Trying to help a buddy out. He has a 1999 Ranger with a 4.0 V6. It is dumping coolant into the engine and there is oil in the anti-freeze. I just drained almost 2.5 gallons of milkshake out of the engine. It is not blowing any white smoke at all. Ran fine, smooth not missing, no smoke. Could an intake gasket transfer that much oil and coolant? Or is he looking at head gaskets or a cracked head? Any easy tests before I start tearing it apart? I did pull some codes: P0171 lean bank 1, P0174 lean bank 2, and P0014 camshaft position.

 

Could be head or block, or both. What event preceeded this problem???? Like over heating, freezing, coolant neglect, a repair, ect????
Maybe try a compression test, or cyl blow down test, or pressurize coolant system & see which cyl, or adjoining cyl show leak signs.
If you come to needing head gaskets, consider Fords "revised" head gaskets, they have stopped a coolant sipping problem since 02, on my then in warranty 99 4.0L EDIT: Here is a link to the revised 4.0L head gaskets used on my 99 & another members 4.0L push rod 4.0L. you might open & read through the entire thread, as it has some interesting info that might be helpful in your trouble shoot, if you don't have an event clue to start with. https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/s...23&postcount=3
Some thoughts for consideration, let us know how it goes.

 

He just bought this truck knowing it's going to need work so don't know the history. Overall it's in very nice condition, it looks like it was well cared for.

I'm hoping it's an intake gasket. I've read about many who've had the same problem end up being intake gaskets. We're prepared for HG's through, and he bought it with that in mind. I'm just not real thrilled about doing the job.

 

The upper intake manafold fastners torque may have backed off, or if it had been replaced maybe it wasn't torqued down properly, or the gasket shifted on installation, ect. Anyway you might try checking the intake manafold fastners to see if any are loose, as that too may add to your knowledge base for making a guess as to whats wrong. The other tests can help also, so keep us posted on your trouble shoot.

 

A leak in the intake gasket can cause coolant to get into the oil, but not the other way around. If you are getting oil in the coolant, you have a blown head gasket or a cracked head/block.

 

My bad, didn't really find oil in the coolant when I drained it today. Looked like someone put some stop leak or something in it though.

 

I did decide to tear it down this afternoon. What a mess, this milkshake is really sticky goo and is everywhere. Hope it didn't damage the bearings, crank, cam etc.

Valve covers



Bottom of intake



possible source of leak. Drivers side head to intake coolant passage.



another shot of that



At this point I'm not far from pulling the heads and probably will. Then I need to figure out how to clean all this crap out of the engine. Multiple oil changes/flushes I'm sure. I know if it was mine I'd probably just pull the engine, new bearings, rings etc and know that it's all good.

 

Yup I think you found the coolant intrusion source. Don't see any signs or rust yet, so thats good.

Naptha, or Varsol might tidy the valve covers up, maybe the intake manafold too. If not, try something stronger like brake cleaner spray.

On the block you could try something like Naptha or Varsol if it worked good on the valve covers & intake manafold.
Rod out the oil returns & flush with Varsol, letting all of this drain back to the oil pan with the drain plug out, so the pan gets flushed too.

Maybe you could get by without having to drop the oil pan to clean it & the oil pump screen, but if it were me & gone as far as you have on the top end, I'd opt to drop the oil pan last & tidy it up down there too. Much less chance of a problem later.

A shop vac could be used on the top end where you don't want stuff going back into the oil sump, but be careful not to suck up any flammables with the shop vac & have its arcing brushes set it alight!!!! lol.

 

Thanks pawpaw. Here is some more confirmation, I hope. If you look close at about 2 o'clock on the coolant passage you'll notice the break in the gasket where coolant has been leaking, at least looks like it to me and it corresponds with the gasket itself.

I'm thinking of using some diesel to rinse this thing out, what do you think? I was able to scrape/squeegee most out of the valve covers and other parts. I have a parts washer to finish it off and the fluid in it is old so don't mind the crap in it.

 

Glad you found the problem. That area is prone to leaking. There are mixed opinions about whether to add RTV to the gasket in that area.

If I were in your shoes, I would take an additional step to avoid future problems, that is if you plan on keeping the vehicle for a long while yet. Get all the old coolant out, the refill with Evans Waterless Coolant. No more cooling system corrosion, no more pressure build up, no more cooling system problems.

My guess if the stop leak was added to try to stop the leak at the intake. As demonstrated here, it doesn't work. But that stuff is fabulous at plugging the radiator and heater core. You should backflush all that stuff out whatever you decide to do.

Here are a few links to Evans Waterless Coolant.
http://www.evanscooling.com/products/coolants/

 

Here for reference are the Ford gasket numbers from my Dealers 02 under warranty rework of my 99 4.0L persistant coolant sipping problem. It's been leak tight since they used the "revized" head gaskets!!!!
1 Gasket Cyl Head YU3Z-6051-AA
1 Gasket Cyl Head YU3Z-6051-BA
1 Gasket Intake Manafold F7TZ-9349-AA
3 Gasket Intake F57Z-9E436-AA (Not sure why they had to use 3, maybe they messed one up lol)
2 Gasket Valve Cover F87Z-6584-AA
16 Bolts Cyl Head E6TZ-6065-A
1 Disc 07480 (Don't know what this is)
2 Solvent PM-4 (Guess they used this to tidy things up, so you might consider it for your mess)

Keep up posted on how it goes.

 

Got it back together yesterday and fired up. Runs perfect. Dumped oil after 10 - 15 minutes run time and flushed the cooling system. Going to do that one more time. So glad I didn't have to pull the heads. Thanks all!

 

OK good feedback & to hear all seems well.

Did you pull the oil pan to tidy up it & the oil pump pickup screen, or just flushed it from the top end with the drain plug out????
Be sure to change the oil filter with one that'll hold a lot of debris too, as its probably gunked up with all that pudding the oil/coolant mixture made!!!!

If this quick oil drain still looks dirty, maybe change the next one at say 500-1K miles, but have him keep a close eye on the oils condition & change it again sooner if it looks to need it.

More thoughts for consideration, let us know how this interesting resurrection goes over time.