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[ford_doctor]

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just1more, I think you may have thought I was referring to the EGR valve instead of the EGR cooler. The cooler carries antifreeze and exhaust. When they fail, they dump antifreeze into the exhaust stream and you see it as a billowing white smoke.

I understand ignorance, I deal with it everyday - both in my customers and in myself. But I think you need to learn that when someone a bit more knowledgeable than yourself makes a suggestion, don't automatically shut them down. Learn the system for yourself before you judge what the problem likely is or isn't.

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I'll second that. Layered steel head gaskets do not "blow" the way composite gaskets do. Coolant really cannot leak into the cylinders because the cooling system does not have enough pressure to do so.
There is still enough pressure on the gasket to form a seal. When the head gaskets fail to seal effectively, they leak combustion into the cooling system and force coolant out of the de-gas bottle. You may have steam coming from under the hood but no billowing smoke.

It is more likely that your EGR cooler had failed as GregH has suggested. That WILL leak during operation and while shut down. A leaking EGR cooler will leak into the intake manifold while running and into the the exhaust when shut down. When this happens, coolant fills the right exhaust manifold and can sometimes cause an engine to hydro lock. Coolant in the exhaust WILL cause a lot of billowing steam that LOOKS like smoke, the way that only antifreeze can.