2006 5.4 3v White / Blue smoke on startup after lots of repair, but only 100k miles.

[1955moose]

Like the window sticker on the Suv said leaving the Gym this afternoon said, you can't fix stupid! Sorry buddy.

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[Fidder]

Like the window sticker on the Suv said leaving the Gym this afternoon said, you can't fix stupid! Sorry buddy.

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No kidding...

I pulled the heads off this past weekend and found a handful of bolts that were not tight, The front cover bolt under the water pump was free spinning. Hard to believe it...

When I pulled the heads it does look like the head gasket on the drivers side did not seal or something. When I pulled the passenger side off you could see parts of the gasket stuck to the head and the block. That was not the case however for the driver side. the driver side is the one that had all the work done to it previously. my compression tests did show a loss of compression in one the cylinders but the wet and dry test on that cylinder showed a similar increase from dry to wet so I believe the compression loss is due to valve or head gasket issues there. Also everything looks fine inside that cylinder so I am not thinking it is a ring issue.

Anyway, I am sending the heads out today to have them rebuilt, we'll see how it goes.

I have another question in relation to the PCV valve. I know that there was pressure pushing oil into the intake manifold which is signs of a bad PCV valve. I also know that those are only replaceable by changing the valve covers. So, what I am wondering is it is possible that those are truly bad or is it possible that they just could not fully deal with the extra pressure created by the head gasket. I am really just debating if I should buy news ones or clean up the old ones. They are not all that expensive however, my costs keep climbing. lol

 

[1955moose]

Well their you go! A crappy repair job by guys that should not have a wrench or ratchet in their hands. Man to leave pieces of old gasket material, and to half ass torque head bolts. Never ceases to amaze me the hacks that are allowed to hang a repair sign outside their building. Personally if it was me I'd pull the pan, and install a fresh set of piston rings, along with a quality hone of cylinders. By having machine shop re work heads, your going to put a strain on the old rings, which are questionable at best. Let us know which way you go, and how it turns out.

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[stamp11127]

Were the headbolts loose?

Depending on how much the heads get shaved, if they do, you may need to get a "head saver gasket" to bring the installed height back into spec. Otherwise the crank to cam timing would be off slightly.

 

[Fidder]

Were the headbolts loose?

Depending on how much the heads get shaved, if they do, you may need to get a "head saver gasket" to bring the installed height back into spec. Otherwise the crank to cam timing would be off slightly.

Thanks for the advice, I am waiting to get the heads back so I can see what was done before I purchase the new head gaskets.

Do you or anyone by chance have an recommendation on which head gaskets to purchase?

 

[1955moose]

Fel pro head savers are probably your best bet. As stamp stated it depends if your machine shop shaves off much from mating surface. Be sure to ask them what the amount they are surfacing, and if you'll need it when done. The purpose of machining the head surface is to remove any distortion of surface. The flatter the better. Any warpage, and you'll never get a good seal.

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[blue oval guy]

My guess on the coolant has got to be that composite intake manifold either cracked somewhere or gaskets have failed, it is very common on all Triton 2 and 3 valve motors. What is the condition of the cylinder walls? If your machine shop already did guides it has to be oil control rings on the pistons, I feel for you..
Please keep us posted on your findings.

 

[Fidder]

I did get the news back about the heads. I will be picking them up soon. It looks like they had to be shaved 3/1000 off to make it flat along with dried out valve guide seals, bad lifters and the number 8 cylinder spark plug hole needed to be helicoiled. There was also a ton of carbon buildup around cylinder 7 and 8 so they. I imagine, and they are saying that these these issues along with the head not being spotless when it was put back on is the reason that it was having the issues. At least I am hoping that is the case.

There are new gaskets all around and no sign of breaking or cracking on the intake manifold so I am not looking to replace that at the time being.

I am going to have them do another pass however on the heads because when I went yesterday to look at them the young employee that pulled them off the shelf scratched the bottom of the head. One of the scratches in particular can be felt with a fingernail which from what I have read is a no no.

Here is to hoping that this solves the issue.

 

[Fidder]

I think I am on the road to mending. We just put the heads back on after having them redone and making sure I could not feel anything at all on any part of either mating surface and then following AllData's torque sequence exactly. After we got the heads on we did a leak down test on all 8 cylinders with the roller followers out so all of the valves were sealed and the the chambers ranged from 3% to 10% across the board. Cyllinders 1-6 all averaged at 5% and 7 and 8 were both at 10%. In the firing order 7 and 8 don't fire back to back so over all I am pretty confident that all of our issues are pretty much taken care of.

Of course I guess I won't know for sure until we start the thing but with the results listed above I don't know how we could have a gasket leak or valves leaking. it seems to be pretty good now.

If you know something I don't know please share.

Thanks again for all of the advice

 

[stamp11127]

Did you get the psi reading for each cylinder?