Hi Guys,

This is my first post on Fordmods I'm looking at buying an EF falcon, done 185,000 k's and it is manual for $6000...

I took it for a test drive and the exhaust smelt really sweet, and when I put my hand near the exhaust it came away quite moist it isn't blowing any steam or white smoke at all, so is this normal for a falcon? i.e a cat thats working well?? or is it a sign of the headgasket is starting to go? Theres no oil in the water and no water in the oil. The surge tank looks like its got an oil/water mix on the top of it, so maybe the headgasket has already been done?

Apart from that the car drive's beautifully can't believe how well these things go!

Last edited by tassieti on Thu Jun 23, 2005 5:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.

welocme to the forums mate, i dont think that the steam coming out of the exhaust is anything to worry about it may be worth having a mechanic have a look at it and get some advice, in tassie 6 grand for a manual is well worth it (cars abit more expesive down here more class hehe)

head gaskets not the end of the world they go regulary so if it was blown and you got the car for 600-700 hundred dollars less might be a good deal still

hehe i just read through my first post again and noticed a couple of mistakes. I meant to say its not blowing smoke or steam, but the exhaust is quite moist. I've offered the yard $2000 plus my Volvo and I'll see if they jump at that. If not, I'll just have to keep looking I spose

the usual indicator for a blown head gasket is checking the oil to see if it is milky, if its milky, the heads gone.

But yeah, if the head blows, while its off, port it poilish it, custom cam... look at it as an opportunity!

I think you will also find that 95% of the surge tanks are brown on any e-series falcon .. even ones that have not done heads before.

If you had just started the car up cold, the moisture could be just water vapour from the air in a cold exhaust system.

Also check the block form underneath to see if you have any coolant seepage from between the Head and the Block very common problem not major but can be fixed easily enough. Also check if it goes in to gear no problems with hunting etc. List goes on PM me if you want any info