5.0 Blown Head Gasket?

[section525]

I was driving home from work yesterday and the X started running a little rough. It seemed to be doing it at about 40mph only. But it would stop when I let off the gas.

Anyway, about another 1/2 mile all hell broke loose. It ran very rough, felt like it was going to stall, and sounded like I had an exhaust leak. Well, finally the "Check Engine" light came on. I drove it the rest of the way home 1 1/2 miles).

I took it into my Uncle's shop today to get the code. The guy said that there was only info from the history. (A while back I had a coil pack go out and he said thats what it was bringing up). Anyway, while he was messing around in the cab reving the engine and such, I was fishing around under the hood. Well I found a spot right below the 3rd sparkplug back on the drivers side that has moisture on the block and smoke (or steam maybe) would come out when he revved it.

So... I'm thinking a blown head gasket. What do you guys think? Make sense? If that is it, how hard is the gasket to get to? Thanks!

 

[james t]

hmmm... sounds like it. kinda rare in a relativly stock 5.0, but not completely unheard of. did it run hot? did it smoke any? if its leaking into the combustion chamber, it should have some/alittle/alot of vapor in the exhuast.

not hard, just remove the head. do both sides while your at it.

 

[section525]

It didnt run hot and I didnt notice any smoke. My X does have nearly 140,000 miles though. There is a definate type of moisture coming from the seam though..

 

[section525]

Nevermind! Damn coil pack again! Apparently the dipstick came loose after doing the body lift and thats where the oil/smoke was coming from! Glad it was only that. I had an extra coil pack lying around too. Cheap fix!

 

[james t]

well alright! glad to hear it. i was kinda wondering about the blown head gasket but not smoking... but as you know its hard to diagnose something over the internet. nice when breakdowns turn out alot cheaper/easier than expected... usually it works out the other way around.