white smoke

[black200073]

97 F350 with 460, auto and 70,000 miles blowing white smoke. is it a head gasket? any advice. looking at the truck to purchase as is super clean and crew cab 4x4. miles check out as original.

[vitalidle]

Yeah its probobly the head gaskets. Check the engine oil and see if there is any antifreeze in the oil. Will look kind of like a chocolate milkshake if any water has mixed in with the oil.

[black200073]

thanks. I will check it out later. Thoght about a purchase for another play truck and the 70,000 miles are good for the one owner truck. Just hate buying something that needs that much repair. again thanks for the reply

[vitalidle]

Just want to be carefull because usually what causes headgaskets to go in a gasser is the motor overheated or got hot. If thats the case the heads might be warped also. Be prepared to spend some money if you do buy it. Hopefully its just the gaskets

[2005F250]

If it is the head gaskets and if it has stock exhaust manifolds be prepared to have some studs break. The work truck I drive 88' F250 460. Someone tried to fix the exhaust leak and it turned into a $3000 fix just to have the manifolds still leak. Some studs broke and the heads got sent out to some laser drill.

[Lord Tauk]

Maybe some more descriptive info on the smoke issue might work. You are looking at buying the truck? Therefore it is sitting somewhere like a dealers lot?

How much smoke is it? Cloud?

Constantly?

[black200073]

Yes, I am look at a possible purchase. It has a lot of white smoke fom the exhaust after the engine starts warming up. It looks to be a head gasket (I hope thats all) on the driver side. The ehaust manifold is white in color on that side of the engine. The owner must have never changed the coolant as it is very muddy looking. I assume that led to some cooling issues and then a blown head gasket. I am still deciding on this purchase. The owner is bargaining where the repair cost could reduce the vehicle price considerable. My fear is that the engine could have suffered more damage in the cylinder head or worse yet the block area.

[black200073]

thanks for all the input. My mechanic back home (i am traveling with work) said the same things. The truck cranks and runs really well. Only ran it a short time. The oil is a bit muddy looking. The white smoke amount from the exhaust makes me think most water leakage is going that direction. Not seeing a rise in level on dip stick.

[pipelayerjdh]

We had a '97 that blew a head gasket @ 80K. The problem is if coolant entered the oil and its been run, the bearings could be rusted. What kind of price are you looking at?

PS, I have some '97 460 parts

[black200073]

If I go with this purchase, I will need a reputable shop in southern CA. LA area. Torrance, Manhattan Beach, Hawthorne. Any suggestions? thanks