jamesyarbrough

This may sound hypocritical, but I use Lucas Transmission Fix in every transmission I have with more than 100k miles. My truck runs good with it! I also used it in my wifes explorer. The explorer had some pretty bad shift flare problems at 90k. With the aid of lucas we got 143k miles out of that transmission before having it rebuilt.

The only motor oil additives i will ever use are Kanolabs Kreen and Marvel Mystery Oil.....and thats only when warranted. They are safe to use in moderation and do a good job at cleaning up sludge and varnish. However with todays synthetic oils, cleaning additives are not needed.

Fordjunkync

CHECK THIS 1ST
Have someone/you watch the clearance between this (Emissions tube & engine lifting bracket) as someone/you shift the trans from drive to reverse servery times. (may have to give a little throttle).











Since your saying you didnt change the air-filter as in saying your filter was very dirty (which is very easy to replace), then I could also imagine that you wouldnt have changed the oil either since its much harder to do (which would be 1 cause of engine rattle aka neglect).


Any oil (even old/used) is better than none at all.
Sludge is from oil brake down & slowly reduces oil flow AKA-slow death.

Synthetic oils aren't a "bad idea" as its been noted,
they have there place as in reducing wear & increasing component life.
(Life span required by owner depends on "cost" & the time of expected ownership to cease)
Standard Synthetic automotive oils don't reduce oil "consumption" inside a engine once the engine starts consuming it.
(This engine High Mileage oil terminology is misleading & instead should read engine High Hours oil)
(I know of many trucks that run almost 24/7 & are sold with low miles & have been beaten to death)

These band-aids fit in with the same group as:
Using additives to increase friction in a slipping trans.
Adding trans fluid in the engine to swell leaking seals.
Pepper in a leaking radiator.
Wood chips in noisy differential.
LoL-Not saying band-aids are bad but there meant to be temporary.


Transmission
My 2000 F150 I sold in 2009 had over 200,000miles on a stock transmission (had 50,000miles on the truck when I bought truck).
I myself drained the trans & convertor to replace the oil regularly as I pulled a 18ft boat & a car trailer.


Note: if you keep using a automotive transmission that is slipping/not pulling, then at a point the wear becomes enough that a person has to replace more than just the clutches/bands, you'll have damaged more costly "hard parts" to replace.






.

muncheese

Had my oil changed regularly, forgot about the air filter.

found new evidence to why its rattling. the nut broke off that holds the bracket in place. should i try to replace the nut or tie it back with a coat hanger?

Also found an oil leak seems to be the only one. might have caused the nut to break, maybe. i bought some engine cleaner but im a little worried about spraying the engine. i think i should cover the ignition coils with a plastic bag, right?

muncheese

That first picture on the last post is a video of what i hear on the road.

muncheese

i have engine cleaner but im a little worried about how to use it. im thinking of covering the ignition coils and just spraying it down, its a gunk product NON-foaming. afterwards im thinking of a very light spray with the garden house, with the nossle that twists to let out a straight beam of water or the other way for a light spray. and then blowing it down with a leaf blower. is there any problem with that?

Fordjunkync

Cool, Id just remove the engine lift bracket by removing the other nut (the bracket is just mounted on a studs on top of the bolts).
The nut broke off under tension & most likely was cracked for a good while due to the way it broke, notice the raised spot, that was where finally snapped. It wasnt caused by the oil.

Just a FYI, Some of the F150s header bolts (not a stud off the top of a bolt like yours) snap off around 100,000ish plus miles LoL.

The leak is from the valve covers.

The Gunk brand white can of engine cleaner that you most likely have in hand you spray the areas that need cleaning down & let it set for a bit & then spray off with a water hose or pressure washer.

This vehicle doesnt have the coil over the sparkplug (there the 1s that are finicky about holding water in the plug pockets) so I wouldnt even be scared to even pressure wash the engine.
If concerned about the non-over-sparkplug coilpacks then wrap plastic around them.