steveo555

So I am posting this for my dad....he has a 2006 Mustang with about 88,000 miles on it.

Just the other day he was driving when all of a sudden he could smell something burning then a few minutes later white smoke came out of his engine. (Luckily he was close to home).

We take a look at it and open up the engine compartment once everything has cooled down. First thing we notice is there is coolant residue around the cap to the reservoir. Second there is almost no coolant left in the reservoir.

After letting it sit over night we put coolant in it and I drive it for a little yesterday. Just to a close store and back (not far enough for the engine to warm up) and nothing happens. I try it again later in the day but far enough that the engine gets warmed up. Then I could hear a ticking type sound and bubbling. So I turn back home and that is when it started to smoke/smell again. I open the hood up and again coolant around the reservoir cap.

To me this sounds like a thermostat issue and the system is just relieving the coolant pressure which is spraying on the engine thus causing the smoke & smell.

Anyone have any ideas? We are taking it a shop today that we have never been to but it is very close to our house.

pdonket

Just have to ask, when you went driving it later that day after having refilled the coolant, was the coolant tank nearly empty again or the coolant has just started sort of bubbling over again?

steveo555

Just started bubbling over again, it was still some what full.

Simon1

Bad coolant cap?

Riptide

Has the car ever had a thermostat done? At 88,000 I wouldn't be surprised if it needed one. Does the gauge move on the car?

steveo555

His car has never needed a new thermostat. Yes the guage does move.

Jeffk

Could be thermostat... or maybe a headgasket?

Riptide

Thermostat is pretty easy to do if you don't mind draining some coolant off the system then refilling and burping again. The 07+ cars are even easier to do the thermostat in. Not much if anything should need to come out. The gauge moving implies that the thermostat is opening up if my understanding is correct. Per some of the earlier suggestions you may want to replace the cap first since that would be the cheapest and easiest item to attend to first.

GrayPony

V6 or V8?
Does the cooling fan come on? Did you bleed the air out of the system when refilling?

edcologne

- does the gauge go to hot/overheat?
- as asked before does the fan come on assuming the gauge shows very hot eventually?
- heater getting warm?
- i wouldn't drive it, just let it run, check and observe.

mine warms up within a short time.
when cold/thermostat closed, radiator hoses should NOT be hot, maybe a little warm.
the gauge should go up (motor warms up) somewhat above center.
then thermotat should open, radiator hoses heating up, gauge go back a little and somewhat stay.
if so thermostat should be ok, but at 88k its a good idea to replace it anyways.
at some point then (keep an eye on the gauge) the fan should kick in, especially when not driving = no airflow.