Smoking Ford Lincoln 4.6L...... Valve Seals????

What year is the car ? How many miles on it ? Was it maintained properly or just "driven" ?

Early 4.6 engines might have a valve stem seal issue. Later models, it may be something else. If she is like my neighbors and drives it till it drops with no maintenance what so ever until something breaks the oil could be as thick as tar.

From what little I know of the 4.6 they run a real long time if they get regular oil changes with the right grade / quality oil.

Weak points are mid 90's and later plastic intakes cracking, cam sensors, spark plug wires, and one or two egr system related contol devices.

"" wrote: > What year is the car ? > How many miles on it ? > Was it maintained properly or just "driven" ? > > Early 4.6 engines might have a valve stem seal issue. > Later models, it may be something else. > If she is like my neighbors and drives it till it drops with > no > maintenance what so ever until something breaks the oil could > be as > thick as tar. > > From what little I know of the 4.6 they run a real long time > if they get > regular oil changes with the right grade / quality oil. > > Weak points are mid 90's and later plastic intakes cracking, > cam > sensors, spark plug wires, and one or two egr system related > contol > devices.

Hello,

Thanks for the reply and sorry for the delay. I had a death in the family. As for the info you asked for, the car is a 1994 Town car and has 125K miles now. As for the upkeep, it has had regular oil changes, tuneups and detailed untill my father in law got sick and then it just sit. I checked the oil and it was real clean but I changed it anyway. Im not real sure what type of oil he ran in it but the sticker in the window says Quaker State 10W30. The car still runs great but it has that annoying smoke when you leave a stop sign and even worse if you have to sit for awhile before you pull off. It also goes through oil to, about a qt a week maybe every two weeks sometimes. Let me know if any more info is needed. Thanks again

i've found that just about all 4.6's start smoking around the 120 to

doesn't make any difference if they have regular oil changes or not. i think it is probably related to hours of run time on the engine and the temp. that the valve guide seal soaks in before it cracks and falls off.

the valve tool varies in price but runs around 60 dollars. you can use compressed air to hold the valves up or use the old standard rope in the cylinder trick. if you take your time, it will take about 4 hours with a coffee break or two. the special tool is the key to getting the valve knocked down to put the seal in.

on the flip side, it usually only smokes when you let it idle at a stop sign or stop light and that trail of smoke you leave when you take off. normally, at 60mph, you don't use hardly any oil because of a lower manifold vacuum.

got three of those towncars with that mileage on them and had to replace seals on all of them. that seems to be the only major weak spot on the maintenance with them.

hope this helps.

~ curtis

knowledge is power - growing old is mandatory - growing wise is optional "Many more men die with prostate cancer than of it. Growing old is invariably fatal. Prostate cancer is only sometimes so."

"totalchaos23" wrote: > Hello, > > Thanks for the reply and sorry for the delay. I had a death in > the family. > As for the info you asked for, the car is a 1994 Town car and > has 125K miles now. As for the upkeep, it has had regular oil > changes, tuneups and detailed untill my father in law got sick > and then it just sit. I checked the oil and it was real clean > but I changed it anyway. Im not real sure what type of oil he > ran in it but the sticker in the window says Quaker State > 10W30. > The car still runs great but it has that annoying smoke when > you leave a stop sign and even worse if you have to sit for > awhile before you pull off. It also goes through oil to, about > a qt a week maybe every two weeks sometimes. Let me know if > any more info is needed. > Thanks again

yes you are correct in assuming the valve stem seals are bad when you remove them you will find that they have become hard and brittle replace all 16 valve stem seals and 99.9% of your oil consumption will go back to normal

"Marty" wrote: > yes you are correct in assuming the valve stem seals are bad > when you remove them you will find that they have become hard > and brittle replace all 16 valve stem seals and 99.9% of your > oil consumption will go back to normal

Thanks for the help and info. Ill get the parts and get started on it. It should be a interesting time for me. I have done this job before but, not on a engine with the overhead cams. Thanks again

Look here for the tool. It was the best price I could ever find. Fast shipping. Prices are online only. The tool is to remove the cam followers. Make sure you get each folloer back where it was. Don't bother pulling the lash adjusters. The cams do not have to come out. The easiest way to hold the valves is with compressed air. The worst part of the job is getting into the valves. You should have a good assortment of hand tools. Make sure you have a good magnet handy to chase down dropped valve keepers. Use plenty of rags to plug all the openings in the heads while you are working.