1G HG puzzled

[93AWDDSM]

So everything's great with the car besides little leaks here and there that I'm getting at. I do have one thing that's confusing me a little, my HG has a little bit of seepage all around it but isn't burning oil/coolant. No overheating, should this be an issue to worry about extensively? The HG was done probably 2k miles or a year ago roughly. I'll get a few pics shortly.

 

[Kapok6]

Are you sure it's not oil leaking from the valve cover gasket and just looks it's the head?

 

[93AWDDSM]

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The top on is by the timing cover

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this is by the t stat housing, hard to see in these but it's clearly all around

Also, if the valve cover was leaking that extensively then I would notice my manifold gasket all wet but it's not.

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

Have you thought about checking the torque yet? I mean the obvious. Catch it soon before boosting around.

 

[93AWDDSM]

There stock head bolts I don't know how much more to go.. but it's been this way for quite a while and my boost levels are never higher than 14lbs.

 

[pauleyman]

All the oil is above the head. That isn't a head gasket leak

 

[donniekak]

Clean the entire area with brake clean. Put some uv dye in the oil and run it for a while, then break out the glasses and uv light. My money is on leaks from the valve cover runnng down.

 

[Kapok6]

All the oil is above the head. That isn't a head gasket leak

That's what I was getting at.

Clean the entire area with brake clean. Put some uv dye in the oil and run it for a while, then break out the glasses and uv light. My money is on leaks from the valve cover runnng down.

This. I have seen VC seals leak and get all over.

 

[93AWDDSM]

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The pics of above are from the rear of the block from august 2016 and is almost the same around the entire area of the hg..I noticted not as much but a little on the timing side where the HG seals.



I'll do as you wiseman say. I'm also not denying that I have a valve cover leak, which I do. I'll be getting that fixed here soon but this problem has been there since before the VC leak started...

 

[donniekak]

That picture does show the head gasket leaking oil at one of the drainbacks. That is really rare to have a head gasket leak like that and not also be blown horribly, or leaking coolant as well.

I would pull the head, check the block for flatness, get the head milled, install new valve seals, and a head gasket set.

 

[93AWDDSM]

Yeah, It's been running fine with that. I plan on doing a new HG soon and ARP studs but no rush. It's stock and just the DD. A question though, why new valve stem seals? The head was rebuilt stock just a year ago with new valve stem seals and valves/guides, resurfaced. The only thing that wasn't checked was the block but I will be doing that checking when the head is off for sure. I Guess I'll keep chugging along until its time for replacement.

 

[donniekak]

If the head was recently rebuilt it should be ok. I must have missed that part. What gasket is that and who installed the head? A year old head gasket weeping oil like that is even stranger.

 

[TheFlashDSM]

So everything's great with the car besides little leaks here and there that I'm getting at. I do have one thing that's confusing me a little, my HG has a little bit of seepage all around it but isn't burning oil/coolant. No overheating, should this be an issue to worry about extensively? The HG was done probably 2k miles or a year ago roughly. I'll get a few pics shortly.

i had the same issue on an old 2g dsm i had, the oil was leaking from the cam shaft seals behind the cam gears, causing the oil to puddle and flow around the head gasket, to my surprise when i changed the head gasket and it was still leaking then i discovered the seals leaking. clean all the oil off using engine cleaner then run the car a few miles and see where the leak starts from!

 

[93AWDDSM]

@donniekak The head was rebuilt @ a local shop. They did a good job. We another have 1g dsm with a head rebuild from them as well. I installed it, unfortunately, I asked for this leak by not replacing the head bolts (stock 1g 6 bolt) when I replaced the HG which was a rock auto HG? Time and money prevented my DD from being done correctly the first time.

Backstory - car overheated, nothing extreme and I got the head rebuilt, it was/is my DD and I didn't have a lot of other options at the time. I had a rock auto hg sitting around, and checked the thread length on the stock head bolts... I read they could be reused because they're not TTY. I threw the new HG on and stock head bolts... its been fine besides that little seep. This was all done around 175-180k and it's currently at 205k - - it's also even more strange that it doesn't overheat, have any oil/coolant mix and runs OK.

@mountainbike91 I just did my water pump and T belt. Saw no leakage from there. I do have a leak also at the CAS and the gasket that seals the T stat housing to the head with the 3 nuts.

 

[donniekak]

The issue isn't the bolts. If they were stretched and not clamping properly you would blow the gasket from combustion pressure. There is next to zero pressure in a stock cars crankcase. Either the block or head is damaged in that area, or the gasket was nicked.

When I install a head in the car I lower the head with both manifolds attached onto the block with a hoist to avoid damage to the gasket.

 

[93AWDDSM]

The issue isn't the bolts. If they were stretched and not clamping properly you would blow the gasket from combustion pressure. There is next to zero pressure in a stock cars crankcase. Either the block or head is damaged in that area, or the gasket was nicked.

When I install a head in the car I lower the head with both manifolds attached onto the block with a hoist to avoid damage to the gasket.

<- that was not how I did it but I guess you learn from experience. I didn't have a hoist but looking into getting one. and I did it with just the head and IM bolted up so maybe it did nick it but it drives fine and has been like that for I thought was only 2K miles but its been actually around 15-20k

@donniekak Since I've already put a good amount of miles with this leakage say it should be ok to DD ongoing as is? (haven't noticed any ill issues besides little leaks, no extreme oil consumption) I'm looking for other DD's at the moment but this talon has to last for a while.

 

[pauleyman]

I'm still not convinced it's a head gasket leak. I would like to see the entire thing cleaned off and then take another look. What you're describing isn't very likely. More likely is that there is oil leaking and it's running around the head gasket not actually coming from it. You've already stated you actually have some leaks. Fix them, clean it up and then take another look.

 

[93AWDDSM]

Will do.

 

[donniekak]

I still stand by my original plan of cleaning everything with brake cleaner and doing a dye test. I have seen oil leak out from the valve cover many times onto the head gasket, but I haven't seen it work it's way all the way around to the back of the block under the intake like that.

Either way an ounce of dye will tell us what's up.

 

[ThunderChild]

I'd be willing to bet the VC leak is weeping into the HG, and saturating it. This doesn't look like the drain back ports are leaking or any other major signs of HG surface issues. Composite gaskets can do this, especially if theyre cheaper.

 

[93AWDDSM]

Update: cleaned the area around HG, valve cover was leaking a little so I fixed that. Tool for a drive and still noticed slight sleepage all around. I'm not to concerned with it, soon I'll redo it with arp and make sure everything is smooth and free of any type of debris.

Reason why I am not going to worry: it doesn't overheat, holds coolant I check it often, nothing is mixing. Oil looks good. Thanks for input everyone.

 

[ThunderChild]

Would like to see pics of hg seepage only, still slightly suspect the B.C. gasket weeping, but what gasket did you use for the th replacement?

Small amounts wouldn't worry me either, but is still annoying since it shouldn't be an issue at all

 

[Kapok6]

Replace the VC gasket and use RTV when you do it. My VC gaskets have always leaked sooner or later if I didn't use RTV. When I use RTV, I have 0 issues.

 

[93AWDDSM]

Would like to see pics of hg seepage only, still slightly suspect the B.C. gasket weeping, but what gasket did you use for the th replacement?

Small amounts wouldn't worry me either, but is still annoying since it shouldn't be an issue at all

Can't even remember what HG I used. It was I think a rock auto brand HG and it was packaged but sat for like a year or two because my brother purchased for his 1g but never put it on. I was hesistant to use it but it was new. It was also composite, not MLS.

Like I posted above, I'm not to worried about this even if it is leaking slightly from the rear of the block where head meets block. It runs and drives fine now, no overheating and no burning or losing coolant. No chocolate mixing.

@tametalon92 above post has a few rear of block seepage