Okay everyone. Good news the exhaust leak that I thought I had was the power steering pump leaking which was causing fluid on the exhaust making the smoke right at the connection where the cat converter went to the exhaust. So there is now leak. It was just fluid burning off like someone here mentioned could have occurred. After the engine really warmed up and I let the smoke go it went away after awhile.
I will be installing a new power steering pump and also using a vacuum pump to remove any air that might be trapped in the system.
But I am still getting white smoke coming out of the exhaust pipe/ I originally thought this was from putting the new head gasket on and perhaps it was leaking from there but so far I haven’t noticed any coolant loss. I think I will let it go for awhile and make sure there is no coolant loss before testing this further but…
What else could be the cause. I have read it could be something wrong with the air/fuel mixture. I also read here on the forum somewhere and I think TESTER suggested it could be the fuel pressure regulator which I think on the 2004 Ford Taurus is on the fuel pump which could be hard to check into.
But as time goes on I guess the coolant could go down and then prove to be a coolant leak but it doesn’t smell sweat it smells like exhaust smoke. And no coolant loss so far…Is there anything else this could be?
And lastly could the air fuel mixture be something related to the mysterious tick/tock noise coming from the engine when shut off which sounds like it is coming from the valve cover area?