DIYoh
Member
- Joined
- August 9, 2016
- Messages
- 14
- Reaction score
- 1
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 2005 Ford Explorer
So all this started with a mysterious coolant loss. After doing a lot of research here and elsewhere, I came to the conclusion that, more than likely, my intake manifold was disintegrating and causing the coolant to accumulate around my spark plugs. Over the course of a few months, I had to successively replace the #8, #7 and #6 coils. Since the car was fine except for the small coolant loss, I kept driving it for a couple more months after replacing coil #6. Just as I was ordering parts for the intake manifold, I began to hear some noise. Not too bad at first, I thought perhaps it was some timing chain noise. Having learned from this forum and elsewhere that this is a fairly common issue on these motors, I thought I'd just go ahead and replace everything there too if I was gonna be doing the intake anyway. But, continuing still to drive the vehicle, the noise got worse. So, did more research on here and found out about the torque converter problems. My vehicle sounded EXACTLY like the other examples I found in online videos, and acted just like those examples also. The noise would go away once the car got warmed up, and I only quit driving the vehicle when it finally got really noisy and started to have trouble accelerating.
Now, I had changed the oil twice throughout this time, and never found any evidence of coolant in the oil. The engine also never overheated. This made me believe that I did not have a blown head gasket, and that my torque converter was indeed the source of my rattle. So I start to work on the intake and timing chain deal first. Having pulled the intake already, I get around to draining the oil so I can remove the front cover. As I'm taking off the drain plug, and I get to a point where liquid is coming out, I stop unscrewing to see if its loose enough to do by hand. That's when I see pure coolant coming out. Once all the coolant was out, the opening between threads was apparently too small for oil to flow through. Took the drain plug all the way out and only oil came out from that point on. I always thought, I don't know why now, that if there was coolant in the oil it would float to the top away from the oil pickup. DUH-oil floats on water. So now after seeing the coolant in the oil, I'm wondering if perhaps the noise I heard was not the torque converter but a rod knocking.
I'm gonna go ahead and do the intake and timing chain kit, but really neither of those look too bad. I've got the torque converter, but if it is not the problem, if I do have a bearing problem in the motor, I would really like to not have to drop the tranny. I also think now that, at the very least, I should change the head gaskets. My problem is I am not a professional mechanic and don't know many. Everything I am doing here I've learned how to do on this forum. I'm usually pretty good at diagnosing things correctly, but this time, I need help. I was so sure that I had diagnosed the torque converter properly that I thought it was just a coincidence that it happened at the same time as the engine problem. This friggin' coolant in the oil has me second guessing myself though.
---I am hoping beyond hope that someone can take a look at my video and confirm that my noise is a torque converter and not a rod.
---Is it possible that the engine was noisy when cold because the pickup was basically sucking coolant up from the bottom of the pan (I got about 8 to 10 oz. of coolant in the pan when I discovered it), but after some oil got to mixing through, the engine would quiet down because the bearings were finally getting oil? Please say no-somebody.
---If the above DID happen, thin oil on the bearings for a short time, how likely is it that I have permanent damage to a bearing? Does a rod knock also go away when a motor warms up, as mine does? The motor still runs very smoothly when warm. It has also not been driven more than a couple times since the noise got so bad, mostly just test drives of a few miles.
---The engine runs well with no load. Am I incorrect to assume this tends to implicate the torque converter more so than an internal engine problem?
---Can I still do a compression test with the timing cover off? (stupid me was so positive about there not being coolant in the oil that I never did one, even though I have a tester) Will I get enough of a reading by just turning the motor with the crank bolt to see the drop in pressure common to blown head gaskets?
---Is it possible for the coolant to have seeped into the motor through the threads of the spark plugs, or some other way?
---The only codes that were stored were:
"P0300 Random Misfire Detected"
"P0457 EVAP Control System Leak Detected (Fuel Cap Missing)"
"P0442 EVAP Control System Sm Leak Detected"
"P0456 EVAP Control System Very Small Leak (0.020") Detected"
---I am not really concerned about any of these except the misfire
---regarding the EVAP codes, I had trouble putting gas in during the winter, and am planning on replacing the charcoal canister, and I do have a crappy gas cap.
---I attribute the Random Misfire code to yet more coolant found around the coil plugs when I took everything apart. Make sense? Was hoping I could clean them up since I don't even notice a misfire when the engine is running, as I did each other time I lost a coil plug.
---Notice there was no torque converter code. Do you always get a code with the rattling torque converter problem common to these vehicles?
I know this is a lot, and I know it's near impossible to answer a "what's this noise?" question from an internet video, but I know many of you are much more experienced than I am. Any help would be appreciated.
Now, I had changed the oil twice throughout this time, and never found any evidence of coolant in the oil. The engine also never overheated. This made me believe that I did not have a blown head gasket, and that my torque converter was indeed the source of my rattle. So I start to work on the intake and timing chain deal first. Having pulled the intake already, I get around to draining the oil so I can remove the front cover. As I'm taking off the drain plug, and I get to a point where liquid is coming out, I stop unscrewing to see if its loose enough to do by hand. That's when I see pure coolant coming out. Once all the coolant was out, the opening between threads was apparently too small for oil to flow through. Took the drain plug all the way out and only oil came out from that point on. I always thought, I don't know why now, that if there was coolant in the oil it would float to the top away from the oil pickup. DUH-oil floats on water. So now after seeing the coolant in the oil, I'm wondering if perhaps the noise I heard was not the torque converter but a rod knocking.
I'm gonna go ahead and do the intake and timing chain kit, but really neither of those look too bad. I've got the torque converter, but if it is not the problem, if I do have a bearing problem in the motor, I would really like to not have to drop the tranny. I also think now that, at the very least, I should change the head gaskets. My problem is I am not a professional mechanic and don't know many. Everything I am doing here I've learned how to do on this forum. I'm usually pretty good at diagnosing things correctly, but this time, I need help. I was so sure that I had diagnosed the torque converter properly that I thought it was just a coincidence that it happened at the same time as the engine problem. This friggin' coolant in the oil has me second guessing myself though.
---I am hoping beyond hope that someone can take a look at my video and confirm that my noise is a torque converter and not a rod.
---Is it possible that the engine was noisy when cold because the pickup was basically sucking coolant up from the bottom of the pan (I got about 8 to 10 oz. of coolant in the pan when I discovered it), but after some oil got to mixing through, the engine would quiet down because the bearings were finally getting oil? Please say no-somebody.
---If the above DID happen, thin oil on the bearings for a short time, how likely is it that I have permanent damage to a bearing? Does a rod knock also go away when a motor warms up, as mine does? The motor still runs very smoothly when warm. It has also not been driven more than a couple times since the noise got so bad, mostly just test drives of a few miles.
---The engine runs well with no load. Am I incorrect to assume this tends to implicate the torque converter more so than an internal engine problem?
---Can I still do a compression test with the timing cover off? (stupid me was so positive about there not being coolant in the oil that I never did one, even though I have a tester) Will I get enough of a reading by just turning the motor with the crank bolt to see the drop in pressure common to blown head gaskets?
---Is it possible for the coolant to have seeped into the motor through the threads of the spark plugs, or some other way?
---The only codes that were stored were:
"P0300 Random Misfire Detected"
"P0457 EVAP Control System Leak Detected (Fuel Cap Missing)"
"P0442 EVAP Control System Sm Leak Detected"
"P0456 EVAP Control System Very Small Leak (0.020") Detected"
---I am not really concerned about any of these except the misfire
---regarding the EVAP codes, I had trouble putting gas in during the winter, and am planning on replacing the charcoal canister, and I do have a crappy gas cap.
---I attribute the Random Misfire code to yet more coolant found around the coil plugs when I took everything apart. Make sense? Was hoping I could clean them up since I don't even notice a misfire when the engine is running, as I did each other time I lost a coil plug.
---Notice there was no torque converter code. Do you always get a code with the rattling torque converter problem common to these vehicles?
I know this is a lot, and I know it's near impossible to answer a "what's this noise?" question from an internet video, but I know many of you are much more experienced than I am. Any help would be appreciated.
