I have a 98 Rodeo, just purchased. Before I bought it, it had been sitting for over 2 years in storage. Previous owner not sure what maintenance/problems it has had. Knew it had a bad trans .

replaced the trans.


Now, the engine smokes like crazy. It doesnt do it at first, but after it gets hot or I step on the throttle past idle, white smoke comes out of the exhaust and water pours and drips out of the tail pipe.

I can see no evidence of oil in the coolant, or water in the oil pan.

I am thinking it has a head gasket blown, but I have read about issues regarding the IM leaking.

Which do you guys think the problem is?

blow head or cracked head (cracked heads on +98 isuzu's are not that common, but I've read the 98-99 had a bad run of heads that crack more often).

blow head or cracked head (cracked heads on +98 isuzu's are not that common, but I've read the 98-99 had a bad run of heads that crack more often).


So, should I get a newer head off a newer 2000 or up engine, or will I be safe to have a machine shop machine the heads and replace them myself?

If I could have a bad run of heads, doing the work wont fix it because it will happen again, right? or is that just a fluke that I have a bad one?