How to check the timing on a 1999 mercury cougar?

It just stopped running.I use it for a work car.It is a 1999 2.5 V6.The gas guage shows 1/4 tank still.I changed the fuel filter.While I had the filter off I turned on the key and gas came out but I dont know if its enough pressure to start it.It will hit and barely run if I mess with it enough but it smokes white looking smoke.It had the same problem not long after I bought it and the dealer took it back and had it less than a day and fixed it.He said it was the fuel filter the first time.Would a fuel pump being bad make the smoke white?Usually that means head gasket cracked I know but it was doing it before and they didnt change any gasket?Has any one had this problem or does any one have any advice for me?I dont want to get rid of it,I have nearly nothing in it so I can afford to fix it.I'd just like to try to fix it myself before I take it to a garage. Thanks.How to check the timing on a 1999 mercury cougar?if the exhuast is pouring out white smoke in large amounts you got a cracked cyl head or head gasket issues, Youre looking between $1500 to $2000 for a fix. If its the head gasket job or cracked cyl head.How to check the timing on a 1999 mercury cougar?The 4 cylinder Cougars had a timing belt. If your 6 cylinder has a timing belt (rather than a timing chain), then it could have slipped or broken especially if you have over 100,000 miles on the engine. If you do have a timing belt, your engine is probably not an %26quot;interference%26quot; type, so you could remove a spark plug and check the cylinder compression using a compression gauge to see if there's little or no compression due to the timing being way off. If the engine seems to crank faster than normal with a full battery charge, that's a sign that the timing belt broke or slipped because the engine is easy to turn over when the cylinder compression is down.