My 05 AT with 199k miles seems to be giving out on me
last year was on the highway and my car started smoking from radiator and losing power the more I pumped the gas. After getting it towed home and diagnosing it with my old man noticed engine was shaking like it had trouble breathing or something and giving bad blowby as well when removing oil cap. Replaced the radiator fan which somehow broke in the ordeal and had it towed to a shop. I was told my 3rd cat was clogged so I got a rv6 j pipe and they're hfdp precats. Was running much better. I also did an oil change at this time too (this was a month ago) 2 weeks later my low oil pressure sensor comes on. Some of you might remember my post, I changed the sensor still nothing took it to the shop again and I was negative 4 Liters of oil smfh. I was thinking maybe I was just to stoned at the time and didn't put oil in after I drained it but that wouldn't be possible because I'd notice the low oil pressure light the minute I got back on the road not two weeks later when it popped up and I checked my dipstick that same car ride. The second time at the shop is also where I noticed that if I pumped the gas while in park smoke would come out my exhaust (white smoke). I was assured I had alotta miles to go before my engine gave way but to be ready for whatever.

Anyways 2 days after (yesterday) the 4 liter fill-up I noticed when starting the car a crazy large gust of white smoke would come out my exhaust, tested it 3 different times. Later that night cel light comes on flashing and car is shaking (I just wanted some McDonald's &#128557. This AM I use my newly purchased odb2 machin bluedriver to test it. Among other things it came up that my cylinder 2 was misfiring 😒
so I open the engine up and get the sparkplug out which looked like this

compared to my other two which have white tips from typical igniting, you can see the difference below

Also my sparkplug ignition coil for the same cylinder #2 has a bit of that milky oil which I had not seen before today on the edge lip as you can see and I'm also noticing now in the photo that I have two different coils 😓


Anyways I've already gone pretty far into dismantling my car and have gotten this far before (taking off Valve covers to replace gaskets). But never taken off the head cylinders so I must ask at this point should I replace the head gaskets or just get a whole new used engine elsewhere?

 

At this point I'm thinking your engine is pretty much FUBAR and putting head gaskets in it will be like trying to put a band-aid on a compound fracture. At this point you should look for a low(ish)-mileage J32A3 (from only the 2004-2006 TLs; later J32A3s won't bolt into your car) or J35A6 (all of which are bolt and sensor compatible with your car); both engines are relatively plentiful and inexpensive at bone yards around the country.

 

Any reason why I would pick a j32 over a j35?

 

Here are some differences:

• The 2005 J32A3 is rated 270/238 HP/Torque (although it was rerated the following year as having 258/233 HP/Torque); the J35A6 is rated 255/250 HP/Torque (presumably based upon the new rating model).
• The J32A3 recommends Premium fuel, the J35A6 recommends Regular fuel.
• The folks with the J35A6 swap claim a noticeable improvement in mid-range torque (which jives with the power rating numbers above) and no discernable loss in top-end power compared to the J32A3.
• I don't believe I've ever seen any fuel economy numbers, but I would expect them to be slightly reduced if you opt for the J35A6.

 

Just an update I pulled the engine an transmission out and have lifted the valve cover and noticed my valves on the intake side appear to be closed whereas my exhaust valves are within the specs necessary. Im going to remove the head in a moment I just wanted to document this occurrence since I did do the valve adjustments myself back in 2018.