DiamondEvo

Sup guys i have a 96 mustang gt 4.6L. Its not running right now and i need help. Supposidly the mechanic found water where the spark plugs are at. The car has lost power and white smoke or vapor comes out the exhaust any idea what it could be? Would i have to do a rebuild or drop a new engine into it? How much would those things cost?

ticopowell

Did the mechanic mean inside the cylinders or around the outside on top of the plugs? If it is water around the coils/wires then it probably needs to be cleaned out and the coils and wires could be replaced. If it is water inside the cylinders it could be as "simple" as a leaking head gasket, but that requires pulling the heads and it would be a lot of work. Or it could be something else but that would be my first guess...

dawson1112

White smoke out of the exhaust+coolant in the cylinder = blown head gasket.

ESABATM

Sounds like a head gasket also. Have you overheated the car? If not it could be as simple as a gasket swap. But after you open up the engine you may find other issues. If you do your own work it could be done on the cheap say less that 500.

Good luck.

Camster

I assume that the intake manifold is not cracked?

uberstang1

if the coolant is in the plug wells id be looking at the intake manifold first

Camster

Rule out the intake manifold first.Cracking is a common problem(and yes,antifreeze does run through it)
If it's not that,it's probably a head gasket.However on a car that old,no doubt with some mileage,you're opening a can of worms.You can easily get into the "might as well do this too" syndrome,where you'd be better off to write off the car,and put the money into something a bit newer.Enough decent older Mustangs out there,for not much more than doing a motor exchange,especially if you're not the wrench turner.If I was doing a motor change,I doubt that I would do the labor on less than a Ford done reman.

Mustang_Don

+1 what Camster said. I would verify that the problem is not the intake manifold or manifold gasket(s) first before venturing any further. If those items check out OK, then seriously consider putting the money into something a bit newer rather than going through the expense of digging deeper into the engine. A possible exception to this would be if you have the necessary skills and tools & facilities to r&r the head gaskets yourself. If you choose the latter, be sure to insure the mating surfaces of the block and heads are perfectly flat before installing new gaskets. Replacing the gaskets won't solve the problem if a head is warped. If one of the heads is warped, you'll need to have both of them resurfaced with the same amount of material removed from both surfaces (heads). I'm basing the above on personal experience with a cast iron pushrod Chevy V8, so it may not all necessarily hold true for the 4.6 OHC modular motor with aluminum heads. Someone with a more intimate knowledge of these engines might want to chime in with more specific info.

WJL

Perfect time to do a PI swap