Foamy Oil...Head gasket?

bmxboy809 · 10-26-2009, 01:27 PM

just this morning my F150 ran a little funny. it was shaky at idle but otherwise it seemed ok. Then when i was done with work i it died as i was backing out of my spot and wouldnt start. this truck has a history of low vacuum and lots of blow by. Oil smoke usually comes out the cam breather so i took the air box apart to check the filter to make sure it was not saturated. the filter was ok but i saw a yellow-brown sludge in the breather tube. I checked the oil filler cap and the same sludge was there too. It didnt smell much like oil so i checked the coolant and it was really really low. To me this sounds like a bad head gasket, i have to check the plugs yet but what do you think, i am not very familiar with the 351W

srteach · 10-26-2009, 04:43 PM

Oil smoke from any of the upper vents indicates blow-by of the rings (usually). Low vacuum can also be a result of bad rings.
"Snot" (brown sludge) in the oil indicates water (coolant) mixed in. Possibly a blown head gasket, but possibly a cracked head. A cylinder pressure test is needed. If you have a very low pressure in one cylinder (compared to the others), that is the one with the leak.

Just so you know, these checks are general to all engines, not just to the 351W.

bmxboy809 · 10-27-2009, 12:13 PM

i knew it had pretty bad blow by but about 3 months ago the compression was good on all cylinders. i hope it is only a blown gasket

10-26-2009, 01:27 PM	#1
bmxboy809 Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Wisconsin Posts: 74 Rep Power: 8	Foamy Oil...Head gasket? just this morning my F150 ran a little funny. it was shaky at idle but otherwise it seemed ok. Then when i was done with work i it died as i was backing out of my spot and wouldnt start. this truck has a history of low vacuum and lots of blow by. Oil smoke usually comes out the cam breather so i took the air box apart to check the filter to make sure it was not saturated. the filter was ok but i saw a yellow-brown sludge in the breather tube. I checked the oil filler cap and the same sludge was there too. It didnt smell much like oil so i checked the coolant and it was really really low. To me this sounds like a bad head gasket, i have to check the plugs yet but what do you think, i am not very familiar with the 351W __________________ 1986 Ranger 2WD: lowered 3"/4". 2.3 Turbo. Too manymods to list! Lifted 1999 Jeep Wrangler

10-27-2009, 12:13 PM	#3
bmxboy809 Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Wisconsin Posts: 74 Rep Power: 8	i knew it had pretty bad blow by but about 3 months ago the compression was good on all cylinders. i hope it is only a blown gasket __________________ 1986 Ranger 2WD: lowered 3"/4". 2.3 Turbo. Too manymods to list! Lifted 1999 Jeep Wrangler

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10-26-2009, 04:43 PM	#2
srteach Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 979 Rep Power: 14	Oil smoke from any of the upper vents indicates blow-by of the rings (usually). Low vacuum can also be a result of bad rings. "Snot" (brown sludge) in the oil indicates water (coolant) mixed in. Possibly a blown head gasket, but possibly a cracked head. A cylinder pressure test is needed. If you have a very low pressure in one cylinder (compared to the others), that is the one with the leak. Just so you know, these checks are general to all engines, not just to the 351W.