1999 F-350 4x4 Crew Cab V10-174,000 miles
Left work and drove only a mile or so and noticied that the temp gauge hadn't moved yet, then all of a sudden it pegged itself in the red and the exhaust was blowing white smoke, went another block and pulled of road and shut it off, rad. reservior was bone dry. went to store and poured 1.5 gallons of water in the system, started up and smoked just a little, got home and flushed system twice and poured in BLUE DEVIL and it seemed to solve the problem (as far as exhaust smokin) It's now been 2 days and no fluid loss. Here's the 2 problems- I keep hearing a ticking noise from engine comp. at about 2000 rpm/45-55mph, It's not noticable at idle! The engine seems to have lost power. What are some of the scenarios from overheating (valves sticking, bent valves, fouled plugs, etc). NOTE: Vehicle has been used (1.5 years) for towing a 28' enclosed trailer with extra height(9000-10000lbs). Is vehicle just wore out?????

 

Sounds like you blew a head gasket and/or cracked a head. Pouring something in your radiator isn't going to fix that.

 

Visually go over the engine compartment well to see if theres something obvious wrong or disconnected. I would probably do a compression check and maybe a leakdown test and go from there.

 

sounds right to me white smoke from exhast i always knew as being a blow head gasket

 

Well the blue devil seemed to fix that, no white smoke or loss of coolant. What I needed to find out is problems overheating can cause i.e. sticking valves etc..

 

not 100% sure but maybe can be warped??