I been having trouble with my truck lately. The problem is that i have two misfires cylinder 1 and 7 ive tried changing the plugs and coils but only works for about a week and burns the coils and then it has a leak of antifreeze, So today i tried giving the truck a better look for what the problem mite be with the misfires and when i was pulling the coil on cylinder 7 it was wet it had antifreeze or so i think it was antifreeze since it was green do you guys know any reason why this mite be i checked around and theres no water coming in i tried looking for any close leaks to the plugs and i couldn't spot anything & aslo these codes came up if its any help p0401 p0171 p0301 p0307

 

Possible head gasket, cracked head, or something else. Are all of the plugs torqued correctly? And we need more info on your truck like year and motor/trans.

 

Its a 2000 5.4 trans im not very sure ever since i noticed the problem ive done them twice in my own and then i took it to the dealer and they said they did the same thing changed the plugs and coils but it goes back to the same thing as i tell you guys this I'm pulling out the rest of the coils and they're all wet i pulled one out with oil

 

Pull the plugs and look for oil or coolant on them. That would be a good indication of whether a blown head gasket (sounds like the most logical at this point) or cracked heads. The cracked heads isn't really something I would worry about as it's very rare for both heads to crack at the same time. Usually one then maybe the other. Sounds like its time to maybe get some new gaskets and go to town removing the heads. Some more questions so we can help.

1. How many miles are on it?

2. Has the coolant been flushed recently?

3. Have you had it overheat at all?

 

It has 208,457 miles and i flushed the antifreeze 2 months ago and it hasn't overheat in 5 years i pulled all the plugs and they're all wet and only cylinder 4 has oil im checking all the rest of the spark plugs to see if i see oil on them

 

Sounds like head gaskets. You can just replace the head gaskets for both sides. I would inspect the combustion side of the heads before I went too far though. Make sure there isn't any scarred surfaces from a possible blow by of the combustion cycle. My brother bought a Festiva with a bad head. The combustion cycle literally burnt a slot from one cylinder to another.

Don't get all worked up thinking you're going to have to replace the motor. I'm just trying to give you some things to look out for to keep you from doing things twice. Before you tear into it though, do some research on here to see what other people have done that has helped them when they had to tear into the 5.4. You'll probably see the 3V being talked about more so than the 2V, just a nature of the beast.

 

When you say the plugs are wet you mean the top part of the plug or bottom part? Im assuming the top and do the plug holes have antifreeze in them? If that is the problem sounds like a bad intake gasket and maybe even a cracked intake letting antifreeze escape. But first check where the hoses connect to your heater core. The plastic connectors will get brittle and break. Mainly take compressed air and dry engine off, crank it and let it warm up and look for leaks.

 

Look right here... these intakes are known to crack here, leak coolant and short coils among other issues...



Like this...


So I had to do this...



Haha, it was a four hour job in the driveway, (I've been working on vehicles for a long time though)

Something to look into, check there and around the thermostat housing and also at the back of the intake manifold, you may find your coolant leak here then that's out of the way... you may have more than one issue as well, like a vac leak... pcv hose, MAF, fuel delivery issue, etc... start with the easy, cheap\free stuff like looking at it first instead of ripping it down to the block to find you had a dirty MAF and you forgot to put your coolant reservoir cap on...

 

Yea, good posts in this thread! Follow up on them. So yea, should find the problem/leak first, definitely. Where is the coolant is coming from? That's not easy most of the time. The high presure leaks leak intermitantly, when conditions are met (at certain pressure levels).

To add to others suggestions, -perform the hydrocarbon test to confirm gasket failure, if needed. You can purchase an inexpensive kit at Auto zone or what not. The only other way to have coolant in #7 is if you have leak at the thermostat housing or hose connect. Your engine is tilted back towards the cab, if it leaks by the housing area, coolant can travel along the top of the head and dump into #7 or any other cylinder on that side (bank2). If the housing isn't leaking at the hose or neck connection, the necks themselves are prone to leaking from pin-holes in the castings. So be aware of those.

There's a lot of direction here that one could give yuh. Given the little bit of history you posted and IF it is indeed the head gasket, the only thing I would be doing is pulling the motor and locating a replacement. That's what it's going to boil down to in the end, -no matter which way go about fixing it.

Don't like posting this crap, but I've seen people waste quit a bit of time,effort and cash in the past trying to fix what they have...that's after one of these engines has either over heated or ate the head gaskets. On the other hand, I've also seen plenty of head gasket replacement successes. It depends why the head gasket failed in the first place and what damage has been done before and after the failure.

IMO, -If you have to farm any of this work out, then it's not worth it. Just find a good used engine replacement. But by all means, confirm the problem first, then figure out what to do.

Keep asking questions.

 

Yes these coolant leaks can seem to come and go/dry up... mine would **** out for a few min then dry up for what seemed to be a week... in reality I'm sure it would leak here and there when meeting the right (or wrong) conditions then dry up by the time I open the hood, other times I'd open it at the right time... just keep checking these areas at different temps and conditions... fix that problem if it is indeed the intake (these are known to be an issue) then replace the coils that are bad and the plugs preferably Motorcraft but that's my opinion, clear codes and wait for the lean codes... if they come back look into vac leaks, dirty MAF, fuel delivery issues O2 harnesses (I've seen that before) etc... check it out and get back to us, we'll help as much as we can over the interwebs