QuestionQUESTION: hello
my taurus is running terrible the engine light is on ,it is blowing smoke from the exhaust and the cooling fan stays on and will not shut off.
ANSWER: hey there.
another typical taurus 3.8. Exact sypmtoms of blown head gaskets. The cooling fans are staying on because the engine is actually overheating. there is a possiblity that the engine over heated and blew the head gaskets due to the over heat. If you are going to do head gaskets on this car, make sure the cooling system is tested to verify the repair.
Good luck
Chris P
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QUESTION: i have the 3.0 does this stand true for this engine also? thank you
ANSWER: HEy again, sorry i assumed it was a 3.8 cause they where soooo typical for this problem and blowing head gaskets. the 3.0 liter is not so typical for the problem, BUT is not impossible. If the engine did over heat then there is still a chance of damaging head gaskets, and as you told me the fans where running al the time, that tells me that there is a heat issue. Have the engine block leak tested. that will verify a head gasket problem, AND I forgot to mention that if you see white smoke coming from the tail pipe that is an idication of buring coolant. Check the antifreeze level. if it is low or empty dont worry about having the block leak test done. It will definitly be the head gaskets. Make sure if you do this repair that the heads get sent out and cheked for cracks and machined. this is very important. cause nobody wants to do the same job twice. good luck
Chris P
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QUESTION: hey chris,
I just want to run another thing by you on the taurus 3.0.i pulled two plugs and they are covered with black carbon no signs of antifreeze and there seems to be none missing from radiator or recovery tank.when i start engine it runs as if nothing is wrong until temp guage goes up about 1/4 of the way and then engine light comes on and cooling fan comes on then does not shut off.kind of crazy !All this started when i was driving on highway and car sort of jerked and engine light came on it started running real poorly but no white smoke just intermitent black smoke from exhaust. could there possibly be another direction i should look look toward? thanks for your time.
scott
Answersorry i missread that. i thought i seen white smoke, black smoke is usualy due to excessive fuel! possible leaking injectors..you will to verify which cylinders are misfiring. when that is pinpointed try swapping out injectors with a different cylinder. if the misfire changes then you know for sure that there are faulty injectors. You will also have to get that check engine light scanned to see what codes are stored in the PCM, they may just be misfire codes, but its a good start, but if it gives you a code for a sensor of some sort then that will also prevent you from looking in the wrong area.
the problem you are having with the cooling fans is an odd issue, the fans really shouldnt come on untill the gauge reaches about over the half way point,
but get the car scanned it may tell you something important and let me know when you have progressed.
good luck
Chris P
