Blown Headgaskets?

[cj41foley]

How do you tell if you have blown head gaskets? I noticed some chalky powdery stuff (looked like maybe dried up coolant) around my cap on my overflow tank a while back but have not noticed any since I cleaned it off. My truck puts off a greyish color smoke sometimes when it idles (cold or hot don't matter), and for the past few months my truck hasn't had the power that it used to have, doesn't put out much black smoke even with my SCT. It has 30k miles on it and I bought it brand new. I just want to know how to tell if I have blown gaskets! TIA fellas

[SMKSTAX]

You would be losing coolant and your truck would over heat.

[Big Tone]

The chalky stuff on the degas bottle is coolant forced out from being flash boiled in the egr system, make sure the level is just below full you should be alright.
As far as blown headgaskets I have never been around one that has blown them so someone else will have to chime in.

[cj41foley]

My level is right below the low mark, I haven't added any coolant.

[Clay Henry]

Originally Posted by cj41foley

My level is right below the low mark, I haven't added any coolant.

Loss of power could be any number of things... I think your gaskets are ok if you have not noticed any coolant loss.

[Big Tone]

Thats where ford says the level should be, as far as the grey smoke my truck does the same thing.
Have you changed your fuel/air filters, do you use powerservice or equivalant?

[cj41foley]

Maybe I'll order some new tunes from someone and see if I can get some more power!

[mschn99]

the white smoke on cold starts in injectors sticking.....the latest reflash from ford will fix that, but you will need to get tunes to match the new calibration for the PCM....

if you had a blown headgasket you would be venting a ton of coolant and or have an overheating problem...

[cj41foley]

ok, great, thanks fellas, makes me feel good to know that my gaskets are ok, so Mark they have reflashes for 06 trucks?

[cj41foley]

Originally Posted by Big Tone

Thats where ford says the level should be, as far as the grey smoke my truck does the same thing.
Have you changed your fuel/air filters, do you use powerservice or equivalant?

I change my fuel filters regularly, I've never changed my air filter. It's got 30k on it, maybe I should change it, what do ya'll think, I don't go through any deserts or anything.