I was driving today going around 55-60 mph up an overpass, I suddenly began to here a loud rattle coming from the engine every time I would press on the gas, but it would cease if I let off of it. I immediately knew this wasn't normal as the truck began really struggling to turn off, I finally was able to pull over and when I came to a stop and the truck was at idle it just died and white smoke was coming from the hood. I lifted the hood and it appeared to be some kind of fluid at bottom of the engine compartment, I thought it was oil. I took off the oil cap and it was smoking inside. I didn't attempt to crank the truck back up and just got it towed home. When I got home I checked the dip stick and it was actually half full and no milkiness to it. Then I went to the radiator to top it off, as I'm topping it of I here something pouring out the bottom and it was the coolant leaking, not from the radiator but from somewhere under the engine compartment but I couldn't see from where. I cranked the truck again and it started up but did seem to be running rough and shut it right off. What can this be? Blown head gasket? Intake gasket? Freeze plugs? ANY IDEAS???

 

Maybe you threw a rod?

 

It definitely sounded like something was loose, would that cause coolant to leak out also?

 

Yes, if the rod went through the block.

 

After the truck was towed home and you restarted it, did it knock?

crawl under the engine while someone fills the radiator to see if you can locate the source of this leak. If a connecting rod broke loose and antifreeze/water is coming out, you will easily find this!

Maybe it's just a lower radiator hose where it connects to the water pump.

 

This EXACT thing happened to me 2 days ago. I have a had a small oil leak that I could not really pinpoint but I stayed on top of keeping oil in it and coolant. I had checked both just 2 days prior to this happening. Over the course of about a mile the knocking sound went from nothing to barely noticeable to quite loud. As the knocking noise increased my power decreased to where I could barely make it to the top of the hill (the road I was on had curbs and sidewalks on either side and I could not just stop in the road.) When I finally turned into shopping center to stop, the engine just cut out and white smoke poured out from under the hood. After waiting about 5 minutes, I opened the hood to see what happened. The coolant reservoir was bone dry. I touched the radiator cap and it was cool to the touch. I opened it and poured in some water that I had in the back. As i was pouring it in, I could hear it dumping on the ground from underneath. I looked and it was coming from the bottom of the engine itself. I also checked the oil while I was in there, and it read really low. So I had it towed home where I got up underneath to see what I could see. I found this seal (in attachments) to be pushed out which I am assuming is where the leak was from. (This is on the bottom front of the engine) Any idea what this is and how to fix it?

 

Is that your front main seal?

 

To be honest, I am not sure .... it is right here on the engine

 

That is not the front seal, that is the front of the oil pan gasket. The front seal is directly behind the harmonic balancer. My Ranger had the same problem when I bought the truck. It might leak a small bit of oil from there, but shouldn't be too big of a deal.

Leaking coolant from the front of the engine sounds like either the water pump is going bad (and it is coming out the weep holes), or the timing cover needs to be resealed. Both oil and coolant are sealed by the timing cover. When the cover is pulled off for re-gasketing, the oil pan gasket can most likely be cleaned and glued back in place with a bit of RTV. I know I was able to on mine. I'm reading that these are very common problems on this engine.