Gas smell and smoke

Blue smoke indicates engine oil being burnt, sounds like piston ring are knackered.

If you want rotors machined some 4wd get done on vehicle (check with mechanic or brake place)

If the heater core is leaking, you would get a lot of steam that would smell "sweet". That would also leave you low on coolant, which could be a source of your overheating. If it's more of an electrical smell, you may have a blower motor or a blower motor resistor going bad, but won't cause the engine to overheat.

1997 Ford Explorer 4WD 5.0 liter V-8 VIN "P"



Hope helps (remember rated this post). TY for using Fixya.

1997 Ford F 150 4WD Pickup 4.6 liter CNG SOHC V-8 VIN "9"





1997 Ford F 150 4WD Pickup 4.2 liter V-6 VIN "2"






1997 Ford F 150 4WD Pickup 5.4 liter SOHC V-8 VIN "L"




Hope this help (remember rated and comment this).

If the smoke comming from the tail pipe is black your running rich. If thats the case the entire fuel system has to be ckecked out. Injectors could be leaking, a bad pressure regulator,stuck return line ,a coolant temp sensor could be telling the ECU that the engines cold give her more gas. I don't recommend doing fuel service unless your qualified to do so for the obvious reasons.
If the smoke coming out of the tail is grayish you have a bad head gasket. If the smoke coming out of the tail is blue you have engine oil getting into the combustion chamber. keep me posted

1997 Ford Explorer 2WD / 4WD
4.0 liter SOHC V-6 VIN "E"

Firing order 1-4-2-5-3-6
cylinder # passenger side front to back 1-2-3
Cylinder # driver side front to back 4-5-6

Coil pack # passenger to drivers side firewall 1-2-3
coil pack #passenger to drivers side radiator 5-6-4

1993 Ford Explorer 2WD & 4WD
4.0 liter SOHC V-6 VIN "X"



Hope helped with this (remember rated this help) Good luck.

Either valve stem seals are leaking or the turbo oil seal is leaking.

There is a relay that goes out on a lot of fords for the 4 w d .did you check that ?