To follow up on my post a couple of weeks ago with the burning oil smell...

Took the L to the dealer this morning and showed them the oily cam cover bolt (drivers side next to the dipstick). They called me a few hours later with a diagnosis: BAD HEAD GASKET. So I am stuck driving this 2003 F150 Screw with 300 miles another day because they did not have a gasket in stock and had to order one. I tried to talk them into replacing the other side to no avail.

From what I have read here, the passenger side gasket is usually the one to go, but as you can see it can happen to either side!

Word of advice: check your cam cover bolts for oil and if you see oil take it in and let Ford look at it.

One thing I cannot figure out. How does a bad head gasket cause oil to seep around the cam cover bolts? And had this problem gone unchecked, could there have been any ill-effects?

Anyway, glad when this is over so I can get that 4 pounder installed this weekend!

 

I have some oil around one of my cam cover bolts. I haven't really noticed any smell though. I guess I'll go clean it up and see if the oil reappears...

Coldie

 

unless I'm just not understanding what you are saying, I don't think that you have a head gasket problem.

the cam (valve) cover is bolted on TOP of the head, the head gasket is obviously on the BOTTOM of the head. oil doesn't drip UPwards! sounds like your cam (valve) cover gasket may be leaking.

but again, maybe I'm just not understanding what you are trying to say.

later,
chris

 

Well that's exactly what I though - cam cover gasket. When the guy called me I said are you sure you aren't talking about the cam cover gasket and he read it off the paper as "cylinder head gasket". I asked him a few technical questions and he had no clue what I was talking about. But that was one of the questions I had in my original post - how could a bad head gasket cause oil to leak from the cam cover gasket?
I think I am going to call tomorrow and ask to speak to the mechanic doing the work. I'll also ask him to make sure my plugs are tight in that head.

Sammy

 

Sammy..

Just a word of caution....

Cover your ***......Sounds like it's comin'.

If it is under factory warranty they may suggest both heads be removed and new revised gaskets installed...

If they do ..make sure you see the heads off and have them check the deck for spec with a calibrated straight edge...

the 5.4's have shown some warpage in the decks of the block and the heads....

Make damn sure.....you know what is goin' on.....

 

Twisted... actually I asked them if they would go ahead and change the "good" gasket while they were at it, and they said they could not change parts that had not yet failed because they have to send the failed parts back to Ford...

Thanks for the advice, I will ask them about checking the head and block for warpage tomorrow but chances are I will not be able to see it with my own eyes, it will happen while I am at work.

 

they never really send parts back except to be remaned, they keep them for three months and throw them out. ford only goes back 3 months on warranty returns.

 

ford calls for dealers to send parts back all the time... if the dealer can't produce the part then ford charges them back for the repair (includes labor, part, rental, etc).

they want to test them to see if they are really bad or were replaced uneccesarily, I assume that they also look at failed parts to see how to improve or change them.

later,
chris

 

01Lightning

I have an 02 Lightning with about 11000 miles on it, back in january I was getting a burning oil smell comming from the back of the right head, I took my truck to the dealer and they found that the right head was leaking oil, there was no oil on the cam cover at all, the dealer had my truck for a week and I was at the dealer every day talking to the service tech, I just wanted to stay on top of things, I also had the tech clean the oil out of my inter cooler, the tech also checked the head and block for warping, everything was ok, so everything was put back together and I havn`t had any problems since.

Larry.