Intake Manifold Revenge Round II

Still sounds like an intake leak. White smoke usually = water vapor and/or coolant blowing out your exhaust. If you can't even get it to hold idle, then you likely have a HUGE vacuum leak. Apparently, the gasket didn't get seated right somehow, or something like a wire loom or something got pinched between the intake manifold and its gasket/mating surface, thus creating a gap for air/coolant to suck in.

Sorry, you might need to tear it down and re-do it yet again to fix it...

if you have SD, them try checking your MAP sensor for any leaks or mismatched vacuum lines. happened to me.

I had the same problem turned out I some plug wires in the wrong place and a pinched vaccume line.

If your intake was sucking coolant, you wouldn't see any spilling onto the ground - that's what the white smoke would be coming from the exhaust.

Black smoke usually means it's running pig-rich. Blue smoke usually means it's burning oil. And yellow, red, or green smoke usually means someone put a smoke bomb or something like that in your tailpipes.

Still sounds like a vacuum issue - I agree, check the MAP sensor vacuum line connection(s) and perhaps the sensor, itself - but it could also be possible that you've got the dizzy stapped in there 180* out. You may want to put Cylinder #1 at TDC and make sure the dizzy rotor's pointing to that plug wire tower on the cap to verify that it didn't get installed backwards.

EDIT: You might wanna see about having this moved to 5.0 Tech where you might get more feedback on it.

DO NOT touch the idle screw! Idle on EFI motors should be left to being controlled by the IAC valve and ECM - it comes from the factory with a cap over it for a reason. Tampering with the idle screw to try to compensate for something else being wrong will just make your troubles even more difficult to resolve by adding yet another variable to the problem. Only time you should feel a need to fiddle with that is if you have a hardcore aftermarket cam and need to raise the idle to keep your vacuum at an acceptable level.

As far as coolant and oil mixing, you're likely confusing symptoms of a head gasket with an intake gasket. Coolant does pass through the intake manifold, as well as air, but not oil; cylinder heads have both oil AND coolant passages, thus when a head gasket blows, it can get oil in the water, or water in the oil, and/or coolant in the combustion chamber.

If you have an intake manifold leak, it's possible to have a leak where you could be sucking air (thus a vacuum leak) and/or sucking coolant into the intake and then on down into the heads and combustion chambers. Also, it's possible to have a manifold leak where it's dribbling onto the valley of the motor (under the intake, on top of the block), and it could just be evaporating before having a chance to drool on the ground. But if it was leaking badly enough to cause the problems you've described, there would probably be enough coolant coming out that you'd be seeing it dripping down somewhere.

Another possibility would be a cracked intake manifold. If something got tightened down a bit too hard and/or in the wrong sequence, you might have a crack somewhere sucking air and/or coolant. Most likely it's just sucking air, if it's not blowing white smoke now and you're sure that it's not losing coolant.

Again, before you go that far, though, check and double-check all of your vacuum lines and connections. Rubber vacuum hose is cheap - replace anything that isn't new and/or looks even remotely suspect. Then, if you really don't want to tear off the intake again and/or don't see any signs of cracking (I don't blame ya', it's a PITA), then maybe consider swapping out the MAP sensor - see if someone's got one you could borrow for testing purposes, or if you can afford one, buy a new one and (if it doesn't fix it) just keep the old one on hand as a backup spare.

make sure your FPR is running ok. basically check any electronics that might go bad.

Makdaddymac said:

darkwriter, im sorry not the the cap thing just the little screw that messes with the thorrtle mechanism,the actual thing that move the tb plate( conencted to the cable)
also my map didnt have a vaccum at all it was not hooked up(i forgot about it)
and im only getting black smoke at wot........and it will idle good now......

Click to expand...

Ah. Yeah, not having a vacuum line hooked to the MAP sensor will do that to ya'.

Again, DO NOT tamper with the idle screw. This isn't a carb'ed motor, it doesn't need adjusting. Trust me. It'll do ya' no good, mon. If you're still having idle troubles, keep hunting vacuum leaks, clean your grounds, and/or clean or replace the IAC valve.

Black smoke = running rich.

Are you running an adjustible FPR, or the stock vacuum-controlled one? If stock, check the vacuum line running to/from it. Perhaps consider replacing the FPR with an adjustable, if it's stock, along with a fuel pressure gauge - a worthwhile upgrade to have, regardless.

Meh ... sorta. I've been behind people on the road who look like they had either just blown a head gasket, or they were deliberately driving the holy piss out of their car until it physically refused to go any farther. The thick white smoke was gaggishly sweet with the smell of coolant (I think it was a Taurus), and it did kind of linger like most other forms of exhaust smoke. If you just got a quick white puff of smoke upon startup, or maybe for the first 30 seconds, it was probably either condensation in the exhaust from regular combustion, or maybe you had something in the intake tracts that got slurped through and spat out after running a little bit.

Either way, if it's not doing it now and your exhaust doesn't stink of coolant, I think you're fine.

I would do like the others said, verify no vacuum leaks!! vacuum leaks drive the 5.0 nuts. verify your timing, bring #1 up TDC put your thumb or rag over the spark plug hole to feel the pressure when she comes up on compression. check the pointer on the dizzy move it if needed to get it pinting at #1. then check you timing with a light when the car is normal operating temp..not cold.

If the car was burning the coolant in good amounts you would get a white or a light cloud at idle that would get bigger with more throttle if the leak ws big enough, also the exhaust would have a sweet smell to it. you could have had some coolant that got down into the combustion chamber and burned up at start up.

check and recheck all your wires(even spark plug wires) vacuum lines etc. on any project, it's very easy to miss one. If you have your idle out of wak you will have problems but try giving your IAC a good cleaning and by some MAF cleaner and spray the heck out of it never hurts to clean those items. best of luck.

Dump the codes and see what the computer says is wrong…Codes may be present in the computer even if the Check Engine light isn’t on.

Here's the link to dump the computer codes with only a jumper wire or paper clip and the check engine light, or test light or voltmeter. I’ve used it for years, and it works great. You watch the flashing test lamp or Check Engine Light and count the flashes.

See Troublcodes.net Trouble Codes OBD & OBD2 Trouble Codes and Technical info & Tool Store. By BAT Auto Technical





If your car is an 86-88 stang, you'll have to use the test lamp or voltmeter method. There is no functional check engine light on the 86-88's except possibly the Cali Mass Air cars.



89 through 95 cars have a working Check Engine light. Watch it instead of using a test lamp.



What to expect:
You should get a code 11 (two single flashes in succession). This says that the computer's internal workings are OK, and that the wiring to put the computer into diagnostic mode is good. No code 11 and you have some wiring problems.

Codes have different answers if the engine is running from the answers that it has when the engine isn't running. It helps a lot to know if you had the engine running when you ran the test.

Trouble codes are either 2 digit or 3 digit, there are no cars that use both 2 digit codes and 3 digit codes.

Alternate methods:
For those who are intimidated by all the wires & connections, see Actron® for what a typical hand scanner looks like. Normal retail price is about $30 or so at AutoZone or Wal-Mart.

Or for a nicer scanner see EQUUS DIGITAL FORD CODE READER (3145) – It has a 3 digit LCD display so that you don’t have to count flashes or beeps.. Cost is $30.

The radiator has nothing to do with what comes out of your tailpipes ... unless, of course, it's so plugged or undersized that the coolant boils over and you blow a head gasket and/or seize the motor.

I'm really hopin' for your sake it isn't a head gasket. I'd hate for both of us BOTH to have to go through the same PITA to solve our cars' problems...