coolant mixing with oil
#11
#14
i'm posting to this old thread because it was near the top of a google search for "ford 4.6 coolant in oil." hopefully it will help someone who has this problem.
i was a heavy equipment mechanic for 25 years. i haven't screwed up a call in years, until now lol.
i had the same problem, coolant in oil.
engine first started to overheat going up the altamont pass. was driving mom's old mercury ('93 2V 4.6) since i was topping 80 at the time, my guess was a blown head gasket. kept adding water to get it back to the shop. finally crankcase was so full, engine hydro-locked and stopped running.
pulled the heads and inspected. cylinder walls had a couple of rough spots but no obvious cracking. exhaust valves were badly pitted so did a valve job before reassembly. engine fired and ran good. warmed it up and did a couple of full throttle 1/4 miles and brought it back in. checked fluid levels. same problem, coolant low and oil high.
decided i must have missed crack in the block so pulled engine. disassembled and inspected. found some minor cracking near the top of #8 but were very small and didn't look to penetrate more than 0.005" or 0.010". now i was stumped, so i hit the net and wound up here. this thread gave me 2 new ideas. the oil filter adapter plate and the freeze plugs.
i already changed the oil filter adapter plate gasket (no oil cooler) when i did the valve job, so i was sure problem wasn't there. i checked the freeze plugs again and they looked fine. now i figured must be cracking somewhere. so i spun the block over to check the bottoms of the clyinders to see if a piston was hiding a crack. this is what i found (1st pic). freeze plugs looked fine from the top (2nd pic)
when replacing freeze plugs i always use sealed power marine (brass) deep cup plugs (these are 1 1/2" p/n: 381-9002). i like to seal them with permatex #2 non-hardening water pump sealant. use your finger to smear a thin bead on the casting opening. pic #3 is from the ford manual showing proper tool selection for installation. when knocking them in, pound on the bottom of the cup not the top.
bottom line is check the freeze plugs thoroughly! i would recommend taking a mirror-on-a-stick to them first thing, before pulling the heads.
good luck!
i was a heavy equipment mechanic for 25 years. i haven't screwed up a call in years, until now lol.
i had the same problem, coolant in oil.
engine first started to overheat going up the altamont pass. was driving mom's old mercury ('93 2V 4.6) since i was topping 80 at the time, my guess was a blown head gasket. kept adding water to get it back to the shop. finally crankcase was so full, engine hydro-locked and stopped running.
pulled the heads and inspected. cylinder walls had a couple of rough spots but no obvious cracking. exhaust valves were badly pitted so did a valve job before reassembly. engine fired and ran good. warmed it up and did a couple of full throttle 1/4 miles and brought it back in. checked fluid levels. same problem, coolant low and oil high.
decided i must have missed crack in the block so pulled engine. disassembled and inspected. found some minor cracking near the top of #8 but were very small and didn't look to penetrate more than 0.005" or 0.010". now i was stumped, so i hit the net and wound up here. this thread gave me 2 new ideas. the oil filter adapter plate and the freeze plugs.
i already changed the oil filter adapter plate gasket (no oil cooler) when i did the valve job, so i was sure problem wasn't there. i checked the freeze plugs again and they looked fine. now i figured must be cracking somewhere. so i spun the block over to check the bottoms of the clyinders to see if a piston was hiding a crack. this is what i found (1st pic). freeze plugs looked fine from the top (2nd pic)
when replacing freeze plugs i always use sealed power marine (brass) deep cup plugs (these are 1 1/2" p/n: 381-9002). i like to seal them with permatex #2 non-hardening water pump sealant. use your finger to smear a thin bead on the casting opening. pic #3 is from the ford manual showing proper tool selection for installation. when knocking them in, pound on the bottom of the cup not the top.
bottom line is check the freeze plugs thoroughly! i would recommend taking a mirror-on-a-stick to them first thing, before pulling the heads.
good luck!
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rothstar (02-17-2023)
#15
Whip cream in the oil
I need help with my 97 f150 with the romeo 4.6 . I'm losing coolant into the oil. the other day it started running funny loss of power and barely would idle. found a milk shake in oil. drained oil and had about 3 gallons of fluid/oil and coolant. I assumed it was head gaskets. I tore the motor down and had the heads rebuilt and tested. machine shop said that they passed the pressure test. I just finished putting it back together started it up and ran for 15 minutes. sounded great all was good. I drained the oil and it filled a 3 gallon pan. not good. I noticed that the coolant was low so I added about half a gallon and it came right out the oil drain plug. I'm completely confused where else could the coolant be mixing with the oil? my next guess would be where the lower radiator hose connects to the casting that is on the front of the block on of drivers side. this casting also has the remote oil filter hoses attached to it. has anyone heard of this same issue? anything helps.
thanks
thanks
#16
You may want to see if the port cut outs in the head gasket align with the ports of the head and block. If that is correct then you may want to have the block magna fluxed to see if there is a crack somewhere.