Looking for confirmation.....

[winstontj]

LOTS of white smoke.... random dissapearance of coolant, rough idling like not on all 4, hard starting.....

Am I correct in thinking what I'm thinking?? Oh & just the beginnings of a little mayo on the oil cap...

If it's not that bad & the oil & coolant aren't really mixing, how long do I have till it blows up & stops working? I just need to make it till Christmas.

[tkent02]

If you wait till it blows it won't be.

Might look kinda like this...

[FP2002]

Oil and collant ARE mixing. Head gasket is blown and other things will follow. Be thankful that changing a head gasket on 2002 is a simple task.

[DukeRimmer]

before disassembly???

[Mike Self]

will give you low or no compression readings from two adjacent cylinders, while a cracked head will have only one cylinder showing low compresson.

Normally a head gasket blows between two adjacent cylinders, where the gasket is the thinnest. However, I've seen several '02 heads where the water passage over an exhaust port has eroded (hot spot, localized boiling after engine shutdown) until it allows coolant into the cylinder. A good machine shop can build up the metal around the enlarged water passage by welding and then machining the surface to make it flat again. I had this done on a 121 head nearly 20years ago and the head is doing just fine. But don't put this off; it won't heal itself and just get worse.

I'm about to disassemble my engine for exactly the same reasons...

mike

[c.d.iesel]

STOP DRIVING IT TODAY

ESTIMATE ALL THE BITS YOU'LL NEED TO DO IT RIGHT

HOSES, HEAD SET, HEAD BOLTS, EXHAUST HARDWARE,MOTOR MOUNTS,

COOLING SYSTEM OVERHAUL, OIL CHANGE, VALVES & SPRINGS & GUIDES?, and a cylinder head if it's not a 'virgin'

NO X-MAS GIFTS FOR THE FRIENDS AND FAMILY THIS YEAR IF YOU WANT IT TO RUN AGAIN - SOON

H A P P Y H O L I D A Y S !