolant when I stay over night at the beach house. I haven't noticed any coolant leaks at any other times. I was down there Saturday night and it leaked about two or three tablespoons of coolant over night. I drove home Sunday, and my truck has been parked in the same place for almost 72 hours without a leak. This has happened a couple dozen times over the last two years. The elevation of the driveway at the beach house is 6' above sea level. "Home" (around Houston) is anywhere from 35' to 80' above sea level. Is there any way that the lower elevation is causing this leak? I'm pretty sure it's coming from the thermostat housing, but because I replaced the upper hose, I can't tell if the dried ELC around the housing is new or old.
View 12 RepliesMy wife's 97 f150 4x4 had an exhaust leak on the passenger side. 7 out of the 8 bolts holding the manifold on are snapped off. 4 of them are snapped off 1/8" below the top of the hole on the cylinder head . I am I unable to get a drill in to drill these out. The other 3 I've tried welding a nut on these but they won't budge and I wring the nuts off. If I have to pull the head(something I don't want to do)can I just pull that 1 head or do I have to tear the intake and everything off?
View 1 RepliesSo for the first time in a while I started my truck when it was cold outside, 33 degrees according to the truck. It didn't do this at initial startup but when i started driving there was what i think steam coming from the exhaust because it dissipated fairly fast. It steamed slightly until i went to pull out of my neighborhood and got on it to get up to speed which was only 45mph. The oil temp was in the 90s at that point but when i got on the pedal the truck just started pouring white steam out of the exhaust.
Over time the truck warmed up and the steam stopped and everything was fine. Even when its warm outside the truck blows something when its not at operating temp but when its warm I can only see it at night when there's headlights behind me. Since I've had the truck the only thing that I've had to replace was the radiator because it was leaking coolant and even after that i still smell burning coolant occasionally and sometimes when i check my tank its low and then sometimes it never changes. Its very inconsistent.
The only other bad thing that's happened to the truck happened after i got my oil changed for the first and last time at NTB. They replaced the filter when they changed the oil but didn't pull the old gasket off when they put the new filter on and long story short i lost about a gallon within 30 minutes because of that and had my truck towed home. My engine light never came on or anything. I fixed the problem, added new oil and that was it. The reason I bring up the radiator, the coolant, and the oil is because i don't know if that could have anything to do with the steam.
I've owned this vehicle since new and never overheated or had any major mechanical issues. It just hit 130,000 miles and recently completed a 1500 mile uneventful road trip running great.
The other day I noticed an excessive amount of steam/smoke coming from the exhaust while sitting at a stop light after recently starting the vehicle. Once the van was up to temperature the exhaust steam/smoke cleared up.
I checked the radiator level and found it was about a qt low, and did not seem to have any exhaust bubbling or fumes in the radiator.
Then, I pulled the dipstick and the freshly changed oil looked a bit cloudy (I got really nervous), I really can't say its milky colored because I can still see though the oil and see the cross hatches on the stick. But it doesn't look like new oil.
The engine seems to be running fine, no loss of power or missing. Starts and idles fine.
Talked with a mechanic friend and he immediately said blown head gasket or intake manifold was allowing water from one of the four corners where the gasket seals the water jacket, into a cylinder.
Since that first episode of excessive steam/smoke it hasn't reproduced the problem to that degree. It does start to steam out the exhaust after about 5 minutes of starting cold, but seems to dissipate after the engine warms.
The amount of smoke / steam in that first episode, I couldn't see the car behind me in the mirror ... I looked like a mosquito fogger.
My 4.2 l f150 has been losing a lot of oil.7quarts in a week.the truck runs great and it does not smoke.i have been under the truck looking for any significant leaks.I left it parked on concrete overnight no oil drips. I've had my wife rev it up while I was under the truck cannot find anything
View 5 RepliesSo in my 2003 F150 I have been losing small amounts of oil. I changed my oil about 2 months ago, and after I checked it yesterday the dip stick was almost bone dry. There are no external leaks but I noticed that I keep getting oil coming out of my PCV valve into my throttle body (the other end of that valve is connected to my valve cover). Is that normal or what? Where else could my oil be going? Cracked head?
View 3 RepliesI want to put a flowmaster system on my 1997 F250 with 4.6L engine. The muffler shop says i won't get alot of sound out of it because of the OEM Cat Convertor on it. Is this true? I'm not looking for something that will rattle the windows a mile away, just a nice rumble at idle and a good tone when accelerating. The muffler shop suggests a 3" in and 2.5" duals out using a 40 Series muffler.
View 5 RepliesI have a 2002 f150 5.4 4x4 with 151,000 miles. I am using a lot of oil but its not leaking out. What should I do to fix problem.
View 4 RepliesI have a 1997 f150 lariat 4.6, at some point i started losing power, so of course I had my friend come by and check all the mechanics under neath the hood and besides needing caps and rotors all seemed well under there, so twice I've put it on a computer and it needs and o2 sensor, I've already checked my Cadillac coverter , and dropped and replaced my gas tank twice, I ended up having to replace a shock, it does run better when i put heat through it for a short time.
I've been checking my antifreeze and I am not losing none, I also did regular maintenance to it to figuring it was a fowled plug but still no good , so whats next ? coils ? I didn't replace my plug wires but I checked them all and they looked to be in good condition and I have a transmission filter kit to change that out I don't believe its been done ever ..
2001 F150! It does this weird little surge, burping and farting away...but only in ambient heat. The engine never gets hot, it never over heats. What have we done? A full tuneup with new plugs and boots, oil change, new air filter, gas filter. It did it again...took it back in and had the fuel pressure checked, fuel injectors are fine...it can't be the fuel pump, it runs great unless it is hot weather. It has twice blown the P0171 system lean bank 1 code and has gone away after the tuneup and again after the new o2 sensor. It runs great, except in hot weather, starts surging and losing power...
View 9 RepliesTruck started just fine this morning, was driving for about 15 minutes and it started to lose power going up a gradual incline. I didn't even think of it really and so I just pushed the pedal in a bit and no increase in power, in fact it bogged down. I let up and went back to the gas and same thing. This was barely pressing the pedal down. I got to the top of the incline and started back down a bit and gained speed (dropped from 55-60 to 40 at the crest) up to 55, hit level ground and started to lose power again, and it felt for the life of me like the truck was fighting for every ounce of power it could get. Everytime I would step on it it would bog down again. I nursed it to an appointment I had, and when I got done with that I started back home. Same thing. It would accelerate from a stop up to 30 (I've always been a laid back accelerater) and when I would read 35-45 it would start to dog again. I got it back home.
2nd issue: On the way home I had to stop at a highway crossing on a slight inline. There the truck started to shudder a bit. and if I would just touch the gas pedal it would bog down. I played with it a bit and got it to rev a bit. put it in reverse got away from the intersection and let it idle a bit when It died. started right back up, no problem. would play with the accelerator and same thing. I finally got it to rev a bit and 2 footed it back home slipping from neutral to drive.
I have 03 f250 v10. just replaced the engine and got everything all connected and started it up and it idles great...the problem is that when you press the gas pedal it starts to drive but then it looses power and acts like its missing. cant get it to go 30 mph. While keeping it floored eventually it gets up to 2000 rpm and then starts to pick up speed.
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