Head Gasket Question

[GRIMRUNNER]

I have a '90 4runner with 178k miles, with the notorious V6, I called the local toyota dealer and they have a record that the headgasket has been replaced back in '98. So is it common for the headgasket to go bad again? What had happened was I was driving on a road trip, and it overheated and coolant was spraying from under the hood, so i refilled the coolant after letting it cool down a bit. It started up fine, but alot of coolant went into my air intake, and white smoke was coming out the tail pipe, I checked the engine oil for water but it was ok. Later that week I checked the oil again and there was water in it. But I was wondering if the water in the oil could just be from the coolant going up the air intake and into the oil via the little hose off the main air intake hose? could anyone let me know thanks

Casey Grimley

[94 Jimmy]

If you have steam or white smoke from burned antifreeze coming out the tail pipe, you probably have a combustion chamber to water jacket leak. This is caused by a blown head gasket or worse cracked block or head.
Aluminum heads expand and contract a lot as they heat and cool the cast iron block dosen't. The effect is that there is a lot of slipage between the head and the block with the gasket in the middle. Guess what gives?
The water in the oil could be from an expanding leak including the oil passages, or with the number of miles it could be coolent getting past the rings or valve seals.
DON'T RUN IT ANYMORE, your just asking for a new engine.
It isn't the worst job in the world if your reasonably handy, take lots of pictures of where things go, get the HAYNES or other shop manual and get to it.
Better take the head in for a check, have the valves checked and ground if needed, replace the seals and use the best gasket set you can get.
Good luck, let us know what happens.
94