by "OPPOsaurus WRX" (opposaurus)
Published 10/23/2017 at 14:20
by "OPPOsaurus WRX" (opposaurus)
Published 10/23/2017 at 14:20
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I was talking with my neighbor over the weekend during a brake in the beam project. His truck is consuming oil at an elevated rate. He took it to to a repair shop which said it would be $2k or something high like that. They said his exhaust manifold is leaking and it requires the engine to be pulled to repair and isn’t really worth doing. I told him that’s probably BS (at least the engine pull part). I looked into and the repair can be done with the engine in place, but it requires you to grow a couple extra elbows to reach all the studs. Then the video talked about how much fun the studs are and how easy is it to brake them. He just got laid off and had to cancel his plan of buying a new truck. I wanted to help him but this seems like a potential nightmare. I could be wrong on the oil leak and exhaust manifold being connected or they could be two separate issues. I dont really remember.
2004 F150 with a lot of miles and the 5.4 V8.
"WiscoProud" (wiscoproud)
10/23/2017 at 14:25, STARS: 1
I would guess they’re separate issues. Oil doesn’t come into contact with the exhaust manifolds without a car fire to go along with them. If he’s losing a significant amount of oil, there should be blue smoke in his exhaust and fault codes. If there isn’t either of these, I would assume he has a major leak somewhere, and crawling underneath should reveal it.
That being said, I am by no means an expert on F150s, so hopefully someone with relevant experience chimes in.
"OPPOsaurus WRX" (opposaurus)
10/23/2017 at 14:30, STARS: 0
i think he said something about a lifter or rocker or something. the thing certainly has a tick to it when its running.
"merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc" (merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc)
10/23/2017 at 14:32, STARS: 0
More likely a valve seal issue or a dreaded head gasket. I thought these engines were pretty notorious for head gasket leaks.
"Future next gen S2000 owner" (future-next-gen-s2000-owner)
10/23/2017 at 14:36, STARS: 0
Two separate issues. Oil doesn’t run through the exhaust manifolds. Oil is being consumed/lost/leaking someplace else.
"Future next gen S2000 owner" (future-next-gen-s2000-owner)
10/23/2017 at 14:36, STARS: 0
Could be the exhaust leak causing a tick.
"WiscoProud" (wiscoproud)
10/23/2017 at 14:39, STARS: 0
Yeah, my manifold ticks as it warms up, but is quiet once the engine gets to temperature.
"diplodicus" (diplodicus)
10/23/2017 at 14:44, STARS: 1
If its a 3v 5.4l triton its probably cam phasers. They are also known for timing chain failure. Guy down the street from me had the oil pump and cam phasers fail in his ferd. It was cheaper to replace it with a used motor.
"HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles" (hondasfordsvolvo)
10/23/2017 at 14:52, STARS: 0
Those 5.4s do have notorious exhaust manifold leaks, but I don’t see how it could be connected to oil consumption. It just sounds bad
"Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs" (yowen)
10/23/2017 at 15:01, STARS: 0
Those engines are notorious for leaky exhaust manifolds, so that could very likely be the source of the ticking. As for the oil leak I am unsure what’s causing that I’m afraid.
"shop-teacher" (shop-teacher)
10/23/2017 at 15:12, STARS: 1
The exhaust manifold and the oil consumption/leaking are definitely separate issues. Might be able to let the exhaust leak slide if it’s not too bad.
These engines aren’t much fun to work on from everything I’ve heard. Admittedly I’ve never actually worked on one. When I bought my truck new in ‘06, these unnecessarily complicated engines kept Fords off my shopping list.
"Pickup_man" (zekeh)
10/23/2017 at 15:16, STARS: 0
I’ve done manifold replacement on the previous generation F-150, and it’s an absolute bitch, took me 3-4 days to do both sides. My Dad has had this done on his ‘09 with the 5.4, the engine doesn’t have to come fully out, but it has to be raised several inches to gain access to one of the rear studs. That price quote seems to be pretty in line with what he had quoted and what he paid. Unless it drives them insane just leave the manifold leak, try to find the oil leak if you can, if not, switch to conventional if he’s on synthetic, possibly try high mileage oil, or that stuff Lucas sells. I had an oil leak in mine for a while but after one run of high mileage, then a switch from synthetic to conventional it’s stopped.
"Pickup_man" (zekeh)
10/23/2017 at 15:19, STARS: 0
The head gasket issue was more of a production problem on early 2 valve 5.4's, this is a 3 valve and they caught the head gasket issue long before they started making those. the 3V had it’s own set of problems but head gaskets usually seem to be fine.
"Urambo Tauro" (urambotauro)
10/23/2017 at 15:26, STARS: 0
Is this the video? I remember watching it a while back. It looks like quite the job.
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"Pickup_man" (zekeh)
10/23/2017 at 15:27, STARS: 0
If he knows the exhaust manifolds are bad it’s most likely that that’s making the tick. Another super common problem with the 3 valve is cam phasers, which can also make a ticking noise. If those are bad I’d strongly consider either replacing them or getting a lockout kit as they have a tendency to take the timing chain with them, resulting in a dead engine.
The 2 valve 5.4 from the 99-03 trucks have problems with semi-dead lifters. One particular lifter has a tendency to drain when the engine isn’t running and it takes a while to refill with oil, especially when cold. Mine has this problem, and in the winter months you’d swear it has an old diesel in it, it knocks that bad, and idles rough until it’s warmed up. It’s been doing that for at least 100,000 miles (201k on the truck now) so I’m not really worried about it. I don’t think the 3 valves every really had this problem.
"OPPOsaurus WRX" (opposaurus)
10/23/2017 at 15:32, STARS: 0
the one I watched, the guy left most of everything in place and used crazy ratched joints and extensions to get at everything.