Hello all. My names John and I have always been a ford owner. I have a 2001 Ford Taurus 3.0L has had its fair share of issues in the past but this one is one that I nor my father have dealt with before. I started it this morning to get it warm before I left for work and after about 10 minutes of letting it run I came back outside and as I stepped foot on the driveway it started smoking out the exhaust like crazy. I immediately turned it off then went under the hood to check my fluids, lines ect. Everything was well yet my antifreeze reservoir was whistling. Also might I add that the temperature gauge was almost at the red line. My oil was within the lines and had no visible signs of water being mixed. There was no leaks, anywhere that I could see. I chose to not disect it any further until my father came home. It sat and cooled down for roughly 8 hours. I returned from work to find nothing dripping nor any signs of puddles or leaks under the car. As of this moment the car will no longer start. The car will turn over but not catch. Can anyone give me a sense of an idea of what we are looking at or and educated guess at what could be the issue

 

Sometimes we get answers by asking questions. Any other ideas welcome !!
Did you check the coolant level in both, the radiator and the recovery bottle?
We are probably chasing down two things, the first is why did it overheat , (stuck thermostat ?) (failure of fans to come on),(low coolant level) and the other is what could have prevented the engine from starting. The usual checks for fuel and spark need to be done in order to eliminate some possible causes.
Was any work recently done to the engine?

 

Yes hanky I have gotten in a routine of checking all my fluids every sunday night and everything had seemed to be normal. The only thing that has peen replaced in the recent past under the hood has been spark plugs, and that was at 90k and I am currently at 99530. Also might I add that was in early December. i am under the impression that the car overheated due to th fans not coming on, because I have replaced a radiator fan in the past when I first got the car.