I'm getting bubbles in my oil....losing coolant with no visible leak....and a strong odor of coolant after running the truck. I'm assuming I have leaking upper and lower intake gaskets. Am I right?

Can anyone give me an estimate on what it would cost to have it fixed?

Is it a hard job to do it myself?

Sorry if this is a repost.

 

Check out the "Read First: Technical Information" for a thread on replacing the Gaskets very clear info.
Dave

 

I guess My biggest question is what would the cost be to have it fixed?

 

A blown head gasket would be more likely. What kind of engine are we talking about here?

 

forgot to post that part...

its a 96 4.0L 153k miles, 5-spd

 

Cost is hard to figure, depends on where you are in the country, who does the work, what flat rate they are using, Things like that. The dealer is usely the most expensive and dose the best work and a brother in law the cheepest and does the poorest work.
Dave

 

It sounds like it is a head gasket. I just had my lower and upper intake gaskets replaced and I end up getting a engine code when they went out. It takes generally 3 hours to replace the intake gaskets. Most of my estimates were in the 550 dollar range but I had a friend that worked for the ford dealer do them for 200 dollars. To check the intake gaskets idle your motor and spray carb cleaner by the gaskets and if the idle changes that could mean that the intake gaskets are done for.

 

Ok, so is there a place on here to describe how to replace the head gasket?

 

Well took my truck to the shop, it wasnt the intakes, wasnt the head gasket either....

The Timing Chain Cover gasket was leaking. It was leaking out of the bottom and hitting other parts of the truck and evaporating before hitting the ground...reason for no visible leak on the ground....

Gonna cost around $300 to fix....thanks for all the help....

 

Timing chain cover? I'm having trouble visualizing in my head how a leaking timing chain cover on a 4.0L could allow coolant to get into the oil. As far as I know, the water pump bolts onto the cover and has it's own gasket/sealer. Then the cover is bolted onto the engine with it's own gasket. The two gasket surfaces are seperated by the cast iron cover itself, and there are no coolant passages or channels between the water pump and cover whereby a leaky gasket from either would cause coolant to migrate into the oil. If the WP gasket leaks, it will do so externally, it cannot leak internally into the engine. And if the timing chain cover leaks, it will leak oil externally, not internally into any coolant channels (and in any case are talking about loosing coolant into the oil, not the other way around).

Moreover, replacing the timing chain cover on the 4.0L requires removal of the engine, oil pan, crank pulley and crank sensor, among other things. That's a lot of work for $300.

Are you sure it's not just the water pump gasket that is leaking externally? If so, I would think you would still be able to see it.

Also, the 4.0L OHV is somewhat prone to lower intake gasket leaks which can cause coolant to leak internally, into the oil, as was the case on my '98. You should therefore definitely try and rule that kind of thing out. I agree also that even a head or headgasket issue is a more likely culprit than anything having to do with the timing chain cover.

If you end up having to replace the lower intake gasket, you can do it yourself: Replacing the 4.0L Upper Engine Gaskets

 

Well, he put it on some kind of pressure test....said there were no signs of a head gasket leak nor a intake gasket leak. He also said there were no signs of coolant in the oil. He wasn't sure where the bubbles were coming from that I saw, but there were none in it at the time of the test and all tests came back normal.

He said when he put the pressure to it, it started pouring out of the timing chain cover gasket.