bigblaster

Hey, new here as a member but have been reading post after post trying ro find an answer to my issue with no success. Here's the deal. I have a 2004 f150 5.4 3 valve. Have changed oil religiously every 3k miles with full synthetic. Truck has 102 thousand miles and has never overheated or given me any grief. I take it to work a few weeks ago (100 mile round trip) with 0 issues. My wife goes to drive it a few hours later only to turn it on finding it shaking around idling super rough with hardly any power. She turns it off and parks it immediately. I really don't have an idea at the time so figure to start with plugs and work my way from there. Of course plugs broke, I couldn't remove so I paid a mechanic 850 bucks to get them out and install new ones. He called and said plugs didn't cure the rough idle and it wouldn't remain running. He's thinking head gasket but I'm not sure I'm ready to dump 2k into a gasket when I had zero prob with overheating ever. I'm not a mechanic by all means but I have done 4x4 hub actuators, u joints alternators, starters etc. Just not sure I want to undertake pulling the heads if there's a chance of it being something stupid. I had it towed home, it flat out will not start now, only will turn and run down battery. There is a milky color to the dipstick fluid like coolant got in. I just changed oil 2500 miles ago and everything was great. I have had head gasket problems on other vehicles in the past but they definitely had the overheating symptom. Does anyone have any ideas? I've read anything from freeze plug to vct solenoid. Just not sure where to start. By the way, at times before this the truck would sometimes sound like a diesel at low rpms when idling. Any ideas are greatly appreciated, I'm just scratching my head here. Thanks!

nrivera04

Freeze plugs or a vct solenoid won't cause coolant to get in your crankcase. Since the plugs were just changed, i'd recommend a compression test... Taking the plugs out shouldn't give much trouble, just remember to torque them back in. You may also be able to see what cylinder is giving you problems if you come across one with coolant on it. You can also do a block system test. Most stores rent the tester, you just have to buy the fluid. The truck has to be runnine to do this test though.

It is possible for a head gasket to go without overheating. The two mentioned tests should either
Point to or eliminate the head gasket as your culprit.

IceFishinFool

Have you checked or changed you fuel pump driver module? If not I would check that out. Its located on the cross member above the spare tire.

Nocturnal1

If there's sign of coolant in the oil, another possibility is a cracked intake manifold or degradation of the plastic intake manifold (a known common problem). You can search this forum for a write up.

If you have good compression on a compression test, I'd look at the intake manifold.

bigblaster

First I'd like to say thanks for the input to everyone. So I pulled coil packs off today and found some green coolant inside #5 boot. Would this lean toward a Crack in the intake manifold/gasket? I can't get the dang thing to start in the 1st place and that's driving me nuts. I'm really trying to find anything it could possibly be besides head gasket or heads in general. I haven't messed with the intake manifold before but I'm assuming I can pull something up on youtube maybe. Would this allow coolant to find its way into the oil? I can't find any leaks externally so far.

bigblaster

So, I am going to yank the intake manifold this weekend and check the gasket as well as the actual manifold. I'm planning 5-6 hours since most auto related projects that are suppose to take 2 hours take me 5. It looks like I just have to unhook the battery and yank out injectors, plugs, air intake and alternator and the 6 or 7 bolts holding that bad boy in. Anything I'm missing? Any ideas are much appreciated. I am hoping to find a blown gasket, maybe by cylinder 5 explaining my coolant on the boot. Wishful thinking maybe. If that's the case I'll probably go ahead and replace the plugs I just put in with Motorcraft plugs and hopefully be good to go. I'm thinking I need to drain coolant 1st, how about oil? Again, any help is greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Nocturnal1

Bigblaster,

My apologies, I mistakenly stated that if you coolant in your oil it could be caused by a cracked intake manifold or leaking gasket. If you have coolant in your oil, a cracked intake manifold or leaking gasket in the 5.4 engine would cause the coolant to leak external to the engine (not internal). I was thinking about the older engines. My apologies, my mistake.

However, cracked intake manifolds and/or leaking gaskets are a known problem with the 5.4 plastic intake manifolds.

I haven't removed an intake manifold from a 5.4, so I can't provide any actual tips. But if you are removing the intake manifold, at least partially drain the coolant to a level below the height of the intake manifold. If you have coolant in your oil, definitely replace it as well.

Lots of tips on this blog on how to remove fuel rails, battery relearn process, etc.

bigblaster

Hey Nocturnal thanks for your input, it is very much appreciated! So... an intake manifold can't leak coolant internally enough to show up on a dipstick? I'm just having a tough time wrapping my head around a blown head gasket in this truck. Not to seem naive.. but, I guess when it comes to internal stuff I am. I have done plenty of U-joints and other maintenance type stuff like that, but nothing really internally. It won't cost me anything but type to pull the intake manifold but if it's not possible for it to put coolant in dipstick range I'm not gonna worry bout it. The coolant is showing up on inside of boot #5. Thanks again! I appreciate it

Nocturnal1

Yes, if you have a leaking intake manifold or intake manifold gasket, it would not leak internally into the oil compartment, but would to the outside of the engine (for example, engine valley, outside of valve cover, and/or coil). It may leak into the intake port, but would then have to make it past your piston rings. I'm assuming you can turn your engine over and therefore your cylinder isn't full of coolant.

If your #5 coil has coolant, it may be from the intake manifold/gasket, but I would check the obvious first (hose connection to the intake manifold, hose connection housing on the intake manifold).

Can you borrow a compression tester and perform a compression test? If it is the head gasket, you'll have to remove the intake manifold first. But I would start with a compression test if possible before taking parts off.

bigblaster

Nocturnal,
Thanks for getting back at me. One possibly important fact I maybe didn't mention. Before this whole fiasco. When my wife fired it up and it was shaking and bucking and sounding terrible with about 10% power, the CELL light started blinking. She ran it for about 30 seconds and shut it down. This is after I ran 100 miles with it with no signs of any problems. This is what spurred me to change plugs 1st. Now, after I broke 7 of them off and had to pay to remove them (I had no luck with tap and dye removal) it hasn't ran since. Will turn, but won't fire. Honestly, it's not Motorcraft plugs I had reinstalled so I was thinking maybe that's it? Maybe ones bad. I really wish I could even get it to run, it would possibly make it easier to find anything leaking externally or diagnose if it's the head gasket. Just weird that it hasn't run since new plugs were installed. Mechanic who installed was confused to, but said they couldn't really get any further without pulling the head. I apologize for the lengthy posts and million questions. This has become an obsession to figure this thing out at this point. I guess right now, the only absolute verifiable symptoms I'm looking at are; coolant on the dipstick and inside of boot #5 and inability to fire the thing. Thanks again! It is very much appreciated!