I'm having a hard time believing the tree is cracked enough to drain a whole coolant reservoir and cause the issues you have described. It would have to be all but completely broke and it looks intact to me, externally. That and I have never once heard of that. I hate to say this but I think there is still a chance this is an unrelated problem and just a coincident the problems went away. So continue to keep your eyes on things.

No misfire codes with all that spittin sputtering and white smoke?

 

Well I have put several miles on it since I by-passed the PCV heater, and hasn't lost any coolant and has run perfect.. I never did get a engine light at all. I am in the process of flushing and installing new coolant. I also think i will install a new Thermostat with 160,000 miles on the clock..

 

I had the very same issue on a 4.2L V6 and I chased a lean code for months till I found that stupid PCV heater line. And my truck would spew out white smoke every once in a while, just as if it had a blown intake gasket like the 97s were plagued with. I even had the gasket ready to do the intake but when I took the upper intake plenum off, bingo found the problem. And according to Ford it's a heat exchanger to heat the air going to the PCV, Ford doesn't use them anymore and they don't stock them either. For vehicles in cold areas they sub the PCV for an electricly heated one, and they bypass the small coolant lines.
According to my friend who is a Ford mechanic he said they were common fault and would break internally allowing the vacuum to suck coolent into the intake and they would eventually show a lean code on either side and/or both sides. On Mine I can actually blow air threw the small lines and out into the larger hose going to the PCV. It's a very small leak but big enough to make it look like a blown intake gasket.
And yes I know this is likely a dead post but it may help someone who's chasing a lean code or white smoke.