needhelp! with 95 thunderbird with a lot of white smoke coming from exhaust.

hello. i started my thunderbird a few days ago and as i was driving i noticed a giant cloud of smoke coming from the exhaust. i checked all of my levels and the transmission fluid seems to be high, oil level was about an inch and ahalf over the FULL area, and the coolant/anitfreeze was also closer to the hot level then the cold (checked everything while cool). a few nights before this happened the cars heat gauge was in the red for a second or two and then i eased on the brake and went slower and it went back down to normal. also now the engine is shaking more then it ever did before. if anyone has a explanation and possibly a solution to the problem that would be a giant help. thank you.

Welcome to the forum billfbrennan. Sorry to say but it sounds like the engine has a blown head gasket. I don't know what engine you have but V6's have a problem with the head gaskets. You will probably notice that the oil dip stick will look milky white due to the coolant mixing with the oil. That is why your oil level is higher then it should be. Stop driving this car and get it repaired before you do more damage. Antifreeze in the oil is bad for the bearings.

same thing happened to my tbird. that's how I got it so cheap ;)
If you end up fixing it yourself, make sure to check that the head didn't warp. good luck!

One of the following has happened:

Blown head gasket.
Leaking intake gasket (if the intake has water going through it).
Cracked head and/or cylinder wall.

Since your oil pan is now full of antifreeze you most likely blew the head gasket, do a compression test before you tear the engine apart it should tell you which cylinder blew.

I had similar symptoms with my '91 3.8. I could not see that there was any coolant in the oil however there was coolant loss and white smoke in the exhaust on startup. I found a spot of white goo on the rear of both valve covers but none on the dipstick.



I am still in the process of reassembly. The worst part was removing the bolts due to corrosion. PB Blaster/Kroil is your best friend for this job. Apply, let it sit over night, apply some more, let it sit. Keep doing this until the bolts turn free. I broke an upper manifold bolt, which I had to have removed professionally. Also a second one on the lower manifold going into the head, which the machine shop removed when they rebuilt the heads.


On disassembly I found that the passenger side rear cylinder was where the leak was and it seemed due to a warpage of the head, as opposed to a gasket tear or failure. The drivers side was ok. The machine shop resurfaced the heads and removed .007ths, then did a valve job.


Use Felpro gaskets for reassembly. They have redesigned the head gaskets. There may be a Ford recall so you might check that out before you tear it down.


This job is tough because of corrosion and because there is so much stuff you must remove. I notice that it goes together faster than it comes apart.


Good luck on your project.

those moters on the 3800 on head gaskets and upper intake gasket. i think they try to sound like a gm 3800 but yah those are junk moters. after getting it's fixed i'd put it up for sale.

I dropped the oil yesterday and discovered about 1/4" of coolant in the bottom of the used oil. The interesting point was there was NO milky color. It was dark oil collored until the last bit, which was clear. The dip stick test may not be an accurate indicator with some of the universal anti-freezes. I was using Prestone yellow jug extended life. (Yeah I know...OAT technology.)

After I posted the above I realized that the clear coolant must have come from the heads. When they were removed the water passage coolant has run through the engine into the sump. I think I will flush the system before start-up.