Hey I'm new here, I am getting a 2002 ford ranger 3.0 that been passed down the family, but I been told that it has issues. One of the issues is that it blows white smoke from the tail pipe, with could would me that I need to change the head gaskets. I have also been told that that it was taken into a mechanic and they put cold water in the radiator, since then its been leaking. The mechanic says that the block is cracked. Is there anything I can look at to verify the mechanic diagnosis, I would like to salvage as much as I can and get this truck running. Any information would be appreciated.

 

Welcome to the forum

Not much to go on
Yes, the white smoke(steam) on start up would indicate water/coolant getting into the exhaust system, which would usually mean a cylinder or gasket leak, i.e. cracked head or bad head gasket
But just on start up may be normal, if white smoke continues after first 60 seconds or so, that would indicate a problem

A crack block is very very uncommon on a 3.0l Vulcan, so would need to know more about how a mechanic diagnosed that
And if block was cracked there would be coolant/water IN the oil pan, check dipstick, oil will look like chocolate milkshake
This can happen from blown head gasket but rare now-a-days

Cracked head is also uncommon but can happen if engine was ever overheated for too long, that also causes head gasket failure, and hard to tell the difference
Cracked head can't let water get into the oil

Cold water in a hot radiator wouldn't hurt anything, that's an old "mechanics" tale, you can sometimes crack HOT metal parts by cold shock, but radiators are too thin and often not metal

Take radiator cap off, top up radiator with water
Start cold engine
There will be a surge of water out the cap opening in startup, if water continues to flow OUT of rad cap opening then you do have a cylinder leak, air from a cylinder is being pumped into cooling system displacing the water/cooling so it flow out rad cap opening