Well, my 89 V6 had started smoking a little from the engine bay awhile ago. From the looks of it it was the valve cover gasket onto the exhaust manifold (mostly the drivers side). Replaced that and it stopped smoking...as much. Sometimes it would a little but I figured it was residual. Keep in mind I only drove it once or twice for short distances.

Here's the problem. The other day the check engine light came on. Fixed some of the vaccuum lines that were damaged-light turned off.

Went for a long drive, about 30 miles in light turned on again but ran fine. Eventually it was obvious it was only running on 5 cylinders. Found #2 was not working. It's getting spark but I replaced the plug anyway. Same thing.

Oh wait, there's more. Realized my coolant resevoir was empty, other than a thin brown sludge lining. I flushed the system but I don't intend on driving it. Truthfully I don't know how long it has been like that. I only use the Montero for off road so I'm not that carefull with it.

I naturally assume head gasket, but why is #2 not working. Also my there is ZERO smoke coming out of the tailpipe even on cold start.

What do you think? How bad is it? <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

With a blown head gasket you can loose compression on various cylinders. Most likely that cylinder is where the head gasket broke. Now is the time to fix all those problems like valve cover gaskets.

Did you check if the #2 injector was working? If it is, do a compression test to verify that you have no/low compression on cyl. #2. Was your radiator empty too, or just the overflow tank?

Yes I still need to do a compression test. I meant to do that the other day but got discouraged. I haven't checked the injector though. I should probably do that today.

The radiator was not empty.

Has it ever been overheated?

Nope. It's never really gone much above the middle of the water temp gauge.

So, the rad was full, just the overflow tank dry? Do a compresson test on all cylinders. Sounds like an injector to me. What I did when I tested mine was just swap the suspect one with a good one and see if the other cylinder stops firing. Check the condition of the cap, rotor and plug wires.

I'm with Sparkem, et al. A blown head gasket cylinder will usually still run unless the plug is wet or the blowout is very major. Compression test. Check for a bad new plug. Check injectors. It's not that bad a fixer upper....

Well, ***** got worse. My compression tester woas old and crappy so it didn't work well. Did a leak down test and everything seemed fine. Injectors were fine but still couldn't fix the problem.

I ended up pulling the head and checking things out. Seemed fine and I replaced the head gasket and distributor cap. Hooked everything back up and had the same problem. #2 was still not working after all that!

Talked it over with my dad and figured it had to be electrical, maybe a short on the injector. Checked everything out and it looked fine. I even replaced the orings since they were worn and cracked.

When I fired it up it is now only running on #5&6!!!
I'm so pissed right now. I pulled things apart and checked the injectors again and they seem fine. I even replaced the plugs again! Timing should be close. Anyone know what the timing should be? I think I've got it at 6 degrees BTDC now.

I'm getting so frustrated. I put away my tools and said I needed to take a break after 3 days with no results.

HELP ME! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/angry.gif" alt="" />

Did the brown sludge look like this?


If so your pumping oil in to your coolant AKA cracked block <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/scared.gif" alt="" />