03 f150 scab 5.4l v8. When the truck sat from yesterday til today(it was only 14 degrees outside) I noticed where I circled in red was leaking but once it warmed up around 1130am the leak went away. What is this piece circled in red and is there a gasket I can change?

What is this piece ?

pic

 

That piece is called a crossover tube, or something like that, but that's also the spot where the plastic intake cracks and starts leaking coolant. Odds are that's what's really going on.

I made a nearly-identical post when mine cracked about a year ago.

 

Yes sir that's what's leaking is coolant. If you fixed it what did you do to fix it? Or can it be fixed?

 

Replaced the entire intake. https://www.f150forum.com/f6/heater-...ghlight=intake

 

That's been a bad spot for intake gaskets and composite intakes since 1997 with the V8s and V10s. 97 thru 99 5fours had solid aluminum intakes (no plastics). Those wouldn't break but the gaskets on both sides would go bad right there up front around both water jackets. Once the intake was removed, both gaskets would be deformed and looked smashed just in those locations.

2000 - 03/04 when Ford went composite (plastic) , gaskets still went bad there but they also would cracked the intake composite. They all eventually go bad there, normal for them leak there with time. Quite a bit of time, around 150,000 miles anyway. Nothing new or out of the ordinary.

 

BTW- Might want to purchase intake gaskets from Ford only for that job. Ford had many gasket revisions, not sure 3rd party or after market kept up with them all.

Prep is key, personally I go over the heads with a palm sander a couple times, then lacquer thinner or acetone right before setting the intake and gasket. Head contact surface must be oil free....not even a finger print. Try not to touch the gasket as well, fresh pair of rubber gloves when setting in place. Torque it down in stages, two or three stages. Don't skip the torque for this procedure. Not difficult but critical to get it right.... if you don't want to do it again in the near future.

If the heads are pitted around the water jackets up front (this is common), you'll have to wire brush the cavities, dig in there real good then use permatex metal filler to bring them flush to the head surface. Let dry, then sand smooth. This is a must or they'll leak in short time.

See the dark areas around the water jackets, those were pits and cavities after the finished repair., -



You may have to the same.

Good Luck!

 

Thanks again as always guys. And nothing left to do but start doing it. I'll try to remember to take some before and after photos for myself and to share on here to make sure I didn't miss anything.i always said I wanted to strip it down mine as well be now thanks.

 

Yup. 15-20-year-old plastic cracks.
Not a hard job just a little time consuming.

Make sure you take pictures and label everything that you take off and got to put back. Use Ford OEM procedure for torquing intake bolts..... It is important. Cleanliness is leak free requirement. Make sure you stuff towels or rags in the holes so that nothing inadvertently goes down the runners.
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