Water going into the crankcase

Okay I need some help here. I have a 98 Passport with the 3.2 V6. It has 89,000 miles on it has has not given us any trouble except for a intake gasket leak last year. That affected the idle and was fixed by the dealer. The truck recently overheated and would intermittantly over heat so it seemed to indicate the thermostat was sticking as sometime it would be just fine. The other day, my wife took it out on a short trip and drive it home with the temp gauge on H (yes, I know but she said she had to get home!). Anyway, I checked the radiator and it was pretty low so I added coolant and water but it would not fill up completely and was not leaking. Fearing the worse, I checked the dipstick and sure enough the oil level was high and the oil cap was milky. The water is definitely going into the crankcase somewhere. I just did a compression check and there is between 190 and 185 pounds of compression on all cylinders. So the head gaskets seem to be okay.


So..... does anyone have any idea where the water is getting into the crankcase? I drained the oil and the gallon of antifreeze and water that was in the crankcase and replaced the oil and will do an oil flush once I get the water issue fixed. Could the water pump or the intake gasket be bad? I guess it could be a cracked head or block, but how do confirm this? I would think a compression check would show a cracked head if that was the problem.

Any help or ideas is greatly appreciated!

Is there loads of steam coming out of your tailpipe?

Is there loads of steam coming out of your tailpipe?
After my wife brought it home, I checked the radiator and added a gallon of water/antifreeze. It did not top off and when I checked the oil, the level was way up the stick. Unfortunately it was running in the driveway when I was adding the water so the water and oil mixed. We pushed it into the garage and I drained it this weekend. I ran it for a few minutes after I replaced the oil with new but without water in the radiator and there was some steam in the exhaust but the plugs are dry. I don't want to add water to it until I know if the problem is the head gasket or the intake or water pump, etc...

After my wife brought it home, I checked the radiator and added a gallon of water/antifreeze. It did not top off and when I checked the oil, the level was way up the stick. Unfortunately it was running in the driveway when I was adding the water so the water and oil mixed. We pushed it into the garage and I drained it this weekend. I ran it for a few minutes after I replaced the oil with new but without water in the radiator and there was some steam in the exhaust but the plugs are dry. I don't want to add water to it until I know if the problem is the head gasket or the intake or water pump, etc...


If it's mixing in with the oil, it's more then likely your head gasket. Don't know if I'm reading this right, but did you say you ran it after the oil change but without ANY antifreeze in the radiator?

If so, you probably toasted the engine, as these are all aluminum engines and they can't handle extreme heat - not only that, but when you overheat the engine, you are also overheating the transmission if it's an automatic. These 4L30-E transmissions are VERY susceptable to heat and they will fry quickly.

No sure about an intake gasket failure; but a water pump failure is a possibility as the initial problem, thus leading to the end result. However, a water pump failure alone would not cause oil to mix with the water - but it could lead to a gasket failure.

I personally would decide whether or not I personally want to dig into it, or take it to a mechanic. It sounds to me like a head gasket failure, whether or not it was the water pump that started it, though these generally do not go bad before 100K miles, it is possible.

Before deciding whether or not to fix the engine problem, you may also want to drop the pan on the transmission (if it's auto) and see if there's damage done down there as well.

Man, I feel for you - that's one thing I've always had a fear for, was overheating a vehicle.

Keep us posted - i.e. I would NOT continue to start that truck til it's fixed, personally, as you have no way to keep that tranny cool. That's an expensive tranny to fix.

Thanks for the advice. For the record, it was not driven without antifreeze, just idled for a minute or two to see if it was missing on one cylinder. Since the compression is fine and the water pump is not leaking, my next step will be to use one of the block sealants that supposedly works on head gaskets and see if this seals it up. If this works, then we can either fix it properly if we want to keep it or just trade it in on a newer truck..... Anybody tried this product?

http://www.crcindustries.com/crcweb/Default.aspx?tabid=34