hey guys, i went wheelin' this weekend and got stuck in a nasty rutted puddle. The prob is I was leaking a small bit of oil from what i think is the rear seal. i got her home yesterday and today i went to start it and it wasnt cooperating. i remembered i had low oil pressure coming home and checked the oil. there was evidence of mud and muck in the oil. what do i need to do besides flushing the crap out of the motor? BTW its a 3-YE. thanks in advance.

Get the cheapest oil you can find and change it 2 or 3 times with only 10 or 20 miles between changes. Change the filter too. Then put in some good stuff and change it again in about 500 miles.....

I'd be figuring out HOW the dirt and stuff go IN the motor. did you suck mud into the intake? or was the water line above the PCV/Valve cover area? but yes, flush it out with cheap oil. and run a good filter to get the grit out. Purolator PureOne or a Napa gold (wix) will do ya good.

this is a curious one to me...I noticed in another post you said you had a vaccuum bag in your pvc snorkel and then it routes directly into the throttle body...did I read that right? eliminated the factory air filter all together....and routed direct to the tb and on to the intake mani of course....

i'd be checking my vaccuum bag i guess. and also check all the joints in the pcv route, could be pulling some suction at a loose joint on the back side of your filter bag...a snorkle with a hole in the side could be sucking at a lower altitude, submarine?

there aren't many ways water and mud can get into your oil.... so this seems the most obvious.

another sot might be right at the entrance of the dipstick tube...if that tube to block mating isn't tight and it was below water, could have run in there maybe...?

Another wild speculation on my part is that what you are seeing in your oil is not mud but the mud colored oil as a result of water from within the engine somwhere getting down into your oil...a warped head from driving it hot into the big puddle?

yes you read it right. the factroy air box is gone. but the crap i was in wasnt deep enough. heres a pic of the stuck (hung up on the rear diff)

as you can see its not deep enough for anything to get in. my theory is the small leak in motor allowed the crud to leak in.
now what you last mentioned about the warped head. yeah its possible but there is no evidence of leakage from the head. so im still confused.
it still runs and im confident it will turn out OK i just wanted to see if this kind of nonsense has happened to anyone else before.

I think your right. My coolant is low and upon changing the oil it was pertty dilluted with what appears to be coolant. Changing the gasket and head (if necessary) wont be a prob but ive never seen a manual for a 2.0. has anyone? i would only need torqe specs. is there a standard torque for those bolts? any help would be great.

I'm guessing that would be the equivalent of a 21R-U as a 2.0-- 58ft-lbs for the head bolts.

I'd drop that oil pan if I were you....the boss for the plug won't let you get EVERYTHING out.

OK, so i pulled the head off yesterday and the gasket had blown. This is the first head gasket ive had to change and there was antifrezee in the 1,3 and 4 cylinders. Is this due to coolant leaking from passages in the head when i removed it or from the gasket blowing?

Probably a little of both. If the sparkplugs are white, that's an indicator of a coolant leak.

Make sure you get that thing resurfaced and checked for warpage, or you'll be back in there.

Yank that oil pan and clean it out while the head's at the shop.

Im gonnna take it in to work and have the machinest resurface it while i clean the intake manifold and plenum