engine smoking...

[famcrown]

hi . i am new here but have been a member for a few months on crownvic.net. i was refereed to you by user andymac0035 . i have a 90 crown vic 5.0 station wagon. i was fixing a fuel line a few weeks ago, jacked up 1 side of the car (high up) to fix it, and while up turned on car and heard a rattling noise. since then i found my raditor was leaking on sides and upper hose was loose on thermostat. I replaced radiator/tightend hose and pressure tested while off and it held 10psi for a couple of minutes.

However, car emits small but steady stream of white/clear smoke from underneath engine area. (if u stand on passenger side of car and look at engine- then look towards bottom of engine-in the middle bottom= is where smoke seems to come from. )

I see wet around back of engine but (there was a fuel leak and rad hose leak) so i thought wet was from those. While car on i did not see anything drip from back of intake manifold or the front. maybe its the pvc valve causing it to smoke after 15 min on or air in radiator???

any ideas.

[86VickyLX]

hi . i am new here but have been a member for a few months on crownvic.net. i was refereed to you by user andymac0035 . i have a 90 crown vic 5.0 station wagon. i was fixing a fuel line a few weeks ago, jacked up 1 side of the car (high up) to fix it, and while up turned on car and heard a rattling noise. since then i found my raditor was leaking on sides and upper hose was loose on thermostat. I replaced radiator/tightend hose and pressure tested while off and it held 10psi for a couple of minutes.

However, car emits small but steady stream of white/clear smoke from underneath engine area. (if u stand on passenger side of car and look at engine- then look towards bottom of engine-in the middle bottom= is where smoke seems to come from. )

I see wet around back of engine but (there was a fuel leak and rad hose leak) so i thought wet was from those. While car on i did not see anything drip from back of intake manifold or the front. maybe its the pvc valve causing it to smoke after 15 min on or air in radiator???

any ideas.

Your cooling system should hold 16psi. PCV valve is for crankcase blowby vapors, if it was clogged, it would leak oil out of seals if not taken care of. and that would be blue smoke. White smoke is water/antifreeze leaking, really freaking like I can't see shit white would be transmission fluid. You can tell the difference between the two by the smell. Coolant burning is sweet, transmission fluid burning isn't. If it's coming from the middle/side/bottomhalf of the engine with white smoke, I'd say core plug is leaking.

[gadget73]

sounds like the freeze plug area to me as well. We're talking the area below the spark plugs, and above the oil pan right? There are 2 or 3 metal dish shaped plugs along the side of the block in that area. If those are leaking, its a very good indicator that the cooling system was grossly neglected, and that you need to replace all of the plugs. If one is shot, the rest are very close behind.

[Lincolnmania]

also each cylinder head has two freeze plugs.......one at each end of the head......see if you can rent or borrow a cooling system pressure tester to pinpoint the leak

[famcrown]

sounds like the freeze plug area to me as well. We're talking the area below the spark plugs, and above the oil pan right? There are 2 or 3 metal dish shaped plugs along the side of the block in that area. If those are leaking, its a very good indicator that the cooling system was grossly neglected, and that you need to replace all of the plugs. If one is shot, the rest are very close behind.

it was neglected. I just recently replaced radiator after I saw it was leaking from the sides. There might be air pockets in it since I replaced a few days ago, however i left rad cap off with car on and squeezed hoses as I was told. hope that took care of the air pockets.

As for the freeze plugs, if thats the case. Is that an easy fix that I ( an inexperienced/just learning about my engine guy) can do , or will it take few hours and hundred dollars from a mechanic.

[gadget73]

It depends. If the ones on the back of the heads are gone, you pretty much have to pull the motor. I don't think theres much chance of getting new ones in back there. The ones on the side, if you pull the motor mount brackets out and jack the engine up, you may just barely have enough room to get a hammer in there to tap the new ones in. Not positive on this though, it might come down to pulling the engine. The actual replacement of a core plug is a piece of cake. Stick a screwdriver at one edge, and smack it with a hammer. When the plug tips out, pull it out with pliers. Clean the opening out with a wire brush, lightly coat the edge of the new one with some non-hardening sealer (permatex #2 or similar) and tap it in using a socket that fits inside the cup. The hard part is being able to get your tools in there to drive the plug in and out.

[andymac0035]

Glad to see you made it over here famcrown!

If there's any way you could get that wagon over to Scott's in PA I bet 3 things would happen

1-you woudn't get ripped off.
2- your car would get fixed right.
3-you'd be VERY temped to let Scott make some "ahem" improvements.

[86VickyLX]

Where are you located famcrown?

[andymac0035]

I believe he's in CT, just not sure what part.

[famcrown]

i am up in waterbury, ct
my transmission does not have overdrive so its really hard to go past 40/45 miles an hour, but with this leak, I would be afraid to drive car more than 15 minutes because then it starts to smoke.

[87gtVIC]

i am up in waterbury, ct
my transmission does not have overdrive so its really hard to go past 40/45 miles an hour, but with this leak, I would be afraid to drive car more than 15 minutes because then it starts to smoke.

You have less gears than just overdrive if you can't get past 45mph.

[86VickyLX]

You have less gears than just overdrive if you can't get past 45mph.

Bet the tv bushing is gone... and the cable is hanging down there on the intake manifold...

[famcrown]

the car had a new or a rebuilt trans put in a few years ago but the OD got shot to the TV CABLE grommet.

I had the grommet replaced a week after it busted, but OD was already gone.
The car can go over 55 but the engine sounds very loud so I assumed it was revving past 5000 RPM's and it was not safe , so the most I will drive the car is 45. Maybe I am wrong, let me know.

[87gtVIC]

I burred the stock 85 speedo under the fuel gauge without OD and I have been 115+ with my 140 speedo. Something is not kosher.


and there is no way it is revving that hi because the governor limits the revs during shifting to 4200.

[famcrown]

I have no clue how hi it's revving. all I know is the OD band was likely burned due to TV CABLE as it goes into nuetral instead of OD.

I guess technically the car would go faster than 55 if I put the pedal to the floor i am just afraid to do that. Is it ok to drive the car faster than 50/55 with out OD on the highway for long periods of time?????

Also, just want to ask regarding coolant pressure test- if my freeze plugs or valve covers were damaged and leaking- would a pressure test with car off make oil or stuff leak from there so I can tell which one it is.??????