Stupid me put too much oil in the other, not paying attention because of other problems I was troubleshooting. I since caught the problem, but I did have it running for a little bit and the white smoke was what clued me in. I drained all the excess oil, but now I think my plugs are fouled beyond beilef. The engine sparks and turns over, but it sounds so bad that I think it is only running on a couple of cyliders, and the gas fumes are terrible. I pulled a couple of plugs and the had the typical black soot on them. I cleaned them off as best as I could, but there is six more to go and it took me forever to put all these new plugs in the other day. Would I be correct in assuming that all the excess oil created this problem? There was about 2 quarts too much. Should I remove all the plugs and clean them, replace them again ($60!!!!!), or am I going to have a more serious problem on my hands here? I haven't really driven it around. I've only ran it a few times to test a starter I was replacing. Since it started running this poorly, I haven't let it run more than 30 secs. or so at a time, just to see if draining the oil and cleaning two of the plugs helped.

 

What I would try is taking the plugs out, then turn engine over for about 30 seconds or so to drive all the excess oil out, then put in new plugs and see if that works for you.its worth a try isn't it?

 

As we speak I am removing the plugs and cleaning them real good. Most of them so far are heavily fouled. If I crank the engine will it flush the oil out whether or not I have new plugs in it? What about the residual oil in the cylinder now, will it just burn off? I had to let it run too long as bad as it sounds right now. I mean the whole engine is shaking.

 

With the plugs out and turning over the motor good it will force out most of the oil in the cylinder, once you have good plugs in and get started it will burn off whats left. give the gas peddle a few quick bursts and let it idle 1500- 2000 rpm it should straighten it out. maybe you have a bad coil on one or more plugs.just keep trying things till you get it. make sure the oil isn't overfull.

 

I couldn't try out you're idea because it got dark on me. I did however get the rest of the plugs I had out cleaned and put back in before dark. It's a little bit better now. The whole engine isn't shaking anymore, but it still sounds like a mini jackhammer under the hood. Still smoking and dripping oil from the tail pipe. I have checked the oil level so many times to make sure I didn't have too much in there that I probably lost a quart of oil dripping from the dipstick. It looks like it is idling at 750. Just to be sure I understand your test correctly, 1)pull all the plugs, 2) crank for 30 secs. to flush out the oil. I didn't thnk it would crank without any plugs to create a spark. The boots appear to be fine condition to me. They even had grease on them already from whoever worked on them last. Is there any easy way to tell if they are bad? I made sure to use anti-seize on the plugs too, per the infamous blown plug problems I've been reading about. I don't have a torque wrench, so I had to use extremely judicious tightening skills, being as slow and careful as possible not to over tighten. They sure don't make it easy on shade tree mechanics any more do they?!?!?!

 

I must be getting a little bit closer to burning off the excess oil now. I drove around the neighborhood for a few minutes. It still smokes but there isn't any oil leaking from, or visibile, on the tailpipe.

 

The boots appear to be fine condition to me. They even had grease on them already from whoever worked on them last. Is there any easy way to tell if they are bad?

They'll look bad. Roll them around and you'll see cracks, checking, etc. For me, if you replace plugs at 75-100 k, I would spend the 65-80 dollars to replace the boots, since from what I've read, they are generally the cause of the COP's failing, and all of the water related misfires. You also need to take note of the springs coming off the cop's going through the boot. I had one extremely stretched out, and never noticed. It was reinstalled, only to throw immediate code, and get pulled again. And it was #4. Live and learn.

 

Can the springs inside the boots be replaced separately from the boot? I'll go ahead and replace all the springs as a safeguard if I can. I don't see any point in replacing the boots right now. I inspected each one of them indidually both times I took them off. A couple of springs looked like they might have been stretched, but not drastically.

 

I do not believe so, 99.99%, but I'm not that smart. I don't know what motor or year, but while your in there, look for the heater core hoses that may be pass. side, coming out of front wall that run over top of #4. Based on year, they may cause a problem. Most have replaced the OE clamps on older models, as they drip onto #4, but again, depends on year, I think Ford fixed that at some point.

 

Sorry. It's a 2006 Expedition XLT 5.4l

 

Going to try this again. Someone advised me to fuel system cleaner to help clean out the combustion chamber and the pistons, etc. I could really use some reassurance right now that I haven't REALLY screwed things up.

 

Still not really getting anywhere. If I blew a rear or front seal, wouldn't I be leaking oil from the engine somewhere?

 

Why don't you just let it idle until the smoke clears up? Sit behind the wheel and look & listen for strange noises or gauge readings. If it is damaged, you'll know and if it's OK you can stop worrying.

Good Luck

 

That's what I've been doing. I drove it around the neighborhood last night, then parked it in the driveway to get the fuel system cleaner through everything and hopefully burn off the excess oil. Check engine light went off last night, but came back this morning. THEN something heart stopping happened. While it was idling a heard a snap sound and then rattling. I immediately shut it off out of fear, but now I'm afraid something is seriously wrong. Now it won't even start. The actuator on the starter sounds like it is kicking in then it just sucks all the juice out of the battery, not even a clicking sound. Battery tests at 12+ volts on the volt meter, and just had it on the charger the day before just to be sure. I guess the only option I have now is to have it towed to a Ford dealership, one town over. None of the private mechanics can look at it until later in the week.