Major diagnosis help please!!

[bodyboarder20]

Okay to begin, let me start my sayign i bought this 95 altima that im working on because I trusted my brother "the mechanic" and he said all it needed was timing chain replacement done on it.

Since then, i popped the hood and it needed way more than that, including missing distributor and wires.

I started pulling the valve cover today to start on the timing chain replacement, adn Ive got a huge problem! water in my oil! (noticed this actually when i replaced the oil) There is also oil ontop of the two pistons closest to the distributor.

So from here, Im guessing the head gasket needs to be replaced. its got 180k on the clock, think the head is gonna be to warped to use? Secondly, im not a prob about engine internals. The oil ontop of the pistons. Could that be because of the car sitting so long? It sat for about 4 months, then i got it towed from SC to VA. It sat for another 2 months. Then i got the parts it needed jstu to get it to start up. It did start up but ive got some def white smoke, (not as bad as it was at first). I havent started the car in a couple of weeks before today. Today i only started it because i put some engine gunk stuff in it to loosen some debris before I drained the oil.

What should I do?!?

Ive never taken this car for any drives or anything. just from one side of the parking lot to the other.

I dont intend to keep this car. (its got crazy bad karma goin for me)I just want to get it running suitibly and get the damn thing sold (the body adn interior are in mint!)

Should I pull teh head, hope its not warped, replace the headgasket. If the rings ARE bad in those two pistons, is it a fair enough (easy enough) job to replace them w/o pulling the lower end? Otherwise, just go on and replace the timing chain, and get the damn thing moving....



never again will i put trust in my brother. Im going to lose so much money in this deal...

sorry for the crazy long explanation. Thanks in advance for your help!!!

[Structure240sx]

oil can only enter from bad rings or bad valve seals not a headgasket

you cannot replace rings without pulling the bottom end. the rods and pistons have to come out. might be a better idea to just get a new engine unless its valve seals.

[Florida240sx]

Do compression on it to see if the headgasket is blown or not...You can try and get the ring sealer from autozone and hope that it will re-seal the rings.Maybe your karma will turn around.

[wantsansr]

im a diesel mechanic by trade. and i suggest a compression test to start. but water in oil is usually a head gasket and yes a blown head gasket can cause oil in the combustion chamber. if the car sat for as long as you said i would lean towards the head gasket.while doing the timing chain it wouldnt be that much more work. as far as the head being warpped that all depends on how bad the engine has been overheated. i would also recomend replacing the thermostat at this time to. cause to much heat, in my experiences with bad water pumps in my 240, have caused the thermostats to open at a higher temp do to the heat warping the springs in the t-stats.