I own a 1978 f 150 with a 351m engine (4wd) . I started the truck this morning and water (a lot) came out of the left exhaust pipe. The truck will run but smokes white smoke out of left exhaust only. My initial thought is the head gasket is blown. Any suggetions or comments would be helpful.

I am a backyard mechanic and will try to tackle this myself. How much work is involved. I have changed a head gasket on a 4 cylinder before but have never had to take my v-8 apart before.
My experience with wrenches is all self learned usually with a haynes or chiltons manual at my side.


Regards,

Tom

 

Sounds like your head gasket its not that difficult to change just a little time consuming. Make sure you use a good sealant and torque those bolts down.

 

Thanks for your reply Ron !


TOM

 

It could be a couple of things,not necessarily a head gasket.

How cold was it when you started the engine ?

How long had the engine been sitting before you started it?
There is always H20 Vapor being released from a engine.
How Thick was the cloud.


Did it go away after the engine had been running a few hours.

A lot of people only make short drives in cold weather and they shut the engine down before it reached operation temperature.
Re-starting it can cause an extra White cloud out the tailpipe.

 

MIL1ION,

When I had started the truck it was actually liquid that came out of the exhaust . I estimate about a liter came running out before the exhaust cloud appeared. The liquid was definetly the color of water and antifreeze .

The engine runs but runs rough. I have to give the truck gas to keep it running or it will cut off.

Tom

 

Do a vacuum and compression test. Also check the radiator for gas bubbles and oil. Let us know what you see.

 

Will do . Thanks again for everyone's advice and input.

Regards,

Tom

 

Also try to detect the smell of exhaust in the radiator while your looking for combustion gas bubbles. Look for milkiness in the oil on the dip stick as if water is getting into the crank case, the oil gets a little whitish. Sounds though that IF IT IS a head gasket, that the break is between a combustion chamber and a coolant port. Take a look at your spark plugs to see if coolant might be getting into the chamber on the side of the engine that is "steaming". You would be able to ID where the break is too.
After the engine reaches operating temp, you can hold your hand at the tail pipe to determine if it is steam and not smoke, but it sounds like [b]steam [/b[eh?
Make sure you use those manuals that have taught you so much as you will need to sequence the torque properly for a successfull completion of the job. I would not use gasket sealer on the head gasket as this makes it hard to work on in the future and it doen't need sealer. The gasket should be fine. I just use a light film of grease to just hold the gasket in place while setting the head.
If you do decide that the head needs to be removed, be sure to get the head checked for cracks. (magniflux at machine shop) Ot would be a shame to do all of that work if the head is junk!
Have fun and keep us posted