Hello All,

I've got a problem with my truck that I can't seem to figure out what the problem is.. A little background. I have a 2000 F250 Superduty with 170k, well maintained from day 1, 2 owners, never had any major problems, runs great!

So today I changed the oil (engine was warm/hot) and rotated the tires, I've worked on a fair share of vehicles and I work in the maintenance/engineering field for 20+ years, so not my first rodeo... I removed the oil drain plug and let it drain while I put the front on jack stands and the rear up on the floor jack, just enough to get the tires barley off the ground. Oil drained fine, it drained almost exactly 6 quarts. I removed the filter and replace it with a high mileage filter and replaced the drain plug, I added 5 quarts of 5/30 High mileage oil and a bottle of slick 50 high mileage (holds 6 quarts), checked the dipstick and I was OVERFILLED by a couple quarts...??? Confused I went to move my truck so I could deal with it tomorrow morning, I was beat since I did this after work. However when I went to move the truck it wouldn't go into gear, then slipped in and out of gear, enough to move it a few feet. The engine sounds fine, slightly rough sound starting after the oil change, but still okay/fine. I shut it down and went to drain the pan out a bit. I pulled the plug and it drained slowly and then I wasn't able to drain more than a quart when it stopped draining completely, dipstick still reading overfilled by a couple quarts... I turned the engine over a few times too to see if that would help the draining, which it did at first but not again... I've left the drain plug off overnight... There was nothing blocking the hole preventing the pan from draining either.

So my thought is that the engine is holding oil for some reason, sludge is my hope, but this truck has been well maintained, I've changed the oil several times on this truck with no problems and it was running great when I parked it!!! I watched what I poured in and nothing else went into the engine, even if there was something I was using a funnel with a diameter of a dime, so nothing larger than a dime could have passed into the engine... There's also no sign of burning any oil or water and there's no sign of water in my oil or vice versa. No smoke coming from the oil fill or exhaust...

My first step is to get an engine flush and see if that works (my "old school" mechanic father recommended diesel fuel as a replacement, not too sure about that one...), if not, next step is to drop the pan and physically look for a problem, next step... I have no idea. Oil pressure gauge reads good pressure (same as always) on the high side. And I'm absolutely sure I drained motor oil and put it back into the motor oil refill!! I didn't mess with my tranny fluid or anything with my tranny.... I didn't check my tranny level, but its been functioning fine and I didn't mess with it... I'll double check it tomorrow but my gut says it has to do with the oil being overfilled, but I don't know how that is effecting the auto transmission from going into gear....

I could use all the help I could get!! I'm stumped!!! Anybody have any thoughts, seen this before? I can't find anything on the internet on this same subject, so I'm hoping someone here can help me out... I also plan to go "BS" with the local mechanics I know around here tomorrow too.... Thanks in advance and sorry for the long post, just trying to get all the details in there!!

-Ryan

 

I'm not a mechanic, but step 1 is to check the tranny fluid.

Sounds like everything you did was simple, so it may end up just being a fluke coincidence that something croaked on you just after you worked on it; may have nothing to do with what you were doing.

 

If your an old school mechanic you probably don't realize that putting heavy weight products like slick 50 in these newer designed motors can clog them up !!! That is why these engines use the low weight oils ... The 5w's and 0w's oils .. Many of the newer engines require thin weight oils to allow instant oil pressure to the timing chain adjusters ... Putting a honey type thick oil can cause your timing chain adjusters to be slack at start up and slip or malfunction... The transmission being inoperable is a bit difficult to explain I will admit that but my question is what damage you may have done to the engine ... Also many of these ford engines require a MOTORCRAFT filter or a similarly designed filter which has an adequate bypass... I your using a cheap Fram or other filter along with thick or unrecommended oil weight along with a thick additive oil you at asking for a major nightmares!!!! If you don't believe me google all the ford engine repair complaints about improperly adequate filter use..

 

Nvmd,

You answered that one further down the post...

 

Slick 50 is not the oil thickener like STP oil treatment or Lucas oil stabilizer. I'm not defending the product by any means, but I know it's not the thickener that's suggested.

Having said that, there must be something major blocking the drain hole based off what you said. If that's the case, I'd drop the pan just to see what it is.

 

Well it could be any port, filter or clog from heads to block to timing adjuster oil ports etc... A clog oil filter can cause a lot of issues one cannot even begin to consider

 

Ford says not to even increase the oil weight sat a 5w to a 10w it can effect timing chain adjusters.... That being said I don't know what weight slick fifty is ... Personally I would change oil filters also

 

Another thing I have seen in the many years is some of these oil containers have a thin foil cover under the lid .... People get in a hurry and a portion of the foil safety lid slips in with the oil and lodges in a oil pathway creating a dam in the engine ... Have also had the guts of a cheapy oil filter get sucked into the engine blocking off all internal arteries of the engine ... I hope you have some success keep us posted

Moses

 

I haven't heard about Slick 50 for many years and don't know that is it the same product that was sold several decades ago or not. However, I do remember that it was supposed to bond with the metal of the engine in some way to provide an extra slippery surface. It turned out the product tended to clog oil passage ways. It may seem a little far fetched, but I suppose it's possible the oil got pumped up to the valves and can't drain back to the oil pan. It wouldn't be hard to look in through the oil filler hole to see if there is a lot of extra oil pooling up there.

 

I know it sounds almost impossible, but are you sure you didn't drain the trans fluid by mistake? There's no reason the oil shouldn't drain unless you pulled the wrong drain plug. Check your trans fluid level, if it's low then you know you made a mistake, it does happen. I was just reading on another forum where the guy had almost the exact symptoms and he realized he had drained his trans and not the oil. This would account for the truck slipping gears also.

 

This was my first idea as well. It starts and runs well but it won't move?

 

If you're experienced, you'll know that a lot of these oil additives are either a total scam, or can actually plug up your engine if used more than once in a great while. Engine tolerances and machining surfaces are MUCH better than they used to be and hardly EVER fail due to "bad oil" that could've been prevented by an oil additive.

I'd at least drain the oil and junk the filter and replace with manufacturer recommended stuff (I.E. 5w30 in my '99 5.4 and motocraft filter). Unless there's something plugging the drain hole, there's no way your dipstick could be reading incorrectly unless you've got sludge in your dipstick tube as it pokes down into the oil pan to get the reading.

I can't speak much for the tranny thing. Only thing I can think of is it's one heck of a coincidence, or you may have drained the tranny fluid instead of the oil. Either way, I wouldn't drive it until you get it sorted out or you may be asking for a hefty repair bill.

 

We're all shooting in the dark here, but I agree with everyone else about the additive. Oil additives are generally bad news, the only thing that belongs in your crankcase is a good quality motor oil. Still can't see how that could clog things up instantly like that.

Check the transmission fluid level and go from there. Something seems really wrong here.

 

now yall have me nervous im running rotella 15w40 in my 5.4 with lucas oil stabil.
accidents do happen I have seen guys at shops where I have worked that got in a hurry because they were slammed and being rushed who drained the engine oil and filled the transmission by mistake and I have seen it the other way where they drained the trans and filled the engine.
I have also seen some older 5.3 chevys where they would take the drain plug out and no oil came out and then we would have to take a small screw driver or a coat hanger and clean the drain hole out and oil would flow out with sludge. and I mean chunky oil. like said before me check the trans fluid to make sure.
or this could be a fluke thing where you did nothing wrong but something happened internal that was out of your control. I have found in situations like this if you step back and go over what you did in your head and go back to it I have been able to figure out what I did wrong or figure out what happened

 

If your running 15w in your truck designed for 5w if it were me I would be counting the days until failure ... The old add thicker oil to save oil burn are over long ago .... Your basically adding cholesterol to your main heart and pushing to have a heart attack