01 F150 4.2L, Found sludge on dipstick and filler cap
12-02-2014, 05:05 PM
#1
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01 F150 4.2L, Found sludge on dipstick and filler cap
Hello people,
New to the forums tried looking for answers but could not find any.
Here is the back story,
-My cousins trucked stalled and did not want to start up again, jumped it and started up.
-changed the battery did the relearn process all is well, stalled again 10 mins into driving on surface streets this time check engine and oil light came on.
-checked the the oil dipstick, there was sludge half way up the dipstick and sludge on the filler cap. Coolant reservoir empty.
-cousin tells me he had just put a gallon of coolant 4 days prior. Truck still starts up no idle problems, check hoses no oil or sludge residue, checked block no visible external leak, tail pipe was smoking a bit.
-could not check CEL, don't have a reader.
-my conclusion internal coolant leak, possibly from head gaskets.
my questions are:
1. Did we catch the leak on time to salvage the engine?
2. What would be the best course of action?
Thank you for any feedback.
New to the forums tried looking for answers but could not find any.
Here is the back story,
-My cousins trucked stalled and did not want to start up again, jumped it and started up.
-changed the battery did the relearn process all is well, stalled again 10 mins into driving on surface streets this time check engine and oil light came on.
-checked the the oil dipstick, there was sludge half way up the dipstick and sludge on the filler cap. Coolant reservoir empty.
-cousin tells me he had just put a gallon of coolant 4 days prior. Truck still starts up no idle problems, check hoses no oil or sludge residue, checked block no visible external leak, tail pipe was smoking a bit.
-could not check CEL, don't have a reader.
-my conclusion internal coolant leak, possibly from head gaskets.
my questions are:
1. Did we catch the leak on time to salvage the engine?
2. What would be the best course of action?
Thank you for any feedback.
12-02-2014, 05:13 PM
#2
Nobody on here can tell you if your engine is ok. You'll have to take it apart to check that. If you have the time, a complete teardown would be best, but you'll have to at least take the heads off. If you want the best odds of saving the engine, don't drive it anymore until you can fix it. First step in my mind would be a compression check and leak down test depending on those results.
