Is this the proverbial "other" shoe?

Got a call from my wife a couple of hours ago - while turning onto our street, she noticed fuel smell and tons of blue smoke out back. She got home and parked the truck in the garage - about 1/2 mile from the intersection. Blue smoke was coming out the tailpipe even after the engine was shut off. And CEL light came on.

I just got home and went to start the truck to take it to AZ to read the codes, but all I get is a fuel smell and no action from the engine - starter cranks, but the engine does not turn over. I tried a different key - same result. I've already been stranded with a dead battery and this aint' it either. And I already had fuel pump/filter repalced. There is nothing visible neither under the car nor under the hood. Oil looks fine.

Any ideas?

Harmonic balancer? I had that inspected but never replaced. And there was a bit of a rattling sound prior to smoke.

I think you mean the engine turns over, but will not fire.

Have you checked your fuel lines to make sure there are no leaks? Smelling gas from the engine more than likely means you're not getting any fire, Check Coils, Ignition Modules/Relays.

Check all your fuses.

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91 350SD
14 F150 Eco
19 Fusion Hybrid
11 GT500

Blue Smoke = oil burning

I do not understand what you mean by "starter is cranking but engine is not" as that is not possible unless your broke the crank or flywheel (or the starter is not engaged, but based on the smoke, that is not the problem). I feel that your problem is VERY bad (holed a piston, broke the cam timing mechanism, dropped a valve, snapped a rod)? I know these all sound very serious, but your symptoms sound odd, as if the engine is burning oil while passing raw fuel through the motor (hence the smell). Unless you want to start pulling spark plugs out, it needs to go on the flatbed to a shop that can start tearing down the motor.

I meant exactly what I said - starter turns over (it must have a clutch mechanism (?)) but the motor, ie crankshaft, does not. When I let the truck sit for a while and then try to start - for a split second I get a gut-wrenching grind coming from the left side of the engine and then the starter starts to crank - but not the motor. I am not starting it again...

I don't think it's electrical. If the starter had died under way, that would not explain blue smoke...

If engine indeed siezed up, then "dry" cranking would indeed just pump fuel and I'd smell it - so it does make sense, don't you think?

As far as smoke, etc - the whole thing happened about 1/2 mile from home and while under way - so it is possible that even if one (or more) cylinder gave up the ghost, the momentum of the rest kept the truck going until it came to rest in the garage.

I'm not a stranger to pulling spark plugs - replaced them about 8k mi ago at 100K. Besides, it is nowhere near as hard as replacing the driver's side cat (just did it last week!) What would pulling spark plugs tell me?

When you pull the plugs (one per cylinder is fine) you are looking for metal crammed into the electrode (you can figure out what that means) or oil buildup on the plugs (again, it ain't a good sign).

I doubt the starter locked up and caused the blue smoke while the car was going, however, it could be possible that the teeth are ground off the flywheel/starter, and that is why the starter spins with no engine turnover. But, even if you set the whole damn starter on fire, you would not get a plume of thick blue smoke out the back, and certianly not out of the tailpipe. But, bad teeth on a flywheel/starter gear do make the noise you describe. However, the fuel smell is still puzzling.

If you just replaced that cats (or cat) the problem may be serious engine meltdown on that side, caused by some sort of improper sensor reading in the Cat making the engine go very lean, and causing a meltdown (i.e., the O2 sensor told the engine the mixture was too rich when it ws not). If you do pull plugs, and the color is super light (or you see chunks of metal in there) that is what happened.

Let's hope it is just starter/flywheel related.

Got it. Will check.
CEL came on after the blue smoke made its appearance. Wouldn't the computer catch the lean condition way before it happened via other sensors in the car? Also, wouldn't lean condition have to persist for quite a spell to cause a meltdown, and wouldn't there very audible pinging, and wouldn't temp go sky high as well before that happened?

Alas, that would be wishful thinking...

The verdict: #4 Fuel injector experienced a mechanical failure - got stuck in the open position, flooding the cylinder with fuel and causing it to "hydrolock", bending connecting rod and scoring the cylinder wall.

Bottom line - need a new shortblock and injectors... $10,000 repair. Anybody else have had any issues with fuel injectors?

If this had happened at a 300,000mi mark, heck - even 200,000, I would not bat an eye, but the truck has only 108,000mi - 8,000mi past extended waranty I had purchased from MB. Apparently, with an MB, you dont' necessarily get what you pay for. I'm a sucker for cutesy adds, I guess.

I am waiting to meet with MB regional rep to discuss my options and see if MB will stand by the reputation they espouse in the media. The most ironic twist - my wife, who is (was) the one driving the ML daily, would get another one in a heartbeat...