Leak or Blown? - Coolant of cat

[RaySN]

While in mild traffic my 1995 Windstar started to smoke and overheat. Smoke was from either under or from the tailpipe and grey in color (not oil or H20). Cranked up the heat to hopefully cool it down, got none though.

I turned it around and drove it home, not wanting to face anymore traffic and a possible meltdown and got my other car.

At home oil level was fine, coolant in resevoir. Checked on it during lunch and radiator looked empty, put some old coolant I had and some water in (just what I had lying around, about a quart). Started it just to see if it would start, and it did. Almost imediately I noticed smoke, the cat was wet and grey smoke was coming from cat and tailpipe.

Sounds bad to me, real bad, I'm out in the sticks and debating on filling it up with coolant and try to hobble it into a repair shop. Of course don't want to be stuck along the way. Any input would be helpful.

It has 75,000 miles on it.-

[DRW1000]

I am unsure of what you meant by coming from CAT and tailpipe. I assume the tailpipe is exhausting white smoke but where would the white smoke be coming from in regards to the cat? Is the cat wet from coolant spraying on it or does it have a leak?

Did you notice any bubbling in the coolant in the rad indicating that there is an internal leak to a high pressure area?. Do you have rear HVAC? Is it possible that a hose or line to the rear heater core is leaking and thus spraying the cat? (assuming that there is a rear core in this type of set up) Or even a hose from the front HVAC.

[NYranger]

That sounds like a thing,that happend to my Lincoln- it blew the head gasket.
First was some smoke and then it went off,though i have stopped but it was too late anyway.
I had a hole on the top side of my radiator and the coolant just slowly disapeared without any notice.I still have had some collant in the tank though...

[BaddAndy]

The water pump is over the cat, could a hose have blown?

[RaySN]

Good ideas, unfortunately with new pants and my 4 year old with me I wasn't able to investigate, also wanted to get the radiator really full.

The cat did have drips coming off of it, so I'm hoping for the water pump leak/failure. Have to check to make certain the smoke was just coming from the cat area or out the tail pipe too.

Unfortunately my limited mechanical skills are with engines where you can see everthing! (And I feel even on jackstands I'll be able to see little).

Could I with some certainy rule out a blown head gasket? The oil wasn't foamy, the car wasn't running well but it I'm figuring the coolant would really have to make a quick exit.

I'll give it a try tomorrow after filling the radiator.

Thanks

[NYranger]

If the coolant starts dripping from your pipe and not from the water pump,most likely you have bigger problem.The car will start till it's cool but then it will go off.Hopely that is just a water pump,which is less costly.Otherwise it would be a 1000 easy to fix it a head gasket,perhaps it is less where you live but here in Staten Island NY it ain't cheap at all,welll...nothing is cheap here. lol

[sohcfreak97]

If Its A Headgasket, U Should Notice A Good Amount Of White Smoke From The Tail Pipe, If Its A Water Pump, U Should Be Able To Pressure Test The System, After U Fill It With Coolant And See If It Leaks, Their Are No Hoses Connected To The Water Pump, But Fords 3.8l Is Notorious For Head Gaskets, So I Wouldn't Doubt It, Hope U Figure It Out
-ford Tech-