Hey guys,

So recently my 1990 pickup 3.0 has started producing white smoke out of the exhaust. I've check the oil numerous times and no coolant is mixing in with the oil. Also my coolant level doesn't even seem like its dropped.

It smokes a lot though and you can definitely smell coolant out the exhaust, I'd be surprised if someone hasn't called me in lol so my question is has someone had this issue or may know what's going on?

Also the problem isn't consistent, sometimes it doesn't smoke at all.

Thanks for any help.

 

If it looks like a head gasket and smells like a head gasket it is probably a head gasket

 

Thinking so but if it is the head gasket wouldn't the smoke be consistent and I'd have coolant finding itself in the oil?

 

That depends where the gasket is blown out at. And sometimes the rounded parts inside the radiator will hold coolant and appear that it is full when it really isn't. Is your overflow bottle dry or still full? If your radiator is full then your coolant bottle would be too because it hasn't sucked any back in.
A good quick way to check if it's the gasket is to pull spark plugs on either side and look inside the cylinder. If it or the plug looks like it's been steam cleaned then it has been burning coolant. Combustion would make the cylinder/plug dark blackish looking. The most confirmatory test is a compression test, though.

 

I blew a head gasket that only leaked externally. You are burning coolant that means the head gasket failed on the coolant passage into the cylinder. If it failed into the oil passage then you would have the oil mix. When the engine warms up the heat can seal the leak in the gasket again with thermal expansion.

 

That is one of those things right now my 3.4`s both smoke quite a bit from condensation .

While a compression test is ok at times it may not show a failed head gasket depending where it failed

Best is to pressure test the cooling system.

If your pushing coolant into a cylinder sooner or later you will be able to see it drop in the radiator.

It does not take but a few drops of coolant hitting hot exhaust to smell coolant at least to me.

If the level of coolant drops below the sending unit it can send false signals no need to cook the engine.

 

Best not waste much time diagnosing this unless you want a bigger more expensive repair.
Purchase a test kit or take it to a shop for evaluation to put your mind at ease.

 

try a engine flush. worked on my truck.