99 ford taurus mystery to me

[casatova1]

My son called me to say that he was driving my taurus on the highway when he noticed the check engine light come on and the engine started bucking. He noticed "smoke" coming out from behind when he looked in the rear view mirror. He pulled over and said that the engine seemed to smooth out a little but there was a tone of "smoke" everywhere. Not knowing anything about cars, he didn't know if it was smoke or steam or what! He told me that there was brown liquid everywhere,including in a wide path down the road. When my husband got there to meet the tow truck, he said the coolant resevoir was bone dry and the oil dipstick showed full. They couldn't tell if the brown liquid was oil or coolant.
The car got towed home and I checked to see if the radiator, hoses, water pump, etc. might have blown a leak. I couldn't see any place in particular that that happened. The brown liquid was more sticky than oily and was blown all over the front of the engine...not a drop anywhere in the back. I put water in the resevoir, started the engine (which was really rough and I had to keep it running) when after a few seconds, oil started spitting up through the dipstick. I shut it right off and got on here. I don't know where to start!!! Can someone help me?

[shorod]

You might try pulling all the spark plugs and checking for evidence that one or two are burning lots of oil or coolant. It kind of sounds like you're getting back pressure into the oiling system, but I'm not sure how that would happen without evidence of burning the oil in the cylinders (leading to smoke AND low oil level). Was the radiator dry? I guess with the '99 you really only have access to the reservoir. If the coolant really is brown, that would seem to indicate that it's getting oil in with it, often due to a cracked head or head gasket issue. Which engine does your '99 have (3.0L V6 SOHC, 3.8L V6 SOHC - I don't know if these were available in '99, V6 DOHC, V8)

If you have access to a cooling system pressure tester, it may tell you something if you were to pressurize the system and see if it holds pressure.

-Rod

[casatova1]

My engine is the 3.0. I found out from my son that the spraying was coming from the expansion tank cover. He said that he saw the check engine light come on and it was going on and off. He noticed that the temperature guage started rapidly rising, the engine lost pressure and decelerated. As he pulled over and slowed down the light went off and the engine smoothed out. He then noticed the "smoke" which was not at all black, only white which assume was all coolant. Wouldn't I get any symptoms before this if the head was cracked. Also, if the head gasket was blown, wouldn't there be oil in the back of the engine? The radiator only went dry after everything leaked out of the system during the incident. Lastly, couldn't the coolant be brown if there is rust and/or corrosion in the system? I've heard this happens a lot with the Taurus and in fact, I had my heater core replaced and system fully cleaned out several years ago. Thanks for your help!

Originally Posted by shorod

You might try pulling all the spark plugs and checking for evidence that one or two are burning lots of oil or coolant. It kind of sounds like you're getting back pressure into the oiling system, but I'm not sure how that would happen without evidence of burning the oil in the cylinders (leading to smoke AND low oil level). Was the radiator dry? I guess with the '99 you really only have access to the reservoir. If the coolant really is brown, that would seem to indicate that it's getting oil in with it, often due to a cracked head or head gasket issue. Which engine does your '99 have (3.0L V6 SOHC, 3.8L V6 SOHC - I don't know if these were available in '99, V6 DOHC, V8)

If you have access to a cooling system pressure tester, it may tell you something if you were to pressurize the system and see if it holds pressure.

-Rod

[shorod]

If a sealer like Bar's leak or similar had been installed into the cooling system, that could cause brown coolant. Yes, rust and corrosion could cause that color, but I would not expect the coolant to be in that bad of shape on a 9-year-old car.

It is fairly common for the water pumps to fail, which could cause overheating, as well as if the cooling fans on the radiator were not working. You should verify the operation of the cooling fans as well as consider pulling the water pump and verifying the impeller is not shot. While you have it off, you may as well replace it with new. Make sure the impeller on the new pump is working the right direction.

-Rod