Mine was leaking in same area,seemed to be after swapping to ARP head studs,so after a year of it leaking I installed new O.E. head gasket.Was good for a few months,now starting to seep again.BTW,this is where the oil passage is that feeds the head/cams,back side of engine,corner past #4 cylinder.I have also seen this leaking on other Evo's as well,some with studs,some stock.As far as anti-freeze is concerned,I always have used O.E. mitsu stuff(long lasting) is what they put in your car from factory,very deep green in color.You can put anything you want in it,it will not damage your cooling system,just don't put Dex-cool or a clone of it as I see that stuff causing soooooo many leaks in G.M. cars,and they use it from factory(don't know why it causes or helps cause leaks,but it does)Prestone is fine,I just am in favor of using O.E. stuff,but you get that way working in a dealershipHope this helped.

 

I have the same exact problem. Again, EXACT.

I have a race next week and I went under my car today to change my oil, TC and so on when I found some oil on the pan.

I have no idea what could cause it as I ran a compression check and I got

182 182 182 182

If it was a head gasket I am sure my compression will be screwed (Chris my friend agreed on that). If it can leak oil it will leak air.

I cleaned it tonight to see if where it’s leaking from exactly. I have Head studs installed by Dyno4mance. Does anyone have a fix for this issue?

Thanks

 

 

Nothing has changed on my end here. I've seen this now on just about as many OE head bolt cars as ones with headstuds (some as little as enough to just get dust to stick, and some like mine where the back side of the engine always appears wet)... I noticed the problem on my own Evo a while back. For the life of me (without tearing components off the car), I can't figure out where it is coming from. I too have zero loss of compression, or mixing of fluids. It never manifests itself in "lost oil" on the dip stick. I always told myself that I'm going to yank the intake manifold, so I can get my big *** back there and see. However, I've never had the down time to do it.

 

Zeus I hope you figure it out.

Not sure what sensor it is but I saw a sensor right on top where it appears not be screw all the way in. NOt sure if this is the problem.

I honestly think the problem is the headgasket and in my case was caused from the 1 by 1 head stud method. There could be a small HG leak on some cars with OEM stud which may explain the leak. Synthetic oil will sip through the smallest leak.

I never saw this until I did the ARP head stud install. I install the stud with allen wrench and tighten it by hand. I wish I would have used a rachet to tighten it all the way down. Last week I remove the valve cover and loosen the nut and retighten the stud using a rachet. I was surprise to see how much more it tighten using the rachet.
I have not gone under the car to see if the oil is still dripping. Either today or tomorrow I'll check it out.

 

Zeus,

Thank you very much for you help. I just can’t see where the oil is coming from?
I am surprised that you have the same leak and you are noticing no loss of oil on your dipstick. I mean this oil has to come from somewhere right?

I think I am noticing a bit of loss but on normal driving I can’t see more than .5 quart per oil change. I am just soo lost because the block is 100% sealed from the back except for the oil pressure sensor which is right on the driver side on the bottom of the block and the knock sensor.

For the love of god I just want to know where it’s leaking from as its becoming challenging job now.

About the head gasket how can we explain that the compression is fine (182 all across) and there is a leak from here?

Again if it leaks oil it will leak much more air

 

Well guys the only thing on the back of block that has anything to do with oil are the following

Oil Pressure Sensor
Knock Sensor - Nothing to do with oil but is on the back of the block

Balance Shaft Bolt - Basically just to hold the balance shaft in place to take off the nut. There are 2 of these bolts 1 in the front and 1 in the back but they do go all the way through the block into the crankcase so its possible to leak oil of of them.

Besides that there is the valve cover gasket and the valve cover overflow tube that drains water or whatever substance gets into the top of the valve cover.

Everything else that runs in the back has to do with vacuum and water lines. Definetly a weird problem specially when more and more people are noticing it.

I would have to put my money on the Valve cover gasket leaking, or the oil pressure sensor leaking though. If the head gasket was leaking i believe you would see some sort of dip in compression on one of the cylinders. And its not like a part of the headgasket could have broke off leaving a seal around the cylinder and not around the oil gallies since the evo headgasket is copper.

Keep us updated! and Good Luck!

Chris

 

To add to the discussion, I've seen the same problem on Evo's that the head was lifted to replace the headgasket/install head studs...

 

For the love of god where is it leaking from? I have a race and I am soo worried as my BMW is not ready and the R32 is a heavy pig ..

I cleaned mine last night (1 hr of cleaning) so it was pretty clean. I drove the car today so I will jack it up and report back to you guys.

Wish me luck


Chris you are the one to build my engine bud be ready 

 

I talked to my friend today he is a professional mechanic and he built couple EVO engines. He said that I should clean it very well and see if it will leak again or where see it’s leaking from. He said the Head Gasket might leak and still get good compression. However, he hardly doubts it’s the HG. He believes that it’s the valve cover gasket which I did check over and over again and I have no leaks there.

I will report back

 

Usually you can yank the intake manifold or exhaust manifold off and put your finger up underneeth the lip of the head and you will feel the oil. On EVO motors I have seen this it will be more prone to the back of the motor than the front. Why I don't know it is just how it seems but it does indeed come from the head on the examples I have delt with. Compression allways tests out ok , nothing ever mixes or if it does it is so slight that you don't notice it.

 

What if I put so much stress on the car racing it?

 

I can say that I haven't seen a headgasket completely fail from this. But I also can't say that it isn't possible, it would depend on how bad the leak was. If it is a dripping leak after a few miles then no I wouldn't do it. For the most part as long as you can keep an eye on things such as Oil PSI, Coolant Temp and their condition you will proabably be ok but their is nothing wrong with not risking it.

One EVO I saw this on, the owner had no idea until I showed him and it was a car that street raced and dragged raced very often and it was still just a slow leak issue, this was on only one car that I knew personally that all conditions meet.

 

Mhyar:

Call me tonight and give me your address and ill send you this headgasket. I have acouple laying around from when i buy gasket kits. That way you at least have another head gasket if you need it also i have a new valve cover gasket and a couple sets of head studs too if you need them just let me know.

But i still dont believe that its the headgasket. And by no means GTVEVO am i doubting your knowledge. So please dont get offended!

What you can do Mhyar is pull your valve cover off and just make sure your head studs are torqued to spec. And if it is coming out of the head you should be able to reach your hand under the intake manifold and feel if there is oil that high up the block. It will be cramped but i know you can do it

Chris

 

I will call you tonight bud.

Thanks everyone. I will race it this upcoming week and let everyone know how thing are going. I will be going home in a bit and jack the car up and see what the results are. I will double check my valve cover gasket as I trust Chris.


We all need to get to the bottom of this.

By the way my HS were installed by Dyno4mance and the guy seemed very nice and knowledgeable and he only torqued them to 65 as he used some kind lube and many agreed with him.

What do you guys think?