At 160,000 miles, my mother's 1996 Town and Country LXi just started blowing crankcase pressure out the oil fill hole, all of a sudden, and I'm told that the exhaust smokes now as well. This incident was bad enough when it occurred suddenly, that the car had to be towed home. The car always ran excellent up to a few days ago when it suddenly started doing this, and hasn't been driven since.

At first I thought, head gasket, but would a blown head gasket allow combustion chamber pressure into the crankcase? I know a head gasket can allow combustion chamber pressure into the coolant, but not so sure about into the crankcase. The only thing I can think of that woudl allow crankcase blowby is rings, but I doubt that rings failed suddenly on that engine.

Any ideas? If the head gasket is a culprit, is there anything particularly bad about doing a head gasket(s) on this car? I assume the rear bank is going to be a PITA in the car.

THanks

Steve

bump!