2008 ford explorer with the 4.6 3v V8. Approx 185k miles. Overheated today.. these are the the symptoms ive had leading to this.

I have a slow oil leak.. mostly off the pcv valve.. but do get occasional smoke near the back of the passenger side head.

Three days ago car started making what is best described as whoosh sound when under acceleration.. mostly above 1200rpm.. when letting off gas.. engine idles down before whoosh dissipates.. then whoosh whoshes down as well.

Upon overheating i attempted to observe usual suspects. Immediately after parking car started cooling which leads me to believe it is not thermostat.. as it wouldnt likely cool from max temps to mid range operating temps within 10 to 20 seconds.

Coolant reservoir full.. however when car was overheated water in res was cold.. so im assuming its not pushing the hot water into the overflow for some reason.

While hot i as safely as i could covered the cap with a towel and unscrewed cap. Coolant and water didnt just explode out as i expected would.. just some kinda burbled out. I checked the bottom of radiator cap and it appeared as if the spring tension was good and should be pushing up while under pressure.

Water in radiator hot.. water in res cold.. but hot water not leaving into res tank.

Appeared to heat up faster above 40 than below.. heated up faster with ac on.. so def heats up while engine under load.. cools down almost instantly when not.. even just stopping at red light.

Is it the fan clutch not engaging properly?

But that wouldnt explain the seeming lack of pressure even when water at boiling..

Possibility of head gasket leak causing hot exhaust gasses to mix with cooling system heating it up more? Causing both the heat under load.. and lack of pressurization? Please help!