Possible leaking heads.
 

Whats going on guys. So I have an 06 Pacifica touring 3.5l. Yesterday started it up and clouds of white smoke were coming out the exhaust. My first thought is my heads are leaking. Ordered a seal kit and im bringing it into our shop at Jag/Rover so I can tear into it. Just wanted to know if its common and should I look for something specifically. Also, my lead mechanic said he remembers hearing about issues with the intake causing the same symptons. Have any of yall heard or seen it before? Just looking for a little info before I crack it open.

Oh and my coolant is low so I know its leaking somewhere.

That was for a whistling sound caused by a vacuum leak in the intake.
Although, if the leak is where a coolant port passes from the head, into the intake, it would be possible.

Yeah, you likely have a bad head gasket, or damaged head.
Has the vehicle been over heated recently?
Modern vehicles can be easily damaged by over heating them even just one time. Usually it damages (warps or cracks) the head, and or takes out the head gasket.

Check your oil for signs of coolant getting into the crankcase.

It hasnt overheated yet. I checked the oil. Its not milky. Looks like im going to have a fun weekend. Hopefully its just the seals worn out.

If it is possible to do it while in the car,I suggest putting thread inserts in the block for the head bolts.

Extremely rare for 3.5 head gaskets to leak. I would not $pend the time or money to replace. Lower intake manifold gaskets tend to have issues. Chrysler redesigned the gasket, use OEM only as aftermarket did not keep up with the changes.

Yeah. My lead was talking about the intake. Said he heard they had some issues. Just ordere some new oem seals. Will try that first.

I have a 2005 Pac w/ same 3.5, bought it new off the dealer's showroom floor, now have 305k miles on the clock.
Have been thru several issues w/ failed water pumps, leaky radiators, corroded lower radiator inlet on engine and even have dealt with leakage thru the side of the aluminum block caused by corrosion/poor casting at factory. Engine even ran so low on coolant in the winter that the heater ceased to heat on my 120 mile round-trip work commute. Opened the hood to see what was wrong with heater and found coolant super low. So I personally have no issues w/ the heads or their gaskets.

FIXED the coolant leak thru side of block by using Blue Devil sealer, amazing stuff!

Will say this, per my experience the Engine Temp Gauge is totally useless. Gauge needle position is almost certainly totally controlled by the Engine Control Module (like most modern vehicles), suspect whoever programmed it was given instructions to NEVER allow needle to go past mid-point. Never has gauge indicated an overheating condition under any circumstance, it only says ""All is Fine" under the hood, keep driving".

Best of luck in getting your Pac back on the road, they are truly amazing vehicles!!

While the lower intake is off, change the heater pipe o'ring. Pipe is bolted to the bottom of the LIM.

Sorry for the late reply. . Brought it in the shop last week and replaced both the upper and lower manifold gaskets. Problem went away. Wasnt bad either. Took about an hr to do including replacing the spark plugs too. Thamks for the input guys.