Forgot gaskets

[Lirker]

Hello R3V. I recently installed a rebuilt cylinder head, and it runs great. It's just i'm getting an oil leak and I think these gaskets might be the cause of it... Oil is running down cylinder 1, down the block. and also in the middle of the block between the headers. My question is, what are these gaskets I forgot to install?





This is what the leak looks like..



Underside.



Any help is greatly appreciated thanks.

[Som]

There's an O-ring around the outside of the cam seal housing that sits on the front of the head (under the cam gear). If you bought the cylinder head already rebuilt, though, I would imagine the cam seal (and associated O-ring) would have been part of that rebuild.

Number 8 in this image:



That's the only place I can think of in the head that would have those kinds of O-rings. I don't have any experience with disassembly of the block, so I'm not sure if there's an equivalent O-ring for a crank seal.

Nearby, there are a couple other O-rings. The oil filter looks to have one (number 2):



As does the thermostat (number 6):



I would have normally said it's the cam seal, but the fact that you have oil dripping down between the exhaust headers could really only be the valve cover gasket. If that's leaking, that could be the cause of the problem in the front, too. Particularly at the rocker shaft plugs: (Number 13)



Som

[Lirker]

There's an O-ring around the outside of the cam seal housing that sits on the front of the head (under the cam gear). If you bought the cylinder head already rebuilt, though, I would imagine the cam seal (and associated O-ring) would have been part of that rebuild.

Number 8 in this image:



That's the only place I can think of in the head that would have those kinds of O-rings. I don't have any experience with disassembly of the block, so I'm not sure if there's an equivalent O-ring for a crank seal.

Nearby, there are a couple other O-rings. The oil filter looks to have one (number 2):



As does the thermostat (number 6):



I would have normally said it's the cam seal, but the fact that you have oil dripping down between the exhaust headers could really only be the valve cover gasket. If that's leaking, that could be the cause of the problem in the front, too. Particularly at the rocker shaft plugs: (Number 13)



Som

Thanks for the swift reply! I rebuilt this cylinder head myself, so I actually purchased the victor reinz gasket set myself, and just forgot to include these gaskets. I think the one i pictured on top might be the o ring for the cam housing, which would probably mean a leak. Im also going to replace the plugs with oem ones as the VR plugs don't fit properly, which could also be my problem. Valve cover gasket seems okay, but it sticks out of the cover a bit on the bottom so maybe I will just pick one up for safe measures.

[Som]

Ah, gotcha.

You know, I bought the VR plugs, too. And I'll admit this because it's 1am, but at first I thought they didn't fit, too, because I'd put them in with the flange on the outside of the head. I realized it after I tried to put the cam seal housing on and it interfered with the plug's flange. In fact, the flange goes on the inside and the plug butts up against the rocker shaft (or pretty close to it).

Only admitting this on the off chance that that's the way you tried to install them too.

Otherwise they fit perfectly fine for me.

Som

[goldenbb]

Doesn't fucking matter--I re-did my head and I have the same damn leak. The car had the leak before the re-work, and now also after. Had the head decked, replaced all the gaskets and seals.

Dunno...

[Lirker]

Doesn't fucking matter--I re-did my head and I have the same damn leak. The car had the leak before the re-work, and now also after. Had the head decked, replaced all the gaskets and seals.

Dunno...

I also had my head decked. I'm 75% sure it's coming from the cam seal. I'm going to go back in there over the coming weeks and use some type of sealant over the gaskets to try and get a better seal going.

[goldenbb]

Last night I pulled the valve cover and looked at the rubber plugs. They seemed kind of oily, so I took them out, cleaned them up, and then applied some oil-proof silicone to them. I'm driving the car today, so we'll see if the oil leak goes away. I saw no indication that my cam seal area is the culprit, but it is hard to see in there without pulling more parts off the engine.

I looked in the box of leftover parts and found two small-ish o-rings and one large one, so now I'm wondering if the thermostat might be missing its o-ring. I'm am dead certain I got all the ones onto the cam seal area. I'm pretty sure the two smaller ones are for the return tube under the intake manifold, which I bought different OEM ones for. In other words, I got all the seals and o-rings put on except perhaps the thermostat one, which probably still has the original on it.

ETA--looking back at the diagrams, I think the big o-ring is the one for the oil filter housing, which I did not take off when I did the head.


My advice to anyone doing the head gasket is to do the extra work required to pull the whole engine and then get both the head and the top of the block looked at and machined if needed.

[Lirker]

i will reply once i get in there to address the seal.