At first we thought it was just leaking coolant from the reservoir/expansion tank cap area because coolant was getting everywhere around it, but after looking further into it we started noticing more problems. There’s white smoke coming from the exhaust/tailpipes, it’s leaking coolant somewhere in the system, it seems like it could be overheating, and the reservoir/expansion tank itself looks old and possibly cracked. We’re already planning on replacing the radiator too.

We’re worried it could be something serious like a head gasket issue, but honestly we don’t know enough about these cars yet to tell for sure, and the white smoke is what’s freaking us out the most. We’re mainly trying to figure out what we should check first, if this sounds like a head gasket problem or maybe something simpler, what parts need replaced immediately, if it’s even safe to drive while diagnosing it, and if there are any common issues on 1997 Thunderbird V8s we should know about.