1999 Ford Windstar coolant leaking

ZORAN

MEMBER
1999 FORD WINDSTAR
6 CYL
2WD
AUTOMATIC
75,000 MILES

Hi, I have 1999 windstar with 3.8l engine. And today when my , wife was driving she noticed at the stop light that there was a small amout of smoke coming from front of the van, but it disapeared within 20 secs, and at home there was leak under the car, just bellow the exaust at the middle of the van, and it was greenish, yellovish colour, and I had it filled up to the line, ( it was missing up to the low level line), I run the engine and there was no smoke or coolant leaking enywhere, but there was light whitish smoko out of tail pipe until the engine reached normal temperature, than everything was fine. What could be the problem with this car?

1 Reply

SCHRIMPIEMAN

MECHANIC
166 POSTS

White smoke coming out of the tailpipe is a bad sign. You may have a blown head gasket. Idle the car a while from a cold start, then while in Park, accellerate the engine a bit. If lots of water drains from the tailpipe and if it smells a bit like bad fish, it is coolant. Eg blown head gasket.

Second test: From a cold start, remove radiator cap temporarily and run the engine for a few seconds. While running, install radiator cap and then remove again. If there is lots of pressure built up inside radiator, exhaust gas is pushing its way thru the (broken) head gasket and into the cooling system. The only remedy is to replace the head gaskets.

More importantly is to make sure the radiator is filled to capacity. The plastic overflow resovoir is just a secondary holding tank. But if the radiator is empty and the resovoir is full, the engine will overheat regardless.

Windstar/Taurus engines are very sensitive to overheating. Blown head gaskets are a common result.