Temporary fix to leak in Head Gasket?

[joonsup]

I'm in the process of rebuilding an M20 I sourced from a friend, and it'll probably take a couple months. The past month I noticed an oil leak coming from the head gasket area behind the header and it's been dripping onto the manifold which caused me to notice some burning smell.

I don't want to go through the process of replacing the headgasket since a fresh m20 will be getting swapped into the car in the near future. Any ideas of what I can do/use to stop the leak temporarily? I know that those block sealers are mainly for coolant leaks from the hg. Anything I can use to patch up from the outside? Thanks

[Dj Buttchug]

not really. deal with it until you can replace the hg

[redsubdivisions]

There's always some type of silicone, but over time, the matter will eventually put your car at a halt until it's repaired or replaced. You can try some cheap stuff that you put in your radiator from Autozone, but I can't promise that will yield the best results. my buddy destroyed his S13 doing something like that, but then again, he wasn't the best judge when it came to DIY vehicle repairs.

[Bene]

as long as oil is not mixing with the coolant or vice versa, I wouldn't worry about it.

[joonsup]

I think the most annoying thing is the small puddle of oil on the ground if i let it sit for a few days. And yeah there's no milkshake so far.

[Devil Inc]

If it's dripping 'onto' the exhaust manifold, it doesn't sound like it's the head gasket. Sounds like it might be a valve cover gasket. Grab a picure of the area if you can.

[joonsup]

ok ill try to do that tomorrow. i hope you're right. If i look in the area under the o2 sensor, there's some sort of metal shield under the car and i see a lot of oil gunk built up there

[bmwhiteman]

well if youre getting white smoke, you could only drive the car short distances with the rad cap not fully tight. It will cause the coolant to relieve pressure through the cap instead of into the combustion chambers. Ive done if on an e30 before but only had to drive the car 20 miles a day

[hooken m]

Hi temp rtv?

[e30rapidic]

not drive it..

[Farbin Kaiber]

[joonsup]

i'm not getting any white smoke. My friend took a few pics for me from the top that I'll upload after lunch and I took some pics with my phone yesterday while car was on the lift at the muffler shop but I'm having trouble opening those files so I'll try to get them up this afternoon as well. When I did an oil change there was no milkshake so I doubt it's a coolant leak but if those tabs help seal oil as well I'll get some this weekend.

[Cabriolet]

if you like your engine, don't use those tabs.

[custom e30]

run really thick oil and it might slow it down

[joonsup]

i use 20w50. does it get any thicker besides lucas oil? lol