Your tuner might need a recap on basic 4g63 architecture before suggesting silly things like re-torquing stock head studs. I'd be worried if such a person was tuning my car...

Willing to bet the first pic is from a valve cover or cam sensor leak. Or probably the noticeable leak coming from your fresh air valve cover vent tube. Check there first and see what you have.

Second pic is almost certainly from that exhaust stud not getting any RTV or sealing put on its threads before being installed. There is an oil galley right behind it and it will leak if there's no sealant on the studs threads.

I agree. If your tuner is telling you that then you need to be very careful. Only on the rarest of occasions would it be your head studs.

Nowhere in this post did they reference stock head studs. Are they ARPs that never were re-torqued? If so why not check the torque and see if your problem persists. I was also getting knock at what I thought was a pretty conservative tune at high RPM until it just recently started pushing coolant under high boost. Removed the cover to check the torque and they were loose but it was too late gasket was done for.

blkgst97 said:

Nowhere in this post did they reference stock head studs

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That's because there's no such thing as stock head studs. There are stock head bolts.

I know I referring to the previous post. He said it would be silly to think he might need to re-torque but the original poster never said if they were stock bolts or not.

Yes, the OP did not say stock or aftermarket head studs. But either way, it's very rare and usually presenting other issues if the studs are loose enough to cause leaks, especially in those positions on the block.

As for the loose studs causing knock, I'd argue that to an extent. If you're pushing coolant, I don't see that alone causing knock, and especially not if you end up burning some coolant as that should lower combustion temps as well as clean carbon from the chambers etc.

Checking head stud torque is not a bad idea if one is unsure, but the symptoms listed do not directly pertain to the issue at hand.

The previous owner installed ARP head studs, and said he’s aware it was retorqued at least twice.
My plan of action for now is to re-install the leaking exhaust stud with RTV, and check where the other leak is primarily leaking from. Thanks for the vast ideas! If nothing feels right, I’ll certainly check the torque of the head studs, and see where it will go from there. If there is any other input you guys want to give, I’m willing to listen and take advice.
Thanks again.

Edit : Coolant leak or oil seems to be spilling from here.

There's a dye kit you can get locally or online that will pinpoint your leaks very easily. Judging from the placement of oil on the coolant pipe I'd say check near the factory turbo oil feed port.

Undertorqued head bolts/studs are not usually a cause of knock, but are a symptom suffered after prolonged exposure to real definite spark knock. Your tuner was not stating that the knock was because of loosened bolts/studs. He was telling you that you need to fix the leaks AND recheck the torque on the head fasteners as 2 separate problems caused by knock.

Dzducky said:

The previous owner installed ARP head studs, and said he’s aware it was retorqued at least twice.
My plan of action for now is to re-install the leaking exhaust stud with RTV, and check where the other leak is primarily leaking from. Thanks for the vast ideas! If nothing feels right, I’ll certainly check the torque of the head studs, and see where it will go from there. If there is any other input you guys want to give, I’m willing to listen and take advice.
Thanks again.

Edit : Coolant leak or oil seems to be spilling from here.

Click to expand...

That is a typical spot for oil to pool on that engine, it runs down to that spot before it drips off, its more likely a valve cover gasket leak or a leak around the cas plug area in the valve cover, something like that instead of a head gasket, for a head gasket to leak oil to atmosphere like that, your car would likely not even run, that's how bad the gasket would be blown.