Oil leaking from gasket

satancom · Post by **satancom** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 4:05 pm

Ok whilst poking around under the landy yesterday I noticed something disturbing... there apears to be oil leaking from my cylinder head gasket on the right hand bank. Iam going to clean up the side of the engine tonight and see if it comes back. Its quite possible i have spilt some oil down it whilst installing it.

I initally thought it was wet, but rubbing between the fingers it feels slightly oily.

The heads clean, the block is not. Its in no means a massive amount, but its very noticable as the block was almost spotless when it went in. I would like to see if theres anything obvious when its running.. But as I only have a manifold on at the moment, one backfire and I loose my eyebrows

It seems to be oily on the two middle cylinders, and goes about halfway down the block. I have the heads with three rows of bolts.. the two inner rows have been torqued up in the correct order with the outer row just hand tightened to fill the holes.

It could even be that I greased the outer row prior to instalation and the grease has melted when the engines been running and leked out? I dunno. Don't really want to take the heads off before she's even on the road, but it would be better than killing the heads on the first proper run!

ChrisJC · Post by **ChrisJC** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 4:47 pm

It could be running down from the rocker cover, getting pushed out of the dipstick tube (if it's on that side), or oil that is in the empty head bolt holes coming out as the engine warms up and vibrates.

If it's coming out of the actual head gasket area, then the head ain't down properly, and it's running across the block face from the valley area.....

Chris.

satancom · Post by **satancom** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 9:49 pm

Didn't think about oil migrating from the valley gasket

I torqued the head down and will double check. It could indeed be the rocker cover, I can't see any deposits on the head, but its a different type of surface.

I will keep an eye on it, waters clear, oils clear and its not using any.. however I haven't gone anywhere in it yet.

I'll clean it up and see if it comes back or gets worse.

Cheers

satancom · Post by **satancom** » Tue Nov 25, 2008 8:16 pm

Right its water that leaking not oil. Is there anywhere else it could be coming from other than the head ? It has composite gaskets and the heads have been torqued down correctly...

My mate suggests that maybe its coming from the inlet manifold and going rounf the outside of the gasket and leaking off the side?

He has suggested re-checking the head bolts! I could torque down the outer row of bolts, but have been told thats a bad idea? Help. Don't really want to be stripping the heads, no room!

satancom · Post by **satancom** » Tue Nov 25, 2008 8:22 pm

Oh and to add another spanner in the works, its a land rover so every time I open the bonnet water pours off the bonnet (spare wheel well) and all over the back of the engine!

ChrisJC · Post by **ChrisJC** » Tue Nov 25, 2008 8:25 pm

Check the inlet manifold is torqued down correctly. Also make sure the pipes between the water pump and inlet manifold are secure.

Other than that, I think you'll have to look carefully when the engine has warmed up & pressurised the water system to see where it's leaking from.....

Chris.

Ian Anderson · Post by **Ian Anderson** » Tue Nov 25, 2008 9:41 pm

Or make friends with a local garage and ask if you can use heir radiator pressure tester

Like a radiator cap that is attached to a bicycle pump and pressure gauge

Pump it up to about 2 bars and see where it leaks - at least the engine is not red hot then!

Ian

satancom · Post by **satancom** » Wed Nov 26, 2008 10:30 am

Ian Anderson wrote:Or make friends with a local garage and ask if you can use heir radiator pressure tester

Ian

Mates got his own garage and has suggested that. So may take him up on htat offer.. better return his timing light actually

Itl be worth it to check my hoses anyway. I will let you know how I get on, im going to re-torque the inlet manifold bolts tonight!

satancom · Post by **satancom** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 8:09 am

Well I retorqued the inlet manifold to no avail. Seems it is certainly leaking from the head. So the next option is to retorque the heads and hope they have settled a bit with it being warmed up a few times.
What are the chances of that ?

I dn't really want to be taking the heads off again, although I do have a spare set that I can get skimmed so they are ready to plop on!

RoverP6B · Post by **RoverP6B** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 10:27 am

I assume as you are going to retorque the head bolts that they are high tensile bolts, and not stretch bolts?

Ron.

ramon alban · Post by **ramon alban** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 10:33 am

satancom wrote:So the next option is to retorque the heads and hope they have settled a bit with it being warmed up a few times. What are the chances of that ?

Hello again,

Its sacrilage to some owners but if you know it is leaking water from a small breach in the head gasket then you might consider BARS fluid to fill the gap. It works on tthe premise that the dissolved particles come thro the leak with the water and solidify when exposed to heat and air.

Its really a matter of opinion whether you like to trust the process. Some say it will clog up the minor waterways. My personal experience with my current engine of 16 years ownership and at least 2 if not 3 applications of BARS for minor coolant leaks is that it worked fine with no obvious detremental effects.

Mind you, the system gets a complete flush and reverse flush every 2 - 3 years along with coolant change so it doesn't have to hang around for long. And if the leak returns then eventually it gets fixed as convenient.

I think BARS is one of those products that genuinely does what it says on the tin, and if it fails the head is coming off anyway.

satancom · Post by **satancom** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 3:37 pm

RoverP6B wrote:I assume as you are going to retorque the head bolts that they are high tensile bolts, and not stretch bolts?

Ron.

Yes high tensile and not stretch bolts

satancom · Post by **satancom** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 3:40 pm

ramon alban wrote:
satancom wrote: Its sacrilage to some owners but if you know it is leaking water from a small breach in the head gasket then you might consider BARS fluid to fill the gap. It works on tthe premise that the dissolved particles come thro the leak with the water and solidify when exposed to heat and air.
Yes thats my last course of action before removing the heads Its not ideal, but all the waterways are clean as its all been flushed during the rebuild.

I will plan on putting on my spare set of heads during the new year, so it may be a stop gap that gets me on the road

Cheers, I'll report back once i get to the bottom of it

satancom · Post by **satancom** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 10:36 am

Got a pressure tester on it last night..

I had a small leak from the rad top hose so put a new jubilee clip on which sorted that

Took it back up to pressure again to find water pishing out of the heater matrix hose onto the valley gasket.. Which would probably explain the water around the heads.. Triead the pressure tester again and it held 15psi for a good few mins without any leaks.. hoorah