Oil in Air Filter

Hi everyone. A friend of mine is having some trouble with a 88 Caravan which has around 80,000 on a replacement engine. He has been getting oil in his air filter and also the other smaller filter right beneath the air filter. He also said he's been getting some white smoke from time to time coming out of the exhaust which isn't moisture related as far as he knows. Coolant looks good also. Any ideas would be much appreciated.

Bad head gasket(s).

That's my idea.

My thought exactly with the smoke coming out. Would this also cause oil to go up into the air filter?

Yes, if the gasket has been disrupted into the combustion chamber.

Depending on how serious this actually is, the head may be cracked, to.

Get it apart and check the head. don't worry about the little cracks between the valves, this is common. Fill the chambers with water and see if the water gets to the intake, and check for flatness (mating surface) (obviously this is when the head is off the car!) If that's not the case, then it's just the head gasket.

Good time for a timing belt change, too.

Slantsixness

Thanks for the advice.

I have had a similar problem with a V-6 Bronco II. As I would drive, oil would build up in the air filter housing and drip down the rear of the engine and transmission, be blown under the truck and collect on the back glass. What a mess. The problem, as it turned out, was a cracked piston. Apparently, on the down stroke it would suck oil into the cylinder. On the up stroke, it would force it into the valve cover. This happened to be on the same side of the engine as the PCV valve and thus was sucked up into the air filter housing. I sure hope your friend's problem isn't that serious.