Smoke from tailpipe

Water coolant in combustion chamber , faulty gasket or cracked head , loss of coolant.

There are many reasons for black smoke. This color indicates incomplete combustion of the diesel fuel. Possible injector or injector timing problem would be the first thing to look at. Other causes can be a defective turbo... air restriction... engine running too cold... internal issues to name a few

Hi Michael, I'm glad to help! When a vehicle starts to smoke, and I'm assuming you talking from the tailpipe. Its alway because there are worn parts, these parts could be anything from: Valve seals, Rings, PCV could be stop up, also on older model like yours, provided it has an auto-trans could be the modulator. This is a round cylinder looking object with a vacuum hose running to it which is attached to the side of the transmission. When it goes bad it will allow trans fluid to slip through it and it runs into the Intake Manifold and smokes out the tailpipe. As you see there are a lot of things that can cause an engine to smoke. You can check the rings by doing a "Cylinder Leak Down Test". The modulator, check it by simply unhooking the vacuum hose and if fluid runs out of the hose then replace the vacuum modulator NOTE: Provided it has a modulator. If both of these are OK, I suggest replacing the valve seals. Hope this helps and have an awesome day Michael.

White smoke is coolant being burnt in the cylinder,
most likely from a failed head gasket

I would think a 1989 is too old to fix
Cost more than the car is worth

Any oil useage between oil changes every
say 3000 to 4500 miles is too much,engine is
worn

You may notice when fired up blue smoke that fades when warm, oilrings worn..

it can ,the pcv is not expensive to replace ,but if doing it on a reman i would pull the plugs and check them for fouling if all have fouling or oil residue than could by sucking in some oil from pcv but if one or two or even one side could possible be a bad rebuild --gasket leak ,head problem ,or bad components

60,000 miles or so depending on the engine but if its blue smoke which it means its oil burning its sounds like valve guide seals.

It sounds normal white smoke comes from moisture in the air as it's burned and the air temprature is different. it creates steam they gray smoke is a little harder to decide what it is, normally gray smoke is related to oil burning and black is over fuel, depending on how many miles it has on it it could have bad valve guide seals but would not worry about it.

I don't drive a Ford but I drive an International and white smoke on start up means the engine is too cold to properly burn the fuel. Your black oil or soot is unburnt fuel. You should look at your engine's preheat system for a malfunction.

What color smoke out of the tailpipe ? Black - running rich , too much fuel or not enough air . Blue smoke - burning oil , piston rings valve seales , white smoke could be two different thing's - coolant in the cylinders or fuel going stright through the cylinder out the tailpipe . No combustion .
Check engine light on ? Have you replaced plugs an plug wires ,air filter , any engine sensors - TPS - MAP - MAF etc.... How many miles on the vehicle ? 1988 model - engine worn out ?