oil in cooling system and hard to idle

[Ken Shepard]

hello all today i am asking questions about a 1997 ford f 150 with a 4.2 v6 this vehicle has 200,000 miles on it. i know nothing of the service history as i just bought it.Let me add it has a manual transmission
Ok so on to the issues, there is oil in the cooling system not enough to change the viscosity but enough to change the color to coffee with cream looking color. I am seriously considering trying something like blue devil head gasket sealer because im just not prepared to spend a couple grand on a 1600 dollar purchase. Its worth mentioning i see no evidence of water in the oil, dipstick looks good and there is no lingering amount of steam out of the exhaust. Yes i should have been more diligent when i bought it but it is what it is. ive read of people using Dawn dishwashing liquid to do a flush several times but to me seems like the foam would be an issue, if i were to try something like that i would be inclined to use either dishwasher detergent or laundry detergent as these are anti foaming soaps.Thoughts? Any feelings or ideas where the oil is coming from. or things i can check?

Secondly the truck has an isssue with idleing after its warmed up. It either surges and then stalls or just stalls. it seems to be worse when coming to a stop while driving and pushing in the clutch. have replaced the IAC and fuel filter so far. so if anyone has any thoughts on that id appreciate any advise. i have seafoamed thru the vac line on the brake booster and used throttle body cleaner to try and clean things up. thanks in advance…..ken

Topic

[Richard Kirshy]

hello all today i am asking questions about a 1997 ford f 150 with a 4.2 v6 this vehicle has 200,000 miles on it. i know nothing of the service history as i just bought it.Let me add it has a manual transmission
Ok so on to the issues, there is oil in the cooling system not enough to change the viscosity but enough to change the color to coffee with cream looking color. I am seriously considering trying something like blue devil head gasket sealer because im just not prepared to spend a couple grand on a 1600 dollar purchase. Its worth mentioning i see no evidence of water in the oil, dipstick looks good and there is no lingering amount of steam out of the exhaust. Yes i should have been more diligent when i bought it but it is what it is. ive read of people using Dawn dishwashing liquid to do a flush several times but to me seems like the foam would be an issue, if i were to try something like that i would be inclined to use either dishwasher detergent or laundry detergent as these are anti foaming soaps.Thoughts? Any feelings or ideas where the oil is coming from. or things i can check?
[color=#ff0000]Why not just purchase a radiator flush kit ..
http://www.autozone.com/heating-and-cooling/flush-and-fill-radiator-kit/prestone-flush-n-fill-radiator-cleaner-kit/525931_0_0/?checkfit=true
And a available system flush …
http://prestone.com/enmx/node/1168 [/color]
Secondly the truck has an isssue with idleing after its warmed up. It either surges and then stalls or just stalls. it seems to be worse when coming to a stop while driving and pushing in the clutch. have replaced the IAC and fuel filter so far. so if anyone has any thoughts on that id appreciate any advise. i have seafoamed thru the vac line on the brake booster and used throttle body cleaner to try and clean things up. thanks in advance…..ken
[color=#ff0000]Might be related to your oil in the coolant.
JMHO here, I wouldn’t suggest using some type of stop leak additive … been know to clog up engine blocks[/color]

[Andrew Harris]

Does this truck have a oil cooler built into the radiator? If so that might be what is leaking oil into the cooling system. Does the truck seem to be misfiring?

[Fernando cunha]

eric has few videos about cooling system would be wise to watch.
however sounds like head gasket problem.
didn’t no cost couple grand for head gasket.

[Ken Shepard]

dont know for sure but im assuming that since flush kits are designed to rid the system of scale and rust they could probably be inneffective on oil products
and no no obvious signs of misfire

[Ken Shepard]

im assuming that due to the amount of labor involved removing the intake and heads because i would have both done as the v6 has a history of bad intake gaskets that lead to hydrolock i would go to a dealer as i feel they would be the most knowledgeable on the r&r of the parts

[Ken Shepard]

no idea but doubtful i assume it would be as easy as looking for additional lines going to the rad? Manual tranny so i assume theres no tranny cooler

[Fernando cunha]

i have done 2x v6 engines i found easy to do but you do what you have to do .
reminds me of my son his a mitsubishi tech,if he gets a honda he panics lol

[Ken Shepard]

[quote=”CordiaMad” post=156393]i have done 2x v6 engines i found easy to do but you do what you have to do .
reminds me of my son his a mitsubishi tech,if he gets a honda he panics lol[/quote]

i know my limits and doing headgaskets is way beyond me. way too much stuff to take off

[hondaguy453]

Does it have an oil cooler? I would also check the intake manifold gasket. Any white smoke blowing out of the exhaust? IM gasket may be cracked causing coolant to enter the intake manifold and causing the crappy idle and making it surge.

[Author]

Replies