The same truck featured in my inspection guide has, since the time of inspection, developed a rash of drivability concerns and oil leaks from several hard to reach spots throughout the engine. Since we finally got to a point at work where we did not have almost every truck going out every day of the week (what you call "winter") I was finally able to get it into the shop. What started out as a simple oil leak fix quickly became an ever growing list of problems with one vehicle. Standard fare for the company I work for.
The problems were as follows when it was all tallied up:
-The upstream oxygen sensors were not getting readings.
-The right valve cover was leaking profusely.
-The oil pan gasket had failed.
-The dipstick tube had broken off against the oil pan.
-The transmission cooler lines were damaged when the engine slipped off the jack.
-The oil cooler lines were starting to rot apart.
As you might be able to tell by the picture above, the first thing you have to do when you start a procedure such as oil pan gasket replacement is take a whole bunch of parts off of the engine. I started with the air intake ducting, filter, and airflow sensor. You then start the process of draining the antifreeze from the block, accomplished by opening the drain valve on the lower left side of the radiator. Make sure you have a container to catch this antifreeze, and remember that if you dispose of used fluids improperly, Captain Planet will personally fly over and punch you in the face.
Once the antifreeze has drained to the point that it is not visible in the degas bottle, I removed the upper radiator hose and the fan shroud. After the draining antifreeze slowed to a trickle (telling me there was not much left) I removed the degas bottle, the lines attached to it, and the EVAP module and assorted lines and wires. I also removed the throttle body from the engine, along with the IAC valve that is attached to the throttle body.
My next step was to remove the "Y" pipe from the truck, which is required for removing the oil pan. After removing this pipe I allowed the oil to drain from the block, and since this pipe is out, I sprayed the sensors with penetrating oil, cut the wires, and removed the oxygen sensors with a 7/8" box end wrench, as shown below.
So far I have a small collection of parts here, including the "Y" pipe with the new oxygen sensors, throttle body, air intake ducting and filter, and the right hand valve cover (because its gasket is also being replaced.
The 5.4 triton uses a single throttle body roughly 62mm in diameter. This particular piece looks to have never been cleaned out. When the throttle body is dirty like this, problems, from erratic idle to a no start condition can occur. It is best to use a product labeled as a throttle body and air intake cleaner to get rid of the mess. Also, remove the IAC and clean the inside of it as well, paying particular attention to the plunger that is inside it. If that plunger gets too dirty, it will not work and that is what generally causes your no start condition.
Here it as all cleaned up. Setting this aside, I went ahead and continued with the operation of removing the oil pan. At this point I need to lift the engine up about three or four inches so that the oil pan will clear the engine cross member, and even at that it will clear just barely.
I first removed the front wheels so that I could get better access to the engine mount bolts. I should point out that it is not necessary to remove the mounts from the engine block itself, but you will want as much access as you can possibly get to make things as easy as possible. There are two nuts that you will need to remove on both sides of the cross member. You also need to remove the bolts from the transmission cross member on the bottom.
I am using a 12 ton jack with wood blocks (6X6 cut to about 10 inch pieces above and below the jack) to lift the engine up by the oil pan. As noted my first attempt, the jack slipped and the engine came back down onto the cross member, which cracked the transmission cooler lines. I lifted it again, and then supported the engine in this case by placing sufficient 2X4 pieces of wood, cut into one foot sections, to take up the space between the engine block and cross member. I then lowered the block into place (not too much) and started the process of removing the oil pan. Get the jack out of the way and get started.
Above, I finally got the oil pan off the truck, and I am giving my regards to whoever engineered this pile of shit.
Here is the new oil pan gasket in place on the oil pan. The new gasket has tabs that hold it in place for reassembly, and they seem to work fairly well.
When your oil dipstick tube manages to get rusted to the point that it breaks off one day, that's a pretty bad thing. In this case since I had the oil pan off and previous attempts to remove it from the outside failed miserably, I used a hammer and a drift to knock the broken thing out of the block. When the new tube was installed, I made sure that the "O" ring was seated into the block. Otherwise I will be doing this job again very soon.
While I was in there I noticed that the oil cooler lines were covered in oil, and as we all know, oil rots rubber. I went ahead and removed the oil cooler, and found all this crap lodged in it. I cleaned that up, and went ahead and replaced the oil cooler lines while I was at it.
Once I had the oil cooler installed, I placed the oil pick up tube back in the oil pan and went about bolting it all back together. Once the pan was installed, I lowered the engine back onto the cross member, bolted up the "Y" pipe and went about reinstalling the nuts from the engine mounts and transmission cross member. The wheels were reinstalled at this time, and now on to the next item, the valve cover gasket.
You need to remove the EVAP module and lines, a coolant line that someone decided should run right across the valve cover, and disconnect the ignition coils and fuel injector electrical connections before you start. Then remove the wiring harness that is retained by the valve cover bolts.
There is no good reference that I could find on how this gasket is supposed to go together on the internet...ok there is now. After you remove the valve cover, a task where once again Ford decided to not give you any room to work, you need to clean away any old gasket material that you find, and there should be a little on either side towards the front of the engine.
Second, you have 14 bolts that are supposed to stay with the valve cover...mine didn't. In your gasket replacement kit you will have these grommets. Assemble the grommets onto the bolts so that they are between the washers that are permanently attached to the bolts.
Third, clean your groove out in the valve cover with brake parts cleaner, add some gasket adhesive to the entire groove, place your gasket into the groove. Now find a flat surface to set the valve cover on and let that adhesive dry. You want to do this because the gasket has a nasty habit of catching the rear sprocket for the overhead cam during reassembly, and if this happens, you will have oil leaking out, and you will have to repeat this process.
Fourth, now that the adhesive has dried out, you need to install the bolts into the valve cover. You do this by pushing the bolt into the hole, and using a BLUNT NOT SHARP tool, slip the valve cover gasket under the washer as shown below.
You may now install the valve cover.
Finally, ordinarily I would have gone ahead and replaced the transmission cooler lines when the block was lifted, but since I did not, I elected to replace them with the engine in place. For this vehicle, there are two different lines, the first one was all steel that has a provision to clamp a rubber line onto it towards the radiator. This one was easy. The second one is two steel sections with a rubber line towards the front of the engine. I decided to cut the rubber line towards the end of the smaller section of steel and install a hose barb and two clamps, as shown. Don't worry the line pressure is less than a garden hose and far less than an air compressor, which is what this hose barb was made for.
Once this is completed, reinstall the throttle body, coolant lines, degas tank, shroud, and air ducting in the reverse order that it was removed. Fill the cooling system and add the oil to the engine.
Since you took the oil pick up tube off, you will need to make very sure that the oil pump is primed. To do this, go ahead and disable the fuel pump by disconnecting the switch hidden behind the passenger side kick panel or pull the fuel pump fuse/relay. Crank the engine for no longer than 15 seconds at a time, with 15 seconds minimum between attempts. When the oil gauge shows pressure, the engine is primed. Enable the fuel pump, start the engine, and check for leaks.
Other items I tackled when I had the truck in my shop were an oil change, greasing any grease fittings on the front suspension and universal joints, and checking the differentials (front and rear) to make sure they had enough fluid in them. Something I did not show the process for here is during one of the first ice storms of the winter season, the automatic shifter assembly in another ford truck decided to break and so I took the assembly out of this truck and installed it into the other truck. Big pain in the ass but when you have people that slam the shifter into gear, then you should expect to have to do this at some point.
