signs of a leaky gasket

Hey Guys, I've been watching a bunch of YouTube videos on how to diagnose a leaky gasket.
I always park my car in the garage.

I left the car to my mechanic for a few days to get it ready for summer.
he told me in the cold morning on cold start theres a light white smoke and that he thinks not gaskets are leaky.

I left it outside last night and the morning
( I have another issue for another post on this.)

so on cold start for the first 5, 6 seconds I see white smoke but then its gone for the rest of the day once car is warm. Also I dont smell that sweet coolant scent.

can this be condisattion?

2010 3v,, edelbrok blower.

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Gasoline burns and produces water vapor and co2.

No one will be able to say for sure.

But, based on your description, it sounds normal. If your head gasket was leaking coolant into the combustion chamber and causing white smoke, it is highly improbable that it would go away when warm.

But normal condensation in startup will go away. The amount the exhaust emits and the time it hangs around varies by temp and humidity.

Any other signs...milky coolant, rough idle/running, dirty plugs...???

Old gas gives white smoke at startup. New gas will clear it up. I always put new gas in my 2014 Garage Queen every month. It gets 2000 to 3000 miles of use every year all year round. Six month old gas will white smoke big time and will choke anyone out standing in back of you.

I think every mustang since 2005 has white smoke at startup. Plenty of threads on the subject. Just do a google search.

....

Iceman62 said:

Any other signs...milky coolant, rough idle/running, dirty plugs...???

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I havent checked my plugs. will do. no milky coolant and idles well

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LarryJM said:

Old gas gives white smoke at startup. New gas will clear it up. I always put new gas in my 2014 Garage Queen every month. It gets 2000 to 3000 miles of use every year all year round. Six month old gas will white smoke big time and will choke anyone out standing in back of you.

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yes that's what I'm thinking.. . just filled her up a few days ago but still getting.

I'll try to post a video of a cold start up.

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Again .... someone correct me if I'm wrong .... but a leaking head gasket will show itself with cold AND warm.

Don't jump to conclusions about white smoke at startup, as it's easy to misinterpret. It's white smoke when hot that matters, especially when you hit the throttle

- warm up the car
- go do some full throttle pulls
- grab a coffee
- repeat every day

fixed

If it's not consuming oil and/or coolant and runs fine it's probably normal water vapor.

do what I did, Pull your spark plugs and see if they are wet, (not from fuel) buy a snake camera and look inside each cylinder for coolant, after sitting for a day or 2. This is what I did and I I had a head gasket gone on both sides.

Mustang dog said:

do what I did, Pull your spark plugs and see if they are wet, (not from fuel) buy a snake camera and look inside each cylinder for coolant, after sitting for a day or 2. This is what I did and I I had a head gasket gone on both sides.

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The head gaskets on the 4.6 are supposed to be relatively bulletproof. What were your circumstances?

MMR cleaned up the deck on the stroker motor with a belt sander.

There are three signs of a leaking head gasket:
1 external coolant leak.
2 intrnal coolant leak into combustion chamber. This produces James Bond-like smokescreen when engine is warmed up.
3 loss of coolant.
May or may not have a misfire.

Jeez. I've seen more 3V's that blow smoke on start up than ones that don't.

MrBhp said:

Jeez. I've seen more 3V's that blow smoke on start up than ones that don't.

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Mine must be in the minority then and it has 94k miles. It's normal to see some steam coming from the tailpipes on a cold start up on a cold damp day but if it continues when the engine's reached normal operating temperature, there's definitely a problem (blown head gasket, cracked head, cracked cylinder wall). Coolant loss will confirm that.
The 3V isn't known for blowing head gaskets but detonation in forced induction applications can make that more likely.
Blue greyish smoke on cold start up tends to be oil burning past worn valve stem oil seals or worn valve guides, while black smoke indicates an overly rich air fuel mixture.
@Johnstone doesn't have anything to worry about if there's no coolant loss.

MrBhp said:

Jeez. I've seen more 3V's that blow smoke on start up than ones that don't.

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I know... but the 6.0 LS engines walk the cam bearings out

Mine has 185k hard miles and doesn’t smoke on startup...


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