TOPIC: List of Ford Trouble-Shooting topics from a Ford forum

Ok guys, I just found this juicy list of Ford-specific trouble shooting topics from a Ford guru, on a Ford Explorer forum. It's a link, and this page is a whole list of links to what this kind fellow has posted there. More good Ford stuff! ;)Near the bottom of the list he even has a unique well-thought out fix for the common issue of throttle cable slack in Ford's. It's worth reading to the end of each of these threads, lots of tidbits in the Q/A. There seems to be a healthy community of Ford enthusiasts out there, we can be thankful! Karl, take note here!

The EGR link is of particular interest to me...great find!

I just read the article about his PCV valve replacement & hose mod. Be aware that pop-ups infest the pics in these writeups, excellent pics nonetheless. I just close the popups as they appear. His PCV hose mod is thoughtful, but not as adventurous as our re-route. The things he notes and does in this are basic procedure to me. I salute this guy for being so through and detailed in what he shares!

Tracy G

One thing I noticed that has me puzzled.
Ever since the groove I have had water in the oil. You know, the milkshake stuff.
Posted pics of it shortly after grooving. Thought this was because of the PCV reroute. Even tried a cheap style catch can which did catch some sludge.
But for the last few months I have not had the PCV hooked up to the intake and still have the same sludge. So where can it be coming from? Had the head gasket changed after having hesitations with the sludge and a few said it was the head gasket but I still have the sludge.
Remember reading that the groove improvement can make weak links fail. So if the water in the oil makes the sludge, where can this water be coming from? My guess is that there is a leak somewhere where its sucking in outside air and hence the moisture.
Any confirmations on this thought?

When you say water, Karl, do you mean condensation or do you mean coolant?
Coolant in the oil is an indicator of one kind of trouble, water condensation is another altogether.
Water in oil (George Bonser; Dave Baker) may help you determine your issue.

How's your exhaust system? Is your catalytic converter ok? I seem to remember seeing all sorts of posts of yours about the engine and the intake side; what about the exhaust side?...

Something in my gut is saying: diagnosing and repairing this issue will result in the gains you're missing (and should have realized long since). Could it be that the engine's been slowly choking to death all this time?

It shouldnt be coolant since the head gasket was changed.
Plus, how can you tell the difference? The one test if its a head gasket is to
have a test for emmisions in the coolant reseviour which someone with the device
has to do plus you would notice your resevour dropping in coolant as it gets sucked into the engine.
As far as the exhaust, how would that connect with water in the oil?
Did notice with the 02 change that the pinging seems to have stopped. Improper signals to the ECU guess had the timing off and combustion was earlier than should be.
Tried the carburator spray on all seams I could see and so did someone else after me without finding a leak so it seems like my only choice in finding a leak if there is one is a smoke test. Was going to have it done last year but the mechanic didnt think it necessary. Would do it myself if there was an easy way that I had confidence would find it.

Check the link in my post Karl (the word This - halfway through the first poster's story is a neato way to check on the coolant/condensate that makes perfect sense, a true gadgetman technique there!). There's also the possibility that you'll need to reinstall your AOS, and maybe change where you buy fuel...possibly both. But unless it's an absolutely outrageous amount of water vapour, It could be completely normal given you're on the ocean, and you're just getting your engine interior all cleaned out by better combustion.

Karl, if coolant levels are stable, no drop in level, then it's condensation.

the Subie being all-aluminum engine has a bad condensation problem in winter, with the PCV re-routed. I returned the PCV to stock-modified function for the winter. I used longer, larger I.D. hoses, and connected the BMW cyclone separator and my homemade water bottle catch can in series between valve cover and PCV valve. I put small piece of smaller hose in the PCv hose just before the intake man. nipple as a restrictor. The water bottle catch can has already trapped a few ounces of water. I recommend copying mine, it cost around $30 to make, holds a lot of crud, the top Mopar valve cover breather/filter rotates to any direction to make installation easier. Here's the link from the Index: My shameless plug for this gizmo! In a wet/cold climate this can really help remove water/condensation, mine works fine. Inlet hose is the side, outlet is the Mopar V.C. breather on top.

If the milkshake is increased in the winter in your Mazda, and cooling system has no internal leaks...you could connect the PCV/breather syst. to stock, and try an AOS of some kind. If the cooling system level does show signs of coolant loss, then stop-leak can help. Use stop-leak sparingly if needed. I used a copper particle/water glass type in Subie last spring, but only 1/3 of the container.

Being analytical- does the white goo increase in winter, or constantly present? Is the engine reaching operating temp? Thermostat-how old, what temp rating? No issues w/ engine temp?

Still wondering how the Groove could cause the milkshake, can't think of a reason.

Tracy G

Greg,
It shouldnt be the fuel since I get it in different locations and it shouldnt be the ocean because this just started after the groove 18 months ago. Thought it was the PCV reroute and then the head gasket and both issues were addressed. Both the valve cover and PCV hose are connected but not to any intake, just to a bottle where I had the bubbler, almost like a catch can.

Tracy,
This condensation didnt start till after the groove and the oil has always been clear of water in summer or winter.
As far as connecting PCV back to stock. It was connected to the manifold vacuum line which is now plugged per groove enhancement.
As far as an AOS, I have no clue what that is. I know what AOL is but that is my computer service and its not connected to the car computer.
AOS?
Americans on steroids? Fill me in here guys.

LOL!! Americans on Steroids! Man, too funny Karl! Air Oil Separator- AOS. Catch Can Condensator(TM) BB Jar Cyclone Separator

those are all names for a device to remove oil and water from the PCV system, and therefore the crankcase.

This issue of crankcase crud and what to do with/about it--there's a lot of info on the Net, and products too. My own water bottle gizmo is just another way to do it.

reading your last, Karl. I'd definitely go back to the factory-stock PCV system, but with something added in the hose between PCV valve and man. vac. nipple to trap water. I've noted before- the Gadgetman PCV Re-route is great to enhance man. vac., BUT it does have the caveat about crankcase condensation. Depends on weather/climate and the individual engine. My own solution is to switch between winter/summer conditions, simply moving the PCV hose to the manifold vac. connection for winter, and the Breather hose tee for summer. I move the silicone cap to whichever nipple I pull the PCV hose off of. Once you have done the re-route mod, and the tee is in the breather hose, it's this simple, at least for me.

The re-route mod for PCV is cool, but not at expense of water in the crankcase/oil. MY compromise is to increase diameter/length of the PCV valve hose, and add a piece of smaller hose into the new PCV hose as a flow restrictor. The longer/bigger diameter hose slows down the FLOW SPEED of the PCV gasses, allowing more time for drop-out of entrained vapors, this makes my home-made catch can and cyclone separator more effective. The piece-of smaller-hose-in-the-PCV-hose reduces the FLOW RATE of the whole system. This is a step back in the direction of the original re-route mod. I've "tuned" the PCV system.

with all this, I now see a bit of the white crud on underside of oil fill cap, we just had days of cold rainy weather. The oil cap on Subie is on a fill tube, and cools off faster than rest of engine, so that's where water condenses. I may take pics of the Subie to show this, to help.

hope this helps!

Tracy G

I realized what the problem probably is.
The PCV line and the valve cover vent are connected to go to the bubbler/AOL.
It could be that the PCV is dumping condensation into the valve cover also instead of just in the catch can/bubbler. Since they are both connected to give the bubbler more pressure to bubble when it was being used months ago, it could be now semi going into the catch can and semi crank case.
The only way to know is by separating both lines.
The crank case used to vent into the TB and the PCV into the manifold. Now both are connected by one line to go into the catch can. Will disconnect the PCV from the VC line and see.
Wondering if I can catch can the PCV and route the VC line back into the TB. Will try the PCV back onto the manifold line where it first was that I now have plugged and see if there is a difference in performance.

yo Karl, just put it back to factory stock and see. You can put catch can, AOS, etc. in the hose between PCV valve and man. vacuum. Re-connect breather hose back stock, this should stop the condensation problem.

Tracy G