Sweet smoke - 1997 Ford Crown Victoria

old post
smoke or steam.?
smoke lingers long, steam goes away fast
steam smells like antifreeze, sweet and nasty
smoke smells like, well, oil burning,

take eng. dip stick drip one drop of oil on a hot manifold
smell smoke, now.

White SWEET smelling smoke, or white OILY smelling smoke? If it's white thick SWEET smelling smoke, you have a blown head gasket - that's the smell of antifreeze burning in the engine, which it should NEVER do. If it's white OILY smelling smoke (smells a lot like diesel), then you're getting too much fuel into the cylinders.

If it's sweet-smelling smoke (antifreeze), pull the oil dipstick & check the oil level. If the oil level is HIGH and the oil looks like a mocha milkshake, that's absolutely conclusive - that's what happens when antifreeze gets into your oil, and it's nasty corrosive to engine parts.

I'm not at all surprised that the oil light is on if it won't start - you won't get much oil pressure until the engine is running.

Sounds like you have a blown head gasket and coolant is getting into one of the cylinders.

the smoke is probably coolant steam and the sweet smell is the unique aroma of engine coolant (anti-freeze). check the carpets, they may be wet with coolant. most likely a heater core failure.

if it was your EGR valve there would be a code. does the white smoke has a sweet smell. that is a head gasket problem. if it does not smell sweet try a tune up

White smoke sweet smell. Sounds like Antifreeze evaporating..check your radiator and hoses, as well as your heater core. It is hard to fully answer a question without a hands on inspection, kind of like me asking you over the phone if you like my new tie I am wearing..

Bernie, keep a check on your antifreeze level in you radiator, if the white smoke smells sweet its probrably antifreeze meaning you have a hole in your head gasket. or maybe a cracked head, Sometimes if a pressure check has been done on your radiator it will put too much pressure on a worn head gasket and create a pin hole. Usually this smoke will occur at first start up or after the car has sit for a while after running allowing antifreeze to leak into a cylinder and upon cranking the engine you will have the liquid burn off creating a white sweet smoke. As the gasket gets worse the smoke will get worse until it smokes all the time. Hope this helps. Also if the vehicle has ran hot lately it can cause a head gasket to blow. Keep me informed if I can help.

have you got heat in the car,what im saying is when you turn on the heater inside the car what happens?im not getting your drift,but get the thermostat checked out sounds like its not letting the coolant flow.adrian,,,,

White smoke is a sign of coolant being burned in the exhaust.

if its a sweet smell, and white smoke, antifreeze, acrid smell, wiring. oily smell, gray smoke, oil, rich pungent smell, black smoke, fuel. hope this helps!!!