I have a 2001 F-150 4.6l 4-8 with approx 68,000 miles. Vehicle was purchased new and I have changed the engine oil every 3,000 mi like clockwork. Pickup has always got good mileage and never used much oil. After sitting overnight in our garage last weekend, I went to start it Saturday morning. It seemed a little hard to start but nothing particularly unusual, however, I noticed it also blew a cloud of white smoke out the exhaust that hung in the air for quite some time. Didn't really smell like oil and as it was running OK, I just chalked it up as "one of those things". I had changed the oil two weeks earlier and had put on about 900 miles since. A little later in the morning, as an afterthought I decided I better check the oil and found it was nearly a quart low. I described the event to our regular mechanic and was told to expect the worst, the problem being either a collapsed ring or failed valve seal. In either case, it was his opinion that it would be cheaper to add oil than to go to the expense of repairs. This vehicle has never been drove hard. I doubt it's ever been pushed over 70 mph. I'm having a hard time believing this is a catastrophic failure but I've used this mechanic for nearly 15 years and trust his abilities. Has anyone else had a similar experience with a relatively low mileage F-150? I was shooting for 500,000 miles, not a new pickup. Any other ideas what might be going on? (There are no obvious fluid leaks, the plug is tight on the oil pan and the filter still looks new.)

 

Welcome to FTE! I moved your thread to the 4.6L Engine forum. Someone should be able to help you.

-Matt

 

Check the coolant and see if there's oil in it - not sure if your 1/2-ton has an oil cooler or not, but something to check.

Does it feel like it's missing or is it running perfectly nice?

If you pull the PCV valve out of the valve cover, is there any obvious blowby?

 

My wife took it to a mechanic I've used for 16 years for both personal and company needs. Bottom line is that he found oil in a couple of the cylinders but absolutely can find no apparent cause for what's going on. (This is the first time I've ever seen him stumped and he's fixed some difficult problems for me.) I'm assuming he checked the coolant and the pvc valve but not going to swear to it. I never have changed the pvc valve in this vehicle and thought about it but was assuming I've got something more serious going on. Vehicle runs a little rough at idle but fine going down the road. I've read that the 2001 4.6 had some sort of internal defect that resulted in a "ticking" at start up which is exactly what mine did for about the 1st year. Of course the dealer I spoke with at the time said it was just a characteristic of the Triton engine and I took him at his word. That may have been a mistake.

The mechanic said about the only thing he could recommend is to either get rid of it ASAP or take it to a Ford dealer, tell them what's going on and try to persuade them it's a problem Ford should stand behind regardless that the warranty's expired. I'm not very optimistic about that approach but not to wild about dumping my problem on someone else. As I've been unemployed for about 5 mos now this didn't occur at a very good time and I just don't know what my best move is. Any thoughts out there?

 

A puff of white smoke (steam) could be coolant in a cylinder. A leak may be caused by a blown head gasket or cracked head. Don't know if this happens on Triton engines, but I've seen it on another engine. Did this engine ever overheat? Is it consuming coolant? If so, get rid of it.

 

With a mechanic in between, we can't say much except:

Pull the PCV plumbing and see if there's lots of oil in there. Especially up near the throttle body. Also check the breather side of things where the other valve cover vents to the intake tube. Too much oil? It's getting the oil from there.

Which is not always too much blowby blowing the oil up that high.

The "ticking" defect is related to the cooling in the rear of the heads, maybe just the passenger-side head? The exhaust valve hangs up in the valve-guide, and ticks. If it went away, that just means the valve-guide wore enough to let the valve move freely. Which isn't a bad thing, actually. But, it might be a "silent recall".

CHECK WITH THE FORD DEALER!!!! And call around to a few of them, take it in if you have to... reason being, one may help more than another, and actually get it covered, if it's possible.

However, that "ticking" thing shouldn't cause oil showing up in "cylinders"... which also need clarification.