Hi all,
Pretty new here. Recently purchased a 2.6L Gen1 advertised as having a fresh motor rebuild. Unfortunately a small oil leak has developed, coming from somewhere behind the motor and she just started billowing a bit of white smoke at start up. Goes away after the motor warms up.

Havent diagnosed either definitively, but after doing a lil reading, looks like the oil leak is likely either the plug at the rear of the head, head gasket, or valve cover gasket. It could be the rear main seal, but the oil seems to be coming for higher up. Also, the white smoke points to the head gasket. I'll be testing for the blown head gasket soon, and do a closer inspection to see exactly where the oil leak is coming from.

In the mean time I wanted to tap the board for any 'watch-out's' or 'look fors' regarding diagnosing these two issues, and fixing them. I took a look through DR1665's head-removal thread which was super helpful. I'll probably be ordering one of these replacement heads if it comes down to it, also found in DR1665's thread.

Secondly, I'm not familiar with these motors so I wanted to check to see if there was anything else I should definitely replace while I've got the head off. I know this can be a slippery slope! I'll be replacing the alternator since it seems to be on its way out.

Once I get around to doing it, I'll post a bunch of photos of the process here.

Thanks!
Roland