Smoking

[mrroach2839]

I have a 1998 Expedition, 5.4, 4 wheel drive. Yesterday she cranked and drove to work perfectly. After work, I turned the key and it sounded like it turned over maybe half way, then something sort of hung. Let off the key for a few seconds, tried again, same thing. Tried a third time, initially sounded the same the all of a sudden cranked up. Idle was fine, then she started smoking white smoke from the tail pipe. Not a terribly large amount of water was dripping from the tail pipe, but there was some. Oil and water levels are exactly where they were when I checked them 4 days prior. I saw no evidence of water in the oil. After talking to a few people/Googling, seems like it may be a leaking head gasket. I'm not sure, if anyone has had a similar problem, I'm all ears for advice. Thanks.

 

[Canadian Expy]

Head gasket gone you should see some difference in coolant level, if you don't it's something else.

 

[mrroach2839]

It takes about 9 hours of sitting for it to act up when trying to crank. The theory I've heard from a couple of shade tree mechanics is there's a small leak in the gasket around on of the water jackets, allowing a small amount of water to leak in to one of the cylinders.

 

[98EXPnSRQ]

Correct. My brothers F150 had this happen and it broke a rod and cracked the block upon startup.

 

[jlo82585]

some water from the tail pipe is normal for vehicles, don't over look the simple things. If your coolant and oil levels stay the same I would start looking at your battery and starter cables. the way describe the issue almost sounds like your cables are having trouble carrying the amp load to the starter or you may have a starter dragging and getting ready to fail on you. I definitely COULD be a head gasket causing hydro-lock in your engine but I tend to be an optimist and wouldn't get to worst case first. still, check your water and oil levels religiously and STOP driving at the first sign of contamination or drop in fluid level. in the mean time I would have the battery load tested.

 

[mrroach2839]

The battery and starter are both good. It's not the fact that there's water and vapor coming from the tail pipe, but that all of sudden it's a lot more than usual, and a lot more that there should have been for a 70 degree day.

 

[98EXPnSRQ]

Here is a related thread. I posted a pic of my brothers busted engine block here. I would recommend you leave your radiator cap off or loose so your cooling system won't pressurize until you get this fixed.

 

[mrroach2839]

WOW! I put some Barr's Head Gasket and Coolant Sealant in this morning, so far so good. Still in the testing stage though, I'll let y'all know the results.

 

[mrroach2839]

After running her all weekend, I believe the sealant fixed the problem. It sat for about 16 hours Saturday and fired right up no problems.

 

[98EXPnSRQ]

Hopefully your heater core isn't plugged up now. I would keep an eye on the tailpipe every time you start up from an overnight sitting.

 

[AbbadonTD]

What he ^^ said. The only problem with head gasket repairers is that they can mess with your heater core. Run your heat if you can, make sure that there is good movement of your coolant. I fried a heater valve in a 4.0 XJ because the core got blocked, and believe me, Coolant finds its way out.

 

[mrroach2839]

I'm keeping a check on the water, oil, and tailpipe every time I crank it after sitting for more than a few hours now, just to be safe.

 

[mrroach2839]

I've had some dealt with a heater core problem like that with a 93 Explorer, thankfully Ford put an access panel under the dash to make changing that one easy enough. So far oil and water levels are perfect, nothing "strange" coming from the tail pipe, and the heat is still working like always, which means good enough to run you out on a cold day. I'm still considering once I get my F250 back running, putting the Expedition in the shop and having them replace the head gaskets, just to be safe.