Coolant leak on a 95, 3.8 155K miles

[CoachKarl]

Hi gang. My 95 3.8 has been leaking a silver dollar sized puddle on my garage floor for about 5 years. Lately, within this week it has turned into a torrant. With the car warmed up, drips off the bottom two times a second. I have cleaned off my bench, quarrantined the car and am looking for confirmation of my diagnosis. I ran the car until the leak started, noted the source (tip of Oil Filter), Pulled the battery terminal and started digging. I've pulled off the ALT, PS pump and have traced what is now a white residue up and around the Oil Pressure Do-Dad, up around some freeze plugs, and seemed to be coming from the Block/Head seam next to #4 Cyl. (I knew this was going to be big) The car's worth saving, no sludge in the oil, no steam out the tailpipe & still pulling decent milage. I suspect head gasket failure is what ails it, and has been the culprit for the leak on my garage floor for the last few years. I think I can handle this, as follows. 1. Pull off the heads. 2. Have a shop clean them up, or buy new if they're too warped. 3.Order the best head gaskets in the world. 4. Replace the Timing chain/gears/cover gasket while I wait for the heads. 5. Install the heads. My question is (am I sane), Who among you has experienced this, and what crucial thing am I missing? Who makes the best head gaskets these days?

[wiswind]

I have read that the lower intake manifold gaskets can also fail....so....as you have to take that apart....would be worth replacing them as well.

I have not had to do that repair......
But I have read that the space between the coolant passages, oil passages, cylinder wall, and exterior of the engine.....all is very close...resulting in thin places.....coolant "wicks" into the head gasket....and then the gasket fails.
Cylinder #1 and #4 seem to be the tightest.....and the location that each gasket seems to fail.

You will want to change the oil right away when you complete this job.

While you have the fuel injectors out....spray some cleaner up inside the "cap" on the spray end.....to clean them out....also make sure that the EGR ports are clean.....a couple of things that are really easy to do....as you have that all apart anyhow.

There are threads here from people who have done this job.

[CoachKarl]

The reason I'm going forward with this adventure is because of you (all). I have no cell phone, no cable, my wife doesn't work, and so I have no debt. I can buy a new van, but, to me, thats copping out. I'm a fixit guy, I can fix anything. Or maybe that's the impression I want my kids to have of me. Whatever. That's the impression my father left on me, and he's still around. My family is rooting for me, so here I go.

The 95 doesn't have those EGR ports, 96 on does, mines just a single pipe, valve, fed directly into the plenum just past the throttle. I've never done anything to an injector except to unscrew them, spray them with gumout & reinstall. I have had issues with my starter on this car recently, in that two have worn out in 6 months. I suspect small leakage of coolant into a cylinder (#4) during cooldown, and trying to start the thing with 2 TBSP of coolant in that cylinder is the reason for this. I finished this evening by pulling off the plastic thing next to the windshield to expose bank 1-2-3. and hung a 2 48" flourescent light fixture from the hood. Keep you posted.

[CoachKarl]

Heres a question. I've replaced the water pump on this car without removing the engine by removing the front engine mount nuts, and jacking up the motor/transaxle. Once I pull that off, I'm guessing I can go ahead and pull of the timing chain cover with no clearance issues. Does anybody have any input as to whether this "guess" is correct?

[wiswind]

Again....only from what I have read.....
I read a couple of posts where people have replaced the timing cover gasket as you describe.......
I would also recommend replacing that gasket....as it is a leaker......There is a bolt.....I think behind the oil pump......that is easy to miss......and if you do....you could end up breaking the front cover (aka timing chain cover).

[CoachKarl]

Hi Guys,

OK, I'm in deep. I'm about to remove the 4-5-6 head. Intake plenum removed, Intake manifold, Head Bolts broke loosened, but not removed. I've learned the following.

1. The fuel delivery tubes comes off without having to be disassembled.

2. There is a tight squeeze for a 15 MM socket to grab the intake man bolts where the fuel rails are mounted. I gently bent the fuel rail mounts with a mallet & 18" stick to fit the socket. Then after the In-man was loose, I disconnected the fuel rails from it.

3. Liquor boxes (with the bottle dividers) sawed in half, will ruin all the dividers, and you have to spend alot of time taping thing the way you want. I thought 6 slots for the parts that had to be kept track would be sufficient. Now I think "twelve bins" (one for each valve).

4. I found a great way to keep track of bolts & their origin. As you remove them, stick them through a big piece of cardboard & label the cardboard with a marker.

Before I take off the head, I have 3 questions.

1. Much gunk (dirt, oil) is stuck to the head above precariously to the exposed counterbalance shaft & pushrods. What's the best way to clean it up?

2. All the (6) injectors are out. Will cleaning off all the black gunk help? Never delt with injectors because they never fail.

3. The exhaust manifold is stuck onto the head. All bolts removed. I don't want to rap on it until I've cleaned all the gunk up on the intake side of the head first. Any advice about this?

[wiswind]

All I can help you with is the injectors....
Use a spray cleaner (carb cleaner, etc) and clean them up. The plastic cap over the end needs to be cleaned up. As long as you do not scrape the spray end....you should be fine. Mine cleaned out (the cups over the end) with just spraying the cleaner in there. There is a screen inside the fuel inlet side.....so be careful to avoid getting any crud in there.

If you have problems cleaning up the head.....I wonder if there is a shop near you that could do that for you....and make sure that the surface for the gasket is smooth. You could ask the guys at your local Napa store....around here, they seem to know a bit more about cars than some of the other stores....and may be able to recommend a shop.
I have read that it is pretty common to take the heads in to have them cleaned up....and to make sure that they are not warped, etc....they can smooth out the mating surfaces if needed.
But....again, I have not gone down that road myself.

[CoachKarl]

Thank you Wiswind,

I'll shine them up as best I can.

4-5-6 Head is now off. Cylinders look fine. Valves look OK. Black intake valves, white coated exhaust valves, looks like the head gasket failed right in front of #4, and leaked out. I wonder if this could have been entire problem with my small puddle on the garage floor for the past few years? I see no apparent failure of the timing chain cover gasket now that the whole front half of the seam is exposed.
Napa is my choice for parts too. And as for the head shop, he's right next to it. When I started questioning him about this merry adventure, he stuck his thumb over his shoulder toward a half a dozen shiny clean heads, and said "well, if yours are cracked, one of those will probably fit, just get me the cast number off the block and we'll fix you right up." He's got bolts, gaskets, everything. He says the Ford 3.8 & now the 4.2 (the one in the Freestar) are fine motors, mechanically, but people just don't take care of their hoses. When these iron block / aluminum head motors get too hot the aluminum twists, and thats that. I'm guilty.

[wiswind]

The head gasket's weak point is at Cylinders #1 and #4. The gasket is very thin at that point, between the coolant and oil passeges, and the cylinder wall.....and....as you know....the outside of the engine.
The coolant wicks into the gasket.....and weakens it....and it fails.
I have kept some Bar's stop leak in my coolant to help prevent it. I have the "liquid aluminum" in there. They also have the tablets that you can add....just like a few well known auto manufactures do at the factory.......
I do not know if it will work.....but I am giving it a try.
I am at 150K miles.....plan to do some hose changing soon.
I have been keeping an eye on them...

[12Ounce]

Coach

Hat's off to you for your endeavor ... I expect you'll do just fine.

My opinions on some of your questions:

I would only use Ford gaskets. They should be able to give you the latest upgrades for your vin number.

When cleaning up the inside of a partially disassembled engine, I use my small Shop-Vac a great deal. If necessary, a small dia heater hose can be coupled-up to the vac for probing in close quarters.

Did you get the front cover off? On my '99 3.8, I believe the synchronizer assembly (and maybe even the oil pump) would have to come off prior.

Here's some good reading:
http://www.babcox.com/editorial/ar/ar90134.htm

[CoachKarl]

Shop Vac worked great 12Oz. (That & a little compressed air).
Got both heads off now, took them down to the head shop, will be done Wed. (Pressure Test, valve rebuild & resurfaceing.) This guy has a good reputation, so I let him order me the gaskets & TTY Bolts. I'll bring in my torque wrench to the shop to calibrate it next to his when I go to pick up the heads Wed Afternoon. This evening I'll be digging into the Timing Chain cover. My questions now are:
1. Concerning my worn teeth on flywheel/starter; This guy says there's no fluid in cylinder judging by the looks of the valves, Then what's tearing them up? I search this forum looking for answers.
2. I've got Cyl 1 up top on the compression stroke, anybody know of a good way to holt the crank still, so I can pull the harmonic balancer off, other than to jam a screwdriver into the flywheel teeth?

CoachKarl

[12Ounce]

1. How do you happen to be looking at the flywheel?

2. Will putting the tranny in Drive not work? .. are front wheels on ground?
I have a couple of large chain wrenches that allow gripping around the pulley itself while removing retaining bolt .... dunno if AutoZone rents such devices or not.

[CoachKarl]

Well, ring gear I guess. I have the starter off because it's pretty tore up. I shine a droplight into the hole the starter came out of and turn the crankshaft with a rachet and socket. I can see that the tops and leading edges of several ring gear teeth are worn down. Haynes says in order to remove the Harmonic balancer, 1. Pull off starter 2. Shove a screwdriver into the ring. 3. Undo the Balancer bolts. I've seached this forum and whats left of cartrackers, and don't find much. Hard to believe that I've delt with three failed starters. Something else has to be wrong.

[12Ounce]

With that many miles, you can expect the teeth to be a bit worn. I'd plan on wearing out several more starters before replacing, or "turning over" the toothed wheel. That's a job!

When the heads are completed, the life of the starter will probably be better than before.

[CoachKarl]

Last november I had the flywheel & rear seals replaced ($600) for this exact same reason. I can't imaging having worn out the thrustplate (? thing next the the last main bearing, inside the motor). That wouldn't be fair. . . I always use full synthetic oil. . . Right now I'm laying on the floor chasing my coolant leak, 1. Up the Oil Filter, 2 Past the oil pump, 3. Don't know, I'm removing the thing that holds the filter now. Will keep you posted.