[RESOLVED] Oil leaking from between exhaust manifold gasket and the head - WHY??

[m[ohio]]

Ok, last night I went to pull the exhaust manifold off of a friend's 98 GSX to install an EGT and noticed that there was a lot of oil seeping out from around the exhaust manifold gasket. The oil was fresh and wet and was burning a little bit when the engine was running. Just so you have an idea of how much oil we are talking about - the leak isn't a enough to drip down to the ground it basically just seeps out through the manifold gasket and burns away and leaves some residue. Now my question is what could be causing this. I did a compression check and he's got 168-172 psi across all four. When I pulled the turbo I checked for oil in the compressor and exaust side and there was absolutely zero oil so I assume the turbo seals are fine. The turbo is also a fairly new Hahn Racecraft super 16G that has only seen 17psi of boost so I doubt the turbo was the cause anyway. Besides how would oil from a leaking turbo oil seal come out from between the exhaust manifold and the head which is before the flow of the turbo. Also the PCV is about 3 months old. The spark plugs looked good with about 3k miles on themm just slightly tan/black, but not wet from oil or anything. There is a slight smell of burning oil from the exhaust but not really any blue smoke. Anyway, that's about all the info I can think of that might be useful for someone to help me troubleshoot this.

 

[thehyena]

you sure it's the manifold gasket and not the valve cover gasket?

 

[m[ohio]]

yep. positive it's not the valve cover gasket. It's as dry as can be. Meant to include that in my original post. I'm thinking it's something engine internal like valve seals or rings, but I'm not sure since the compression checked out ok. Can the compression check out ok and there still be a little bit of burning oil from the exhaust and this leak at the manifold gasket?

 

[cornbread]

Valve stem seals are leaking. The car doesn’t smoke but if I leave idling for a 20min or more it smoke a little. I’m thinking it’s the head leaking oil.

 

[layzie12g]

Im having the same problem. i just had my head rebuilt 7 months ago and bottom end rebuilt 3 months ago. i car will smoke if i let it idle for over 5 min and smokes when i start the car. i have a little oil on exhaust manifold gasket and i also noticed a drop to 2 leaking from the intake manifold. is it the valve seals?

 

[90laserRSfwd]

More then likely it could be. My buddies 2g is in the shop right now for the same problem. Leaks oil out near the cylinder closest to the timing belt. Now his head gasket blew and we're not sure what's up...

 

[silver97GSXLKP]

I had the same problem on my car and read somewhere that there is a oil passage behind one of the upper ex mani studs and if the studs get over torqed it can cause that passage to leak behinde the stud. I havent fixed mine yet but heard that some high temp RTV behind the stud works.

 

[90laserRSfwd]

so what your suggesting is that the stud actually breaks into the oil passage way? By the way you are correct about that. It seems as though the top studs for the exhaust manifold are tapped right up against the oil feed passage that feeds the turbo from the cylinder head location. Damn this is going to cost some money WTF

 

[Turbohorse]

Take all the exhaust manifold studs out, clean the head and studs. Then put some high temp rtv on the threads,which should fix your problem.It should stop the oil from coming out around the studs just let the rtv set up good before you run your car.

 

[layzie12g]

but that doesn't explain the symptoms of a leaky valve seal, or are you guys saying that a valve seal issue couldn't cause oil to actually come out of the head and get on the manifold? i would think the any oil that did leak down around the valve would be burnt during combustion before it actually leaked out

 

[OneLove]

i am having this problem also. it is pretty worrysome to me

 

[silver bullit]

Could be oil from valve cover gasket or valve stem seals

 

[twack]

See if any of the studs are loose i know if the lower middle on comes loose it sprays oil

-dammit i didnt see this thread is from 2003 way to go guys

 

[kenamond]

Even though the thread started 5 years ago, the problem is still probably a stud around the #4 exhaust port. The hole in the head for one or two (forget) of the studs opens up into an oil galley. If the stud isn't tight or the threads are damaged or the stud is broken, the oil leaks out of the head and into and/or around the manifold. To find out for sure, remove the mani and see if there's oil in the exhaust ports in the head. If there is, it's not the stud. If there isn't, it's coming from the stud.

But you should make sure it's not coming from the VC gasket or top of the VC (cracked VC can do this; oil goes through the crack up where the plug wires are routed, then drains out a small hole on the drivers-side-front of the VC). Clean off the head between the VC gasket and the manifold, drive the car, and see if it gets oily and looks like the oil is running down from somewhere in particular (and not spattering from somewhere else).

 

[viterbi]

I had an oil cap leak, cracked valve cover and leaking cam/crank seals. Degrease and clean off any residual oil left behind on the top and bottom of the engine.

 

[cesar1320]

dude that happend to, turning out to be the piston rings, i noticed because the manifold looked wet with oil, took it to the mechanic and turned out to be the rings

 

[kenamond]

Look at the date when this thread was started.

 

[Defiant]

Use Permatex #2 on the stud threads.

Done.