TurboSpider
Proven Member
- 223
- 16
- Nov 2, 2015
-
York,
Pennsylvania
I decided to chase down an oil leak my car has that I never could figure out. It was dripping from the coolant large water pipe and dripping off that onto everything making it difficult. I pulled the exhaust manifold off and noticed three out of the four exhaust ports on the head had an oil like substance inside of them and on the mounting surface where the gasket mates. I did some reasearch on here and found a few threads where people stated they had similar issues. Some older threads didn't get resolved, one I believe was resolved by being the pistons rings, another I believe was too much oil pressure or something like that. People also suggested valve seals/guides.
This engine has about 15,000 miles on max since it was rebuilt. I bought it from someone on facebook believe his name was Cody Murray. He rebuilt it putting in wisco pistons, BC springs and retainers. I am not sure if he did new valve seals or any of that though. I may try and reach out to him to see if he remembers what all was done to give me an idea if it could be valve seals/guides or what.
I was getting a little smoke at idle sometimes and I was going through wideband sensors quickly. There is also a little oil on the air filter side of my turbo so I guess it could be the turbo leaking through the intercooler and in to the intake possibly or do you think the oil would be burnt during combustion?
My research also shows that one of the exhaust bolts goes into the coolant passage and that it sometimes can leak there. I don't think thats the case here because it looks like oil to me and it is actually inside the exhaust ports themselves.
Forgot to mention, I don't see any signs of the valve cover leaking down onto the manifold/gasket and getting in that way so pretty sure that is ruled out. I posted a picture of the manifold gasket and most of the oil on it is from around the bottom area with top being dry.
So I guess my next steps are to do a compression and a leak down test. I will post my results here and let you know what I see.
The oil is in the manifold ports 1-3 with the 4th port nearest the timing belt being dry.
I did forget to mention some of the exhaust manifold nuts were a little loose. I cleaned all the oil up from the engine and in the ports torqued the manifold down and let it run for about an hour. I didn't see any more leaks so I don't think its coming from the head gasket and somehow making it up there unless it only happens under boost as I let the car idle only and did not drive it.
When I go to do my compression and leak down tests should I do them with engine warm?
This engine has about 15,000 miles on max since it was rebuilt. I bought it from someone on facebook believe his name was Cody Murray. He rebuilt it putting in wisco pistons, BC springs and retainers. I am not sure if he did new valve seals or any of that though. I may try and reach out to him to see if he remembers what all was done to give me an idea if it could be valve seals/guides or what.
I was getting a little smoke at idle sometimes and I was going through wideband sensors quickly. There is also a little oil on the air filter side of my turbo so I guess it could be the turbo leaking through the intercooler and in to the intake possibly or do you think the oil would be burnt during combustion?
My research also shows that one of the exhaust bolts goes into the coolant passage and that it sometimes can leak there. I don't think thats the case here because it looks like oil to me and it is actually inside the exhaust ports themselves.
Forgot to mention, I don't see any signs of the valve cover leaking down onto the manifold/gasket and getting in that way so pretty sure that is ruled out. I posted a picture of the manifold gasket and most of the oil on it is from around the bottom area with top being dry.
So I guess my next steps are to do a compression and a leak down test. I will post my results here and let you know what I see.
The oil is in the manifold ports 1-3 with the 4th port nearest the timing belt being dry.
I did forget to mention some of the exhaust manifold nuts were a little loose. I cleaned all the oil up from the engine and in the ports torqued the manifold down and let it run for about an hour. I didn't see any more leaks so I don't think its coming from the head gasket and somehow making it up there unless it only happens under boost as I let the car idle only and did not drive it.
When I go to do my compression and leak down tests should I do them with engine warm?
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