Topic: Head Gasket or Front Cover?

[Confederate13]

My little sister got ahold of me upset and said she had a problem with her yota so I went to take a look at it. The problem is there is water in the oil and oil in the radiator and radiator over flow. It looks like a 50/50 mix. I am going to rip into it tomarrow and I think it is the head gasket because of the almost equal mix in both the oil and water and not a front cover problem which I believe would let water into the oil but would not let much oil into the water. Is there any logic in what I am thinking? 

[Confederate13 [OP]]

its a 22re sorry forgot to metion that.

[GNasty 82]

Head gasket would definitely be one of the first things I would check, especially given how easy it is to change a head gasket.  If you want to do a little more checking before ripping the head off, you can pull the spark plugs and check for water on top of the pistons.  Hopefully  there's no major damage to the valves or any thing else.  If your lucky it's just a small leak and the water/oil have been slowly mixing.  Also to note, you may want to pull the oil pan and check the crank mains/rods for any sign of rust.  I'd go ahead and pull the oil pan anyway to make sure I get all the oil/water mix out of it before I even put new oil back in it.

Anyways, good luck, and I hope it's nothing more than replace a head gasket and oil change to fix it.

[2manytoys]

With a blown head gasket you could have a rough running engine with white exhaust smoke or water dripping out of the tail pipe. Depends on how bad it is.

It puts compression into your radiator when running and can blow your coolant out. When you shut your engine off the coolant can run into the engine since cooling system has pressure when at operating temp.

Like GNasty82 said, check your bearings. It would suck to fix the top end and have failed bearings when you get ready to go again. He mentioned pulling plugs to check for water also. If it doesn't show obvious signs of water see if any plugs are real clean. They tend to get steam cleaned by the water when running. The top of the piston and combustion chamber won't have any carbon on them when you get it apart. Unless it was a sudden failure.

Usually the head will need some repair. I have seen where they needed welding, were warped and needed to be heated and pressed straight, followed by resurfacing. Some have only needed a clean up cut and some I have done needed the head replaced. I have never been lucky enough to get away with just a new head gasket.

Cover all your bases before you put it together. Good luck and let us know how it goes.

[Confederate13 [OP]]

for a quick update. when I looked into the top of the radiator I saw what I called a almost a 50/50 mix, but after draining the radiator I can see that there is only a small amount of oil in the coolant. But I am sure that there is a problem because she said she had to continually add coolant, and if you pull the dipstick it is a really light colored and has a milky look to it. it runs smooth, so maby it is a front cover leak and not a head gasket. is there anywhere else that water could leak into the oil? my dad put this motor together and I am trying to figure out where he didnt seal it up all the way because it has leaked a water into the motor ever since he put it together. now it is just getting worse.

[2manytoys]

So what did you find?