Blown head gasket???

Question

The vehicle is a 1993 Ford Thunderbird LX. It has 107000 miles on it and it has been serviced when it was supposed to. The motor is the 3.8L V6. I have been losing coolant and im getting white smoke from the tail pipe. My question is im thinking its just a head gasket but is it even logical to think it could be a cracked head. I know the ford 3.8 is known for head gasket failure im just trying to make sure i have a good chance of it just being the gasket.

Answer 1

i have never seen a cracked head on a 3.8 ford engine. it is almost always just the gasket. one time i did see a cracked block, but that was just a fluke, not normal. you have a 98% chance that gaskets alone will fix it. these heads dont even warp.

Answer 2

Reasonalb ebet it is just the gasket unless you know for a fact that the engine has been BADLY overheated recently.

Removing the head should not be too expensive or time consuming - and you can then get it tested - though if you can clearly see where the gasket has gone it would be extremely unluck to also have a crack between pot and water.

You will need to get the head skimmed - as you might know - otherwise if there is more than a ~TINY amount of warp the new gasket is not going to last long.

Alterntively if you are wondering if the car is worth repairing (as the tone kind of suggestes that if you thought it was a cracked head you might not bother), then you might try one of the "gunk in a bottle" fixes.

I know many people say they are snake oil - or only VERY short term fixes but I have used "block weld" type products three times now, once on a turbo charged car with nitrous - and not ONCE has the gunk failed to work - OR failed to last.

THOUSANDS of miles later.

And it csots about £8 / $15 - DO make sure you thoroughly flush the coolant out of the radiator first though.

As I say, if you are in the "not much to lose" state, you might be VERY pleasantly surprised at quite how weel the modern block weld type products work.

The ones these days look like a copper powder in a bottle with a clear liquid on top. Worked for m, three times out of three.

In the event that it didn't work, you can still replace the gasket (which I eventually did on all three of my cars) - and had caused no problems at all - but was interesting to see where it had bridged the damaged parts of the gasket.

Mark

Answer 3

If it's the same 3.8L I remember it has aluminum heads. The Aluminum head will distort and stretch more than the iron block, and over time can cause a gasket failure. You'll have to pull the heads to change the gaskets anyway, so have them pressure tested at a local machine shop to see if there are any cracks. Be mindfull of the torque specs on these heads upon re-assembly... aluminum is very unforgiving. I've seen a couple of these motors with the spark plug holes stripped... be very carefully not to overtighten anything.

Answer 4

Have the cylinder heads sent out to a machine shop for them to clean it up, and magnaflux it for cracks, paying particular attention to the sides where the frost plugs are. Since these engines frequently require head gasket replacements, a replacement cylinder head(s) shouldn't be hard to locate if necessary. Once the heads are removed, the area of gasket failure should become immediately evident. If you really want to be sure, remove cylinder #3 and #4 spark plugs and pressurize the cooling system. With a fiber optic type light or borescope, look inside those cylinders for coolant leaking into them. Hope this helps.

Answer 5

you've a cracked head or a blown head gasket. Oil in the coolant comes from the passages ni the proper seperating oil gallies from coolant gallies. in case your earrings the position undesirable it should be sucking lots of oil into your cylinder and burning fairly some blue smoke and then fouling out your plugs right now. so that you'll opt to verify which head is defective. in spite of if it only a head gasket blown, you've the proper off and it really is proactive to have the proper rigidity examined and seem at valve facings even as you've it off. in simple terms pulling plugs gained't continuously artwork. because the crack or the blown head gasket pretty flow over from gally to gally and do not leak into the cylinder. If it replaced into leaking right into a cylinder you need to be getting white smoke it extremely is indicative of coolant being burnt in the engine.

Answer 6

more than likely just a head gasket. but what you need to keep in mind is that usually a head gasket is an effect not a cause. what i mean is something has caused the head gasket to fail, ie. over heat, coolant leak, plugged radiator, fan not working etc. you need to find out what caused it to fail or it might happen again right away.

Answer 7

i own a repair shop ,and like i say before i tear one down for a customer,you have a 50/50 chance of it just being a head gasket or both,this is one of those things you cant tell about until you actually tear it down.hopefully it will just be a head gasket,but you never can tell on these,good luck i hope this helps.

Answer 8

It is probably just the gasket. Get the head checked when you take it off. Don't drive the car in the mean time. Running the engine does nothing but creatre damage.

Answer 9

Ok if you really want to keep the vehicle lets do the repair correctly. have the heads sent out to a reputable shop they may or may not be cracked do not take a chance also do the necessary maintainance as well ie tstat plugs wires cap rotor fuel and airfilters and pcv valve and lof you need to do it right, all at once, otherwise your just gonna be dealing with issue, after issue.gl2u man.

Answer 10

Sounds like a leaking head gasket to me.Do a compression test or cylinder leak down to confirm.