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spdracer75
Dodge Dakota
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8/16/2004
15:44:40

Subject: 94 Dakota V6: water in oil, suggestions?
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Greetings,

My dakota overheated last week, and now I've got some water in the oil, which, as I know is *NOT* good.

I'm pretty decent with working on vehicles, however I don't know where to start on getting my dakota back up and running. been riding my motorcycle to work, and really once october hits, that's out of the question.

Now I know water in the oil can be a cracked head, blown head gasket, or leaking intake gasket.

What I don't know is how to determine which of the following it is.

Any tips? If so, thanks in advance.




mom
Dodge Dakota
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8/16/2004
16:47:02

RE: 94 Dakota V6: water in oil, suggestions?
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I would suggest a compression test and while your doing it look for bubbles in radiator.



Just Looking
Dodge Dakota
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8/16/2004
17:36:20

RE: 94 Dakota V6: water in oil, suggestions?
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another one would be to check for wet plugs



spdracer75
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8/16/2004
17:47:13

RE: 94 Dakota V6: water in oil, suggestions?
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None of my plugs were wet, although I can certainly put them back in. the front two look to be slightly oil fouled, but not anything too bad. a little darker than the tan-ish color the other four are.

I was thinking a compression check, and I for got to mention in my post that I was thinking of doing that.

I've already yanked the radiator, and upper/lower coolant hoses, since my radiator split the seam near the top (hence the over heating)

Could it be possible all the water that went over the engine and the steam from the radiator managed to just "seep" into the motor? I suppose since I drained the oil already I could try putting in fresh oil, but it seems like the compression test might be the smartest first step.



spdracer75
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8/16/2004
21:52:49

RE: 94 Dakota V6: water in oil, suggestions?
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Any other ideas? I'm pretty desperate to get my truck back up and running.



boardmarine
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8/17/2004
02:41:02

RE: 94 Dakota V6: water in oil, suggestions?
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Put your radiator back in and hook up all the hoses. Now drain your oil and leave the drain plug out. Add water to the radiator and if it comes out the oil drain your up a creek. If not then add some fresh oil and start her up.



spdracer75
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8/17/2004
13:00:34

RE: 94 Dakota V6: water in oil, suggestions?
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boardmarine,

Would water coming out the oil drain plug be an indication of a cracked block?

If it's a cracked head or blown gasket would it do the same thing? a bad gasket would maybe take a days work to fix. A cracked head can be replaced with a head from a junkyard. (not the best solution but it would get the truck running)

thanks for the reply. looking forward to discussing this in greater detail.



boardmarine
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8/18/2004
18:17:08

RE: 94 Dakota V6: water in oil, suggestions?
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It would be an indication of a cracked head or blown head gasket. I work mostly with diesel engines and I just happened to see that exact same thing about 2 weeks ago. The 318 is a solid engine so a head gasket might be the solution. Did water come out the drain plug?



spdracer75
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8/18/2004
18:44:53

RE: 94 Dakota V6: water in oil, suggestions?
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Boardmarine,

oh, yes, it was quite thinned. However I did have tons of steam and water go around in the engine compartment, and I've heard somehow water can get sucked through the oil vent tubes.

Anyway, what I'm looking for is tips on how to narrow down the possibilities.

As I said earlier, I'm going to try filling the cooling system and see if I get water coming out the oil pan.

I'm also going to crank the engine over a few times and see if water shoots out any cylinders. after that, I'm draining the system and running a compresison check.


so the water in the oil pan is not an indication of a cracked block?

Basically all I'm getting is kind of the obvious info that I already know.

If I'm getting water in the oil, it's a bad head gasket, cracked head, blown intake gasket, or cracked block.

What I'm trying to find out is how to narrow it down as easily as possible.

BTW it's a V6 , i wish it was a 318. but the 3.9 V6 is just a cut down 318 from all I've seen.



boardmarine
Dodge Dakota
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8/19/2004
03:35:12

RE: 94 Dakota V6: water in oil, suggestions?
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spdracer,

It's sounds like you're on top of it. I've offered the tricks of the trade that I know. It's easy for me in the Marines because if an engine is bad I just pull it and send it to the next shop and they rip it apart and fix it. I've pulled a few heads in my days but not in my Dakota, thank god! Let me know what you find out though, Brandon.



CP
Dodge Dakota
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8/19/2004
13:31:39

RE: 94 Dakota V6: water in oil, suggestions?
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Use a blue light to detect coolant leaking from the block. Do a leakdown test to determine if the leak (There still may not be a leak, i hope) is head/gaskets or cracked block. Compression test is the diagnostic to go with to start.



Oss99
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9/02/2004
13:22:49

RE: 94 Dakota V6: water in oil, suggestions?
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My 97 had a similar problem which I could not find. I had heads redone with no success. I finally took the engine out of the truck and found that electrolisis had taken its toll on the inside of the timing chain cover and coolant was getting into the oil from there. final solution was a new timing chain cover a a total rebuild for mine.



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