white smoke issue

[rickybobby1985]

hey i just picked up this 98 explorer for free 145k miles on it and it runs great but blows a ton of white smoke and i mean a ton if i were to drive it which i dont the car behind me would be invisible so my question is could this possibly be an intake issue or is it for sure a head problem (blown gasket or cracked head) the oil looks a little milky but could be normal because it sat for quite some time also i pulled the spark plugs and cranked it for like 1 min with a rag next to some of the spark plug holes and all i got was gas also it idles fine just the smoke i am stumped and ready to just start ripping the heads off but dont want to waste my time if its something else any help would be nice thanks.

 

[deweyville65]

hey i just picked up this 98 explorer for free 145k miles on it and it runs great but blows a ton of white smoke and i mean a ton if i were to drive it which i dont the car behind me would be invisible so my question is could this possibly be an intake issue or is it for sure a head problem (blown gasket or cracked head) the oil looks a little milky but could be normal because it sat for quite some time also i pulled the spark plugs and cranked it for like 1 min with a rag next to some of the spark plug holes and all i got was gas also it idles fine just the smoke i am stumped and ready to just start ripping the heads off but dont want to waste my time if its something else any help would be nice thanks.

If the "smoke" is white, it is steam. If it is blue, it is oil. I don't think I need to go any further.

 

[rickybobby1985]

Yes I know that but I am just asking if anyone knows any known non-head gasket related issues like my 95 Bonnevilles intake manifold leaks coolant into the motor that's a known issue that causes white smoke non head related. Also when I pulled the spark plugs they were gapped to .095 which seems odd

 

[colintrax]

I would say it's heads....

 

[rickybobby1985]

I would say it's heads....

That's what I was thinking just hoping for the rare non head related white smoke problem

 

[2000StreetRod]

which engine?

It might be helpful to post which engine you have. As far as the SOHC V6 is concerned you can eliminate the possiblity of an intake manifold issue because there is no coolant in the manifold.

 

[rickybobby1985]

It might be helpful to post which engine you have. As far as the SOHC V6 is concerned you can eliminate the possiblity of an intake manifold issue because there is no coolant in the manifold.

It is the 4.0 vin x and I was unaware of any coolant passages that could come in contact with the intake like it does on the 3.8 3800 series 2 motor

 

[rickybobby]

It is the sohc 4.0 vin x and I was unaware of any coolant passages that could come in contact with the intake like it does on the 3.8 3800 series 2 motor

that is a contradiction, vin x is the OHV, vin e is the sohc

 

[rickybobby1985]

that is a contradiction, vin x is the OHV, vin e is the sohc

My bad your right
does anyone have any advice on the head job on this motor anything tricky or if it could be something else

 

[rickybobby]

The odds are that it is a head gasket. Being on OHV the head gasket job is fairly straight forward

 

[rickybobby1985]

The odds are that it is a head gasket. Being on OHV the head gasket job is fairly straight forward

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Yea I am happy it's the OHV pretty much a bunch of **** and wires in the way and some rusty manifold bolts any pointers also I don't have a book yet which is best or is there a free database somewhere for torque specs and stuff like that I am just happy I don't have to mess with timing to my knowledge anything is appreciated thanks

 

[Runnin'OnEmpty]

That's a lot of vapor.

The OHV has an upper plenum and a lower intake
manifold, and the lower part does have coolant passages
on each end. They're sealed with a neoprene coated
metal gasket, and if the neoprene is ripped that
would allow coolant into the cylinder.

The only way to tell for sure is to tear it down.
It's not a hard job, just time consuming to remove
everything....

 

[rickybobby1985]

That's a lot of vapor.

The OHV has an upper plenum and a lower intake
manifold, and the lower part does have coolant passages
on each end. They're sealed with a neoprene coated
metal gasket, and if the neoprene is ripped that
would allow coolant into the cylinder.

The only way to tell for sure is to tear it down.
It's not a hard job, just time consuming to remove
everything....

I figured there was something like that anyone know of a diy on that

 

[koda2000]

sounds like you've good a blow head gasket. only thing i know of that will generate a ton of white smoke.