My 89 2.9 has gotten water in the oil. One year ago I pulled this engine to replace the crank shaft (defective Ford design 1/2 thust bearing created a nasty grove in the crank allowing it to slide back and forth1/4 inch), new bearings, oil pump, timming chain, all seals and gaskets (not head gasket). The engine had great compression so I didn't do any thing more. Now I have a leak. No oil in water. NO compression leaking off into the water jacket. No "steam" coming from the exhaust. I've replace the intake manifold gasket. It showed signs of water leaking through the gasket, actually bubbles of water trapped inside, so I hoped this was it, but I still have water in the oil. I have now removed the intake and driver side head (head gasket shows now sign of leaking). No signs of water in cylinders. Is it possible to have a warped intake manifold? I have removed it twice, and I was told that some V6's need to be slowly removed VIA de-torque the bolts. I didn't do it the first two times I removed it, today I did. I plan to remove the passenger side head tommorrow. I will take the intake down and have it tested for warping. I have read many stories on this web site of the heads getting cracks, but they all seem to be in or near the valves, I assume that allows water to be burned off as a steam engine OR compression being pumped back into the water jacket.
Is there any other source of the leak that I'm missing? Is it possibly my intake? OR should I go ahead and repace the heads?
Well wait one minute before you replace the heads. I would suggest pulling them and carefully looking over them, might even have a metal shop do it, to find any problems. Check that intake and see if it is warped. Replacing them would be a mighty expensive way to throw parts at it.
I'm stumped! I can't seem to be able to post them, I could email them to you, and maybe you can post them. I have a total of 4 pics, two are the heads (1) dirty and (1)wiped at the crack. The other two I have are marked (1) dirty and (1)wiped where the cracks are, very obvious.
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Is it possibly my intake? OR should I go ahead and repace the heads?
