HG leak outside of the block?

[Chrisv006]

Just got a new 318is, bought it from the PO and picked it up at her mechanic...they told me the HG is leaking near the AC bracket out side of the block.

I've never herd of a failure like this...anyone have any insight? I checked the coolant/oil and there is no exchange. Just seems strange to me.

I cranked her up, started right up - No smoke at all, no sweet smell.

Pic of the soon to be civic replacement (daily):

[RobertC]

You did not mention whether it was Oil or Coolant leaking.

But the common leak points for the M42 would be the profile gasket between the head and front timing cover case, this would be a coolant leak.

Or the front covers themselves can leak, most likely where the lower and upper cover gaskets meet.

They all tend to leak on the A/C side due to the slant of the engine.

Profile gasket can be a real bitch to change and will require pulling the cylinder head. You at that point may just want to investigate pulling the engine and resealing it.

You could probably find more information over on m42club.com in regards to a write up of replacing the profile gasket if that is indeed what you need to do.

[Dj Buttchug]

you can have seep from the gasket without effecting drivability. How many miles?

[Chrisv006]

Coolant leak, 109k miles on the car.

[e30trooper]

coolant isnt good. Ive seen alot of m20's with oil leaking from under the exhaust manifold and running fine. GL

[Dj Buttchug]

Coolant leak, 109k miles on the car.

aight so heres your options:
1 pull the valve cover and check your head bolt torque. re torquing might fix it but its highly unlikely.
2 suck it up and do a head gasket job
3 ignore it and drive.

[MikeDE]

aight so heres your options:
1 pull the valve cover and check your head bolt torque. re torquing might fix it but its highly unlikely.
2 suck it up and do a head gasket job
3 ignore it and drive.

1. ignore it and beat the snot out of it (then if it gets worse, see #2)
2. pull the valve cover and check your head bolt torque. re torquing might fix it but its highly unlikely.( no real tq spec, but 'search' for suspected/estimated tq spec). If it's f'd, see #3
3. suck it up and do a head gasket job, and timing chain/guides refresh


They all seem to seap a bit, I wouldn't worry about it. My Seta block was lightly coated with oil from the HG, but it ran fine, no mixing, 250k miles. The older (w201) MB I-6's ALL seaped from the HG, there was no stopping it.

[Chrisv006]

Im going ahead with the HG + timing refresh + profile gasket...

Also going to replace every hose/line in there. Gonna be a fun few days!