Water in crankcase

Okay I need some help here. I posted this on the Isuzu forum but unless this is particular to this engine, this may be just a general question. I have a 98 Honda 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 sometimes it would be just fine. The other day, my wife took it out on a short trip and drove 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!

i would still say that the headgasket is leaking. If not, it could be a whole number of things. IDK to tell you the truth.

I would guess that it's the headgasket, especially since the engine has been allowed to overheat multiple times. The reason that this isn't showing up with the compression test is that the compression test will only tell you if the gasket is blown between the waterjacket and the cylinder. Your headgasket is likely blown between the waterjacket and an oil passageway. when you replace the gasket make sure to have the head and block checked to make sure no warping has occured, otherwise the new head gasket will be quickly ruined. Good luck!!!

Where in the world are you?

If its a passport then Im guessing either the UK, Russia, NZ, or Japan.

If your luckey enough to be here in NZ then I would be inclined to get hold of Strongs and find about the cost of a another used engine.
It might be cheaper than fixing the one you have.


I would guess that either the head is cracked, or badly warped, and its allowed the gasket to fail between an oil passage and the water jacket.

You would need to pull both heads off and get them crack tested. If they are warped then they will need replacing, or planing, which could also get expensive.


And don't forget thats its been driven, with oil in the water, while it was over heating.
I would hate to think what other damage might have also been done.
Theres a chance you might fix the heads, and find a main bearing goes, or a piston fails at a latter date.

[QUOTE=Moppie]Where in the world are you?

If its a passport then Im guessing either the UK, Russia, NZ, or Japan.

If your luckey enough to be here in NZ then I would be inclined to get hold of Strongs and find about the cost of a another used engine.
It might be cheaper than fixing the one you have.
QUOTE]

I am in the US, the Isuzu Rodeo is also sold here as a Honda Passport. I am pretty convinced it is either a gasket problem or a crack issue....I wish there was a way to confirm this before pulling those double overhead cam heads!

I am in the US, the Isuzu Rodeo is also sold here as a Honda Passport.


Now thats something new. Its also sold in Japan as the Honda Passport, and is a common used import in the countries I listed, hence my guess at your location.


You could try a leak down test on the cylinders, its possible there is hole in the gasket small enough to blow out a passage between the oil and water, but its not big enough to show up on a compresion test.
Then you would only have to pull of one head.

However, if its been driven for any length of time while it was over heating, with oil in the water then you never know what other damage has been done.