Head Gasket or what?
 

I was driving today and smelled antifreeze real bad then I looked back and seen white smoke, I pulled over and had antifreeze pouring out from under the hood. The fan came on (but it never got hot) and blew antifreeze everywhere so I cant reaaly pin point the location but I have checked all my hoses and they all look to be fine. Some guy pulled in the gas station and came over and looked and said it was my head gasket, I thought with a head gasket it blowed it back thru the motor, (hense the white smoke) What else could it be any ideas before I have it towed in to get repaired tomorrow?

Re: Head Gasket or what?
 

Is the "white smoke" coming out one of your tailpipes or both? Check your oil and see if it has any moisture in it.

Re: Head Gasket or what?
 

I checked it and it didnt really look milky at all but I might be wrong, I drive semi's and when I had a head gasket blow on my semi it blew white smoke of course but once I cut the engine off it wouldnt start back cause the cylinder filled up with antifreeze, shouldnt this be the same or am i wrong plus in my semi I didnt have antifreeze blow all over my motor. In my ranger it looks like its leaking on the drivers side near the manifold. does that sound like a head gasket cause there isnt no hoses there but it might have jus pooled there and is running down but that is where it is the wetest

Re: Head Gasket or what?
 

could the white smoke be just blowin under the truck where it was leakin on the exhaust I never actually seen it blowing out the exhaust, I just went outside and it started but I only run it for like 30 seconds and it wasnt smokin out the exhaust and neither pipe had condensation in it

Re: Head Gasket or what?
 

Anybody guys any suggestions?

Re: Head Gasket or what?
 

Usually on a V-6 with dual exhaust a blown head gasket will push steam out one side or the other of the exhaust unless you have a crossover tube. This can isolate a side of the engine to look at. From the sounds of it I wouldn't look at the head gasket yet. I would open the hood and run the engine while looking for water. One thing to keep in mind is that the fan can move the coolant all over so where the coolant is after the engine is off is not a good indicator of where the leak is. Look at the radiator as well as the hoses. A leak in the radiator can blow all over the engine compartment because it is close to the fan. I don't think that you can hurt the engine by running it while you watch for leaks.

Re: Head Gasket or what?
 

well I have checked it out all morning looks like the leak is coming from around the back spark plug on drivers side but no smoke? Just had it towed to the garage today waiting to see what they tell me.

Re: Head Gasket or what?
 

Just got the call from the dealrship my truck blowed a headgasket on the drivers side and is leaking on the passanger side, also they said that I had a cracked manifold and now would be a good time to replace it, with a oil drain and flush and coolant system flush and new maniflod would cost me around 1200.00 bucks. It took me a few minutes to decide if I wanted to have it fixed. Should be ready friday.

Re: Head Gasket or what?
 

yes you can blow head gaskets outward they dont always have to leak on the inside and it just takes a little bit of coolant to get white smoke. a craked head gasket can leak on either the outside of the motor or the inside or both. you did the smart thing by pulling over and checking it out. there are alot of people in this world that would just keep on going till the truck or car just dies(aka my fiance) she just slaughterd her 1999 nissan maxima she drove it hard and kinda took care of it so now im have to TRY to rebuild her motor if its not to far gone. but yea glad your truck is getting fixed!! and you caught it in time!!

Re: Head Gasket or what?
 

Thanks Mikkel and Jason for the replies cant wait till I get it back on friday.