I've had my 2004 F150 for about a year and a half. I've noticed that every time I change the oil, there is a little "peanut butter" accumulation in the oil fill cap. The oil when it drains looks fine. I am not losing coolant. The accumulation of gunk was more this time, perhaps because of more condensation occurring during winter?

There is a very slight miss at idle sometimes but overall the engine runs great.

I assume this is moisture? What are possible causes? Bad PCV valve?

 

Usually the moisture in the crankcase. Are you doing mostly short trips?

IF mostly short trips, maybe change your oil at a shorter interval.

Check the PCV, make sure it's working.

IF you are a long trip driver AND your PCV is working and you still get this, prepare for a head gasket job at some future point.

 

Most of the time I'm just driving to work, about 9 miles that is mostly on the freeway. I have been using a remote start to warm the truck on the really cold mornings.

Where is the PCV valve located on the 4.6 engine?

 

I get this on my truck too. I just changed oil yesterday in fact and it was built up bad. I even took the fill cap off a couple of times this winter and cleaned it out, I should have done it more I guess. I do have mostly short trips with my truck. Anyway back to changing my oil yesterday, it was built up bad and all gunky down the fill tube. I tried to wipe out the fill tube real good but I know I saw a little of the gunk slide down into the engine. I hope it works it's way through and the filter gets it. I did run it a long time yesterday after the oil change, I had a lot of running around to do, so we'll see. Truck is running fine and everything, I just don't like to see that gunk under there. I do change every 3,000 miles or after about 6 months, I only put about 6,000 a year on. On my change yesterday it only had 2,700 miles on it but it had been 6.5 months since my last change.

 

I had a little, then I had A LOT, then I heard a clicking... I call it frappe'. lol


Ford dropped the oil pan and found CHUNKS of metal...


I suddenly got very happy I bought an extended warranty when I bought the truck. Here is a picture of the oil filler and cap. Also, there was oil coming through a failing gasket on the oil pan and getting slung around. These two things were enough for me to send big girl to the showers.

 

WTF? What is that? I have never seen that associated with motor oil, what brand/type are y'all using?

 

well that's probably because I'm guessing from your screen name that you live in texas. It only happens in real cold weather. It is actually pretty common if you do a bing search for "white gunk under my oil cap". It is because the engine isn't getting hot enough to burn the condensation out.

 

That's nasty as hell. Looks like you're making milkshakes in the engine. Not good.

 

I get that in the winter too. However not down the neck like that. I drive 22.6mi each way to work. However I think it's because the filler cap and neck are ABS and raised above the cover so far.

 

I suspect that the previous owner knew he had metal in the oil and a failing head gasket. So he did a solvent flush on the block and put fresh oil in right before he took it to the dealer to trade it off.

Dealer had a clean motor that ran well, and no reason to suspect anything, until I bought it we both found out that it was going out. I head a squeaking and popped the hood, and as I suspected a pulley was starting to get noisy, then I noticed oil on the front of the motor, and checked the oil. It was fine, but I thought I ought to smell the filler cap to see if anything else was out of whack, then I saw the GOO!!!

All of the sudden I remembered hearing an intermittent tapping noise in the motor, which I hadn't thought about much before since the 5.4L 3Vs are noisy anyway... Time to head to the shop. They dropped the oil pan and found chunks (not just flakes) of metal in the pan. Contaminated Block Syndrome. They didnt even look for the other faults, warranty company just ordered a used motor with an addition warranty attached.

Anyway, the warranty company bought a replacement engine from a reseller, and it arrived damaged, so the reseller is sending a 2nd engine... and this one has less that HALF the miles of my original engine. Color me thrilled!

Of course its going to take about 3 weeks to sort it all out. lol that's okay, I have the old Bronco to tinker on and drive till I get the F150 back.

-Jim

 

Yes I'm from San Antonio and maybe 10 days out of the year we get below 32, however, we do spend 90-100 days in the high 90's low 100's. The user name is a nickname given to me by a group of online friends that call me the rebellious Texan ie Texasreb.

That would freak me out if I saw that in my engine, I have seen oil the color of rust in a female friends Volvo with 167K. She said her car sounded funny so I looked at it and found no oil on the dipstick. Went and bought her 5 quarts of oil and it took 3.5 (car held 6.1) when I checked it again it was the color of rust with over half the oil being virgin!

 

Total Hijack, my first year in Texas (Ft. Hood) it snowed. had about and inch and a half of accumulation. The whole place came to a screeching halt. This offended me for many reasons.

1. 1.5 Inches? Really. That's all it takes to lock up and Armor Center?
2. You people have TANKS, 5 Ton Trucks, and Hummers.... just drive SLOW. You'll be fine.
3. In Illinois where I grew up they didn't delay day care for 1.5" of snow. Where I live now in Indiana we dont close schools unless its 8" or better.

SO, the moral of this story is... I hope to retire in Texas where people realize snow is the great Satan!

-Jim

 

I do hate the winters more and more, but I would not like heat like that. Man that's hot. We maybe have 15 or 20 days in a typical year above 90 and that is enough. Do you still run 5w20 I your truck? If I lived I that heat I am sure I would run 5-30.

 

Where's the PCV valve on these engines (4.6l)? The part I got from Autozone doesn't look anything like the ports/tubes coming out of the top of the valve covers.

I'm hoping this is nothing more that I need to change oil more frequently. I change it 5000 miles which works out to be 6 months because I don't drive much.

 

Not sure if the 4.6 has a PCV, I know my 2005 5.4 doesn't have one.

I run Mobil 1 5w20 year round. I change the oil every 5K and change all other fluids every 25-30K. I have tried other synthetics but my motor seems to prefer Mobil 1 because I do not need to top off during the oil change interval.

My best friend got transferred from Houston to Minneapolis and he sure is an unhappy camper. He calls and tells me its below zero and I'm running around in shorts and a t-shirt .