Ford tuares white smoke on startup and idle.. whats wrong?

[F 150Cobra]

someone i know is looking to buy an 2001 taures but it smokes white on idle and startup.. whats the problem?

 

[d-kuzmen]

I have seen some 3.0 headgaskets blow.

 

[LEB Ben]

White is coolant...so as Dave said, my money would be a head gasket.

 

[F 150Cobra]

ok tought soo... thanks!

 

[SuperCab]

Yup. Tauruses are known for blowing head gaskets. An '01... IIRC that's the DOHC 3.0. Don't know much about them, but the old Vulcan 3.0s and Essex 3.8s were bad for head gasket failures...

 

[F 150Cobra]

can u drive it in that condition? if so what to chek ?

 

[SuperCab]

If it doesn't smoke too bad, I'd just drive it. Keep an eye on the water level in the radiator and as long as you're not loosing too much water, you should be alright...

Unless it gets worse, smoking more and more and losing more water. Then it'll be time to replace it.

You could always try stop leak...

 

[LEB Ben]

Yes you can definitely drive it...like Matt said, watch the radiator...but the bigger thing to watch is the oil. You're gonna wanna diagnose how the oil looks and how much coolant has gotten in there between changes. I've known guys with light leaks and they can get by changing oil every 2-3k...but then I've also known guys who try to limp a terrible leak and change the oil every 250 miles. As a matter of fact...I blew the HG in Thunder once, and it was baaaaaaaaad. Had to limp it along until I had more time...drove it 500 miles, changed the oil, then drove it another 250 before I fixed the HG. Do I recommend this, no...but it'll get you by.