Konakid
Member
- Joined
- April 1, 2012
- Messages
- 14
- Reaction score
- 0
- City, State
- Tucson, AZ
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 1993 Ford Explorer XLT
Hi all,
I've spent a bit of time searching the forum for answers and haven't found them. My problem that I would greatly like your collective opinions on is as follows:
I have a 93 XLT with over 200K on it. I am the original owner and have changed the oil and maintained it fairly well over the years. No smoke and no oil use. On my last oil change, I drained the oil and found lots of brown milky gunk coming out of my engine. It was antifreeze in my oil. I was unable to see any oil in the radiator or on the radiator cap/neck, and since have drained the radiator with no oil found. After draining the oil, I filled it back up and parked it until I could get the garage cleaned out to make room for the Ex.
After reading the forum, I decided that it could be a head, head gasket, or lower intake gasket. I put the torque wrench on the lower intake manifold bolts and found most of them turned at least one full turn before achieving 200 in-lbs. I had been having some challenges in the past with shifting not working well until heated up, but found pack rats had eaten small plastic vacuum lines and my MAF was dirty. Cleaning the MAF caused the engine to really run great, and replacing the vacuum lines fixed the shifting issues. I had also had some problems with coolant leaking out the driver side of the engine and couldn't find the leak. I replaced the water pump and that stopped the leak, even though I never really saw it leaking out of the water pump.
So... I decided to pull it apart to find out what was wrong. After taking off the upper intake, I realized that I hadn't done a compression check, so I did one. All cylinders were at 155psi. I waited after each cylinder was pressurized and didn't see the needle coming off of 155 any time soon. One of the cylinders was at 160psi (I think front Drivers Side). I tried to duplicate it after the fact and couldn't. Now I'm wondering if it is a head or head gasket.
I pulled the lower intake off today, and can't tell anything from looking at it. There may have been a leak in the front and there may have been a leak in the rear on the left, but it is inconclusive. The intake manifold is crusted up with a bunch of carbon all around the walls, but it is consistent in all ports, making me think the leak could be occurring through the intake after turning off the engine and pressure from the radiator driving coolant into the crank case under the intake manifold. I found some coolant around one of the lifters, but think it flowed there when I pulled the intake. The manifold is wet in every port, but it smells like crankcase fumes, so I assume it is oil residue and carbon from the PCV and EGR.
If I pull the heads, how do I get them Magnaflowed? What is magnaflowing? Where can I get this kind of procedure done?
After reading all the heartburn stories about exhaust manifold bolts, I'm not looking forward to it, and would like to get out of doing it....
Any thoughts or recommendations?
Thanks!
I've spent a bit of time searching the forum for answers and haven't found them. My problem that I would greatly like your collective opinions on is as follows:
I have a 93 XLT with over 200K on it. I am the original owner and have changed the oil and maintained it fairly well over the years. No smoke and no oil use. On my last oil change, I drained the oil and found lots of brown milky gunk coming out of my engine. It was antifreeze in my oil. I was unable to see any oil in the radiator or on the radiator cap/neck, and since have drained the radiator with no oil found. After draining the oil, I filled it back up and parked it until I could get the garage cleaned out to make room for the Ex.
After reading the forum, I decided that it could be a head, head gasket, or lower intake gasket. I put the torque wrench on the lower intake manifold bolts and found most of them turned at least one full turn before achieving 200 in-lbs. I had been having some challenges in the past with shifting not working well until heated up, but found pack rats had eaten small plastic vacuum lines and my MAF was dirty. Cleaning the MAF caused the engine to really run great, and replacing the vacuum lines fixed the shifting issues. I had also had some problems with coolant leaking out the driver side of the engine and couldn't find the leak. I replaced the water pump and that stopped the leak, even though I never really saw it leaking out of the water pump.
So... I decided to pull it apart to find out what was wrong. After taking off the upper intake, I realized that I hadn't done a compression check, so I did one. All cylinders were at 155psi. I waited after each cylinder was pressurized and didn't see the needle coming off of 155 any time soon. One of the cylinders was at 160psi (I think front Drivers Side). I tried to duplicate it after the fact and couldn't. Now I'm wondering if it is a head or head gasket.
I pulled the lower intake off today, and can't tell anything from looking at it. There may have been a leak in the front and there may have been a leak in the rear on the left, but it is inconclusive. The intake manifold is crusted up with a bunch of carbon all around the walls, but it is consistent in all ports, making me think the leak could be occurring through the intake after turning off the engine and pressure from the radiator driving coolant into the crank case under the intake manifold. I found some coolant around one of the lifters, but think it flowed there when I pulled the intake. The manifold is wet in every port, but it smells like crankcase fumes, so I assume it is oil residue and carbon from the PCV and EGR.
If I pull the heads, how do I get them Magnaflowed? What is magnaflowing? Where can I get this kind of procedure done?
After reading all the heartburn stories about exhaust manifold bolts, I'm not looking forward to it, and would like to get out of doing it....
Any thoughts or recommendations?
Thanks!