Hi all...... well i have my first major problem, noticed for a few months a stumble on cold starts then clears out, tried everything to trouble shoot was getting PO305 miss fire #5 cylinder.... this morning i found a layer of engine oil in the plastic coolant tank..... running the engine i can feel the air pulsating through the top hose, must have been running like this for a few weeks....last resort i put a tube of alumaseal into the coolant..fingers crossed but i think its head gasket...any comments......... 2003 ranger 3.0 flex 164,000 miles....at 120,000 miles it had new or rebuild heads fitted by PO
Update Sunday.... i will be pulling the one cylinder head left bank .. what brand of gasket set would you recommend, is it ok to re use the head bolts or is that a no no

 

I would not use the same bolts, they aren't that expensive to risk a future failure. If you pull one head, you may as well do both. Again, the gaskets don't cost a lot. What is important though is that you have the heads thoroughly checked for cracks and possible warp.

 

Oil in reservoir could be ATF if you have an automatic trans, so trans cooler leak

Oil in coolant rarely happens with head gasket issues, exhaust gases in coolant happens, which can look like oil in a fluid

You can do a Glove Test to see if its a cylinder leak, free and accurate, also can tell you which cylinder has the leak

2003 3.0l used TTY head bolts so they can't be reused, they are better than regular bolts in this application but downside is they, for sure, shouldn't be reused.
But I think most older mechanics that have experience with regular head bolts would say "use new head bolts" no matter which type you have.
I have had my share of regular head bolts break at final torque sequence, then you have to take the head off again extract the broken off bolt and THEN buy a new head gasket and new bolts, which you kick yourself for not doing the first time, lol.

 

This morning i checked Amazon for Fel Pro gasket set and bolt kit all ready to go......had a cup of coffee and went in garage looked into the coolant overflow tank after overnight alumaseal soak......no oil there start it up no ten second dead cylinder/ check engine light .. no air pulsation through top hose....starting to grin now ....I took the ranger on a fifteen mile run, pulled in garage pulled hood and felt top hose no air pulsation, no engine oil (dark not red) in coolant tank..
Could this be intake gasket problem or ? i will take it on a 40 run today...

 

Ron what is the glove test

 

Get a Latex glove, or a balloon or even a condom, lol

Drain some coolant out of the radiator, should be down 5-6" or more is fine, no coolant is fine as long as cooling system hoses are in place and tight

Unhook Coil Pack's 4 wire connector, you want a No Start

Remove rad cap
Remove overflow hose, Plug overflow hose port with gum, putty, vacuum cap, hose with bolt in it........ect

Put glove over rad cap opening and seal it with rubber band or zap strap
Or use a balloon or condom in place of glove

Crank engine.......watch the glove

If you have a cylinder leak glove will start to bounce, if its a bad leak it will start to inflate, lol

If glove just lays there then no leak, 100% accurate

If glove does bounce, then you can remove 1 spark plug at a time and crank engine
When glove stops bouncing then last spark plug removed was from leaking cylinder, reinstall spark plug to confirm

If glove bounces less but still bounces then you have more than one cylinder leaking, continue on

This test has been used since there were water cooled engines, so long long time
Shops don't like it because its pretty much free, lol, they prefer the chemical test, Block test, they can charge much more for this and it sounds more technical, but chemical tests do alot of false positives, alot

 

Thanks Ron good info ....ECU helped me identify the cylinder PO 305 i remember last week starting up outside after one hour shutdown looked like steam out of exhaust not a lot but it caught my attention ....Alumaseal fixed my problem whatever it was, i am guessing intake or head gasket. After 45 mile run today plus stopping and starting, no problems no oil slick lol

 

Well five days later all is ok engine running perfect.. could it have been intake manifold gasket .. coolant seeping into intake then past valve running past spark plug, it dont take much to short plug out on start up. Not sure about the layer of engine oil in header tank... thats all cleared up thanks to Alumaseal.....

 

I had a gut feeling it wouldnt last ... i dont have the cold start miss fire on #5 but i do have oil in the radiator and header tank again.... how can there be oil in the water and not water in crankcase..... i was thinking about using the Pro bars cylinder head gasket repair but not sure it would work in this situation

 

Pretty tough to get oil in coolant and not coolant in oil, unless it ATF not engine oil

Its possible for oil pressure hole in block and head to leak oil thru a bad head gasket to a coolant passage, oil pressure is 15-40psi, so higher than cooling system pressure of 14-16psi, most of the time
But after engine is shut down oil pressure is 0psi and cooling system still has 15psi, so coolant should flow into that oil passage

No, head gasket seal is liquid glass, it seals cylinders because of their high temps, 900+ degF, it wouldn't seal oil/cooling system leaks
A regular cooling system sealer might but they usually rely on AIR contact which causes the material to swell and seal the leak

 

If Alumaseal is a coolant treatment I'm missing the logic as to how it would prevent an oil leak?

 

I had the cold and hot engine start up miss fire #5 cylinder for a few weeks it started with only cold starts in mornings months ago...... looked like a bit steam as well....after trouble shooting and scratching my head it had to be coolant in #5 cylinder..... alumaseal stopped that now no more problems there....... it looked like the oil in coolant stopped as well.... trying another tube of alumaseal over this weekend.... keeping an eye on the trans oil and engine oil levels, i will take a picture this weekend of the oil in radiator and header tank...if it was trans oil would it be a reddish color and not brown...

Just doing a re edit .. the more i think about this it has to be the radiator trans cooler..... it looks like i will have to replace the radiator and keep fingers crossed i will order one tonight.... i will update next week

 

Not sure if anyone mentioned to do a leak down test. One of the most useful tests and easy to do. You need to buy or borrow the tester.

 

I ordered a radiator from Amazon i know its going to be a 50/50 chance here but i have to rule out the trans cooler its not a huge amount of oil in radiator but i can see it on rad cap and floating around top of cooler inside radiator... if this dont fix it my next step is to pull the heads..... i will update when i get radiator... i am not getting any air bubbles at radiator top running engine...

Today Monday i watched a u tube video on a suv same problem i wanted to see the color of the trans oil how it reacted with antifreeze... same color as what i have .. in this problem the fitting where the trans oil pipe enters the radiator, trans oil was leaking out the fitting inside radiator.... i will flush the cooling system and re fill with water only...then check color of brown stuff

 

I got to thinking over the weekend the oil that's in the radiator if it was trans oil wouldn't the stuff be red and not brown color... any comments.... and if the trans oil was inside the radiator wouldn't the pressure in the radiator force the water into the trans cooler .. .. too late to cancel rad from amazon but i have 30 days to return it at my cost... what i plan to do is keep an eye on the engine oil and trans level.. another idea... where the block lines up with the cylinder head there must be a small oil pressure hole that is sealed by the head gasket, if some blockage above there could the oil be forced out and get in contact with coolant passage...anyone got a picture of that thanks

 

I have to eliminate the rad trans cooler so i can put my mind at ease and stop thinking about it..... i will be fitting the new radiator, i have it off and now waiting for UPS tonight... if it does come down to eventually pulling the heads i may as well pull the block and replace the leaking pan gasket and rear seal.... update to follow

 

Fitted new radiator filling with collected rain water, running engine in garage getting hot... wow no oil coming up to rad filler 30 mile test run let it cool down ... oil was back so it looks like i will be pulling the cyl heads within the next few weeks ... looks like its a pressure thing with the oil getting in water, the higher the rpm..........

 

Glenn, take note that there are no oil passages under pressure that flow from the block to the heads, or vice versa.
The rockers are lubricated from a hole in the top if each lifter.
The oil then flows from there through each push rod and out into the rockers.
The oil then flows under gravity pack into the pan through the head (not under pressure).

When you have the heads off, carefully look down each bore for any cracks, especially near the tops, if there are any, they will be very fine, so look hard.
It's an unlikely that this is the problem, but worth a look.

If at all possible, check the block with a straight edge and feeler gauges, it should not be out more the 4 thou, 5 thou will leak for sure.

 

Yes, +1 ^^^^

You may have a cracked block

 

Thanks Jeff/Ron after reading your posts the cracked block seems what it might be ... oh **** i am starting to get in more trouble if i pull the heads and dont find anything wrong with them at the machine shop.... then the block is going to be the problem.......... but i have to pull the heads first........ does the block have pressed in liners or would it be junk... also this engine had rebuild heads fitted at 126k now problem 165k

I just want to add one more comment the oil was getting into the header tank because the radiator cap was not holding full pressure ... the only way oil will get in the tank now is if the coolant pressure gets more than 16 pounds pressure... going on 40 mile run this afternoon... i know i am clutching at straws here but holding more pressure in cooling system might make a difference ... .....also i thought about one of those block sealers but i dont have coolant in the oil...... update to follow when engine cools down

 

I know you flushed the cooling system, but you probably haven't flushed it good enough, it's pretty tough to flush ALL the transmission fluid out of a cold engine with just a cold water flush.

 

Flushing the trans oil out i wish lol.....So after grocery shopping with wife today i went to my local machine shop and told them my problem.. i was told i have crack in the block, the oil pressure is forcing its way into the water jacket, no point into pulling the heads, i will drive it as long as i can.....my only option is to find a used engine or do nothing...in the morning i will pull the new radiator and try to sell it on craiglist.... put old one back... waiting for cool down so i can check how much oil is in there

 

Engine oil is there in rad ...so my best options would be ..... rebuilt short block or find one used... get the heads checked out first.... i will run this engine as long as i can, so i will stop here.... thanks for all the help......

 

OK on going to the end with the engine, but smooth running, spark plugs, smoke out the tail pipe, should be more of a problem than its worth.

What are your options for engines, are you stuck with another 3.0 or can you go 4.0L or even a 5.0L ?

How far is Los Alamos from Temecula ?

Ltr

 

Your near San Diego that's about 5 hrs from where I am Santa Ynez valley.. you heard about Solvang
..going to stick with the 3.0
last resort is try Bluedevil block sealer, if that don't work I will throw the towel in lol