skinner
New Member
- Joined
- Aug 27, 2007
- Messages
- 324
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 0
- Age
- 38
- Location
- Louisville, KY
- Vehicle Year
- 1998
- Make / Model
- Ford
- Engine Size
- 3.0
- Transmission
- Manual
I have a 98 with the 3.0L engine. It has developed a misfire and the coolant reservoir tends to bubble when the engine is shut off(it may bubble driving, I don't pay attention much then ). Naturally I would think a head gasket. However, there is no smoke out the exhaust, the oil looks brown, the antifreeze looks mostly green(some rust/brown color). It reads a lean code on one bank...will a head gasket do that? Compression shows fine except one cylinder about 15 psi lower(on that same bank, mind you). Spark plugs don't show any antifreeze marks i'm used to. Ran a block test from AZ today and the chemical did not change colors, indicated that theres not a lot of exhaust carbons in the radiator. So i'm stuck. I dont want to rip the entire engine apart if i don't have to, yet dont want to just do the intake manifold up if it really is the head gasket. What else can cause antifreeze use and for it to boil over(well, probably not boiling, looks more like air coming up)? Like I said, temperature is fine. It does misfire. It shows 7 CEL codes...EGR and O2 sensor related...only one of real interest is one bank running lean. I'm thinking of just doing the intake manifold gasket and water pump. But i don't want to piss money into the wind. Is there a more accurate test?
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