Just as the title says, I did a coolant flush on my ranger today with the help of my coworkers. It was driving totally fine and has not had an issue till about 20 minutes ago. It has multiple issues and needs things fixed but I am trying to figure out exactly what is going on currently. Just as I pulled up to my house I had an issue where my ranger was starting to stutter as if it was about to die, then started blowing out a ton of white smoke behind my truck and there was a very VERY distinct burning smell, it honestly smelled like the engine was on fire. I pulled into a parking spot, let it run for a minute or two, the burning smell kind of lingered but definitely was still there. So I stopped the engine, raised the hood to check for any leaks coming from the coolant or the oil cap, but I couldn't find anything. Anyone have any ideas?

 

Welcome to the forum

Year of the Ranger?
I assume a V6 engine

The white smoke is not a good sign, and the burning smell means engine may have over heated, what did temp gauge show?

Flushed the engine?
So you drained all the old coolant
Refilled with water and Flush chemicals
Turned heater to HOT
Started engine and got it up to operating temp, temp gauge just below 1/2
Then waited for it to cool down and drain water and chemicals out
Filled with water
Started engine ran for 1 or 2 minutes
Then drained it again
Refilled with fresh 50/50 coolant mix
Turned heater to HOT
Started engine with rad cap off and topped it up as it warmed up


White smoke from exhaust is water vapor, when you burn gasoline with air it makes some water, which is why exhaust systems rust from the inside out, totally normal, in cold weather you can see the water vapor condense in the cold air as it exits the tail pipe.
And if water gets into the exhaust system from a hole then when exhaust gets hot it will vaporize all at once, making a big white smoke show.

But a blown head gasket will as well, coolant is sucked into a cylinder and is vaporized, causing misfire and while smoke, but it continues not a one time thing, it will lessen but remain.

Cold engine
Rad cap off
Coolant topped up
Start engine
Watch for overflow at rad cap opening, not good
Watch for bubbles

 

The ranger is a 99 v6 3.0 4x4

I did follow all the steps for the flush that you listed. It has been a while since you replied so my bad there, I have been checking on my truck, haven't driven it since it was smoking. After a bit of goofing off with it, I found out that it is not smoking from the exhaust pipe, but from under the truck itself, it happens after about a minute of the truck starting up. I checked the oil because I'm about 900 away from an oil change and I've been keeping an eye on it. Since this issue has happened the oil has gone from a dark brown slightly transparent oil to a mud-like consistency that doesn't flow hardly at all.

To answer the temp gauge question, since I did the coolant flush it was fine, but in the past the temp gauge has had a lot of spikes.
From this point I'm worried something might have cracked like the heatercore or the engine block or SOMETHING.

At this point I am worried to drive it for fear of it breaking down with me having no way of getting home and being ENTIRELY out of a truck.

 

You need to Rent/get a Cooling system pressure tester
Not expensive
It will have a Rad cap that fits your rad and a fitting to install a hand pump and a gauge on that cap.

With engine cold, and coolant full
You install the cap and pump up the pressure so gauge reads 20psi
Then watch the gauge, if it is dropping then you have a leak
Much much easier to find a leak on a COLD engine, lol
Start looking and feeling around.

If you think you might have a head or block issue
Disconnect the coil pack's wire connector, so no spark
Have at least 10-20psi showing on the gauge
Have someone crank the engine over while you watch the gauge
If gauge start to pulse up and down then you do have a crack or leaking in a cylinder
If gauge just stays steady(or drops because of other leak) then all is well with head and block

 

Ok, I will go ahead and give this a shot! I really appreciate the help on this, hopefully all is well and its just the oil!

 

Coolant in the oil will do two things
Raise the oil level on the dipstick
Change oils appearance to Chocolate milkshake color