A trip to Alabamal, towing a bass boat. The darned thing was going into passing gear way too much. The cruise control was try ing to hold up
70 Mph.
At 530 miles, the Antifreeze tank was empty!
I refilled, and it's still good, but what caused the Antifreeze to go?
Where'd it go?
Now the engine's noisey and sounds like it's missing on a pull, but it's back to 16/17 Mpg.
Anybody know?

 

lower intake gasket going into a cylinder

 

Hey Thud,
I've been having a similar problem for about 3 months now. I have driven about 10,000 miles, all the while keeping the coolant topped off. Unlike you, I have noticed no real difference in performance. I just top off the coolant and keep going.

At first I had feared a head gasket, but now I'm inclined to suspect intake manifold gasket.
I'm tempted to try one of the bottled stop leak products - the one with "liquid glass" seems to be the best option.
I did stop at a local service shop and his immediate reaction to my description was intake manifold gasket.
He estimated $350 parts and labor. Not all that bad really.
I have recently bought a new '05 so I can afford to take the 2000 out of service to get it fixed (or maybe fix it myself).

I suspect you have experienced a slow coolant loss over time that you just hadn't noticed, rather than a severe loss at one time. But, I could be wrong. Keep a watch on it and see if you see it slowly drop over the next few days / weeks.

What model year is your truck?
How many miles?

Mine is a 2000 w/ 155,000 miles.

 

Thanks guys, I sure hope you are wrong though.
My truck's a 97 F-150/XLT/4.2 with 108,000.
I bought it with 80,xxx and the people who change my oil, add all the fluids. So the Antifreeze might have been going down without me noticing it.

We are in the process of moving to Alabama.
We have several 530 mile trips to make yet. I'm hoping this will hold up till we get settled.
I have to put brakes on it too. I felt the surging on this last trip. Bummer....I hope the pads hold up till I can get to the job.

This engine has always had the knocking sound at the top of the Rpm's, just as the throttle backs off. To me, that's allways been a signal that the Main's are loose on older engines. I didnt' notice that noise till I'd already had it for a few weeks.
But this piticular 4.2L FORD engine with it's gasket troubles may have already Hydro-locked on the previous owner, leaving me some bent rods to deal with.

The Truck was so nice (compared to my old 77) that I just didnt notice that knocking sound on the test drive. And the used car salesman wasn't real quick to point it out either.

This little 'Twuck' has some other problems too.
The right seat belt sometimes has to be retracted all the way before it will come out to be hooked up.
The Dash lights are in Ribbands all across the dash and the clock/radio light is in one of the dark bands. Cant see anything there during the daytime.
The Windshield washer just wont start without an enormous amount of pressure on that lever.
The int-wipers switch sometimes wont work at all on the low settings.
The Frequency of those int wipers is sometimes erratic too.

My neighbors with the 4.3L Chevvys, ( getting 19 Mpg regularly with no mechanical problems to speak of) just ride me hard over my FORD and it's maladies.

I dunnooo....maybe I made a mistake.

 

Thud,
hate to hear of your problems.
I'm a spoiled 4.2 owner. Up until the current leak issue, my engine (and entire truck) has been as reliable as a cement brick. It has never let me down.
Therefore, I tend to view the F150 / 4.2 through rose colored glasses.

Perhaps your truck has hydrolocked in the past. That would not be suprising for a '97. I have seen long blocks on e-bay for a about $1700. I seem to remember a 36,000 mile warranty.

I'm confused by your description of the dash lights ???
I can't picture what you are saying. If it is just blown light bulbs, they are easy to replace.

I believe Ford had some problems with the stalk switch for the wipers around '97 '98. I think you can reslove that with a new switch from Ford or a junk yard replacement.

Are the brakes surging (warped rotors) or is the engine surging?

 

Brian, would a cooling system pressure test indicate or confirm leaking head or lower intake gaskets?

Rich

 

Hi Brian, the brakes are surging. I think the pads are worn thin. If I could, I'd replace them today, but I'm recovering from Cataract surgery and the Doc does not want me out there working on the dusty brakes with my new eye that aint healed yet.

The dash lights come on in diagonal bars.
From top right to bottom left.
First bar is light, the second is dim, and so forth. The Tach is almost blanked out at night. The display in the Radio is always so dim I cant read the clock during the day. Only at night.

Sometimes the turn signal lever blinks very quickly. Like there's a light out. It's always forgetting the front lights. Either right or left.
I have to turn them on and off again till I get the slow cycling of the flasher.

If I had a diagram of the connectors I might be able to fix some of that stuff.

I forgot to mention the screw that was missing in the right door panel. It allowed the panel to flex till the small plastic trim piece up by the front of the window, busted!

All these problems are mechanics tracks I think. My suspicion is that it's the victim of an accident, but it didn't show on Car-fax.

 

I experienced a problem with antifreeze loss about a year ago with my 1998 Ford F150 with the 4.2. The rate of loss was so minimal I almost didn't catch it. I finally marked my coolant recovery tank and observed the fluid level. Sure enough the level was going down very slowly. I went to website that contains information on the 4.2 leak problems and checked the build date on my engine. The build date indicated that I had the updated gasket on the front cover but the intake manifold gasket wasn't updated. I pressure tested the cooling system to 16 psi, and the pressure didn't drop even 1 psi after 20 minutes. I eventually purchased a lube oil analysis kit and sent off an oil sample. The report came back stating I had ethylene glycol in my oil. I took the truck down to a Ford dealer and had the intake manifold gasket replaced. By the way, their cooling system pressure test also showed 0 pressure drop. Since I had the gasket replaced, I've driven the truck over 15,000 miles and the coolant level hasn't moved at all.

 

those coolent leaks are a pain.
I had a 90 cougar with the 3.8 and the front cover started leaking real slow. I put some stop leak in and it did not work.