I've had arp head studs installed the one by one method a while ago, roughly 10k miles(currently have about 27k on an 03 evo VIII). A small oil leak has developed on the back of the block. It's not a big enough leak to leave spots in my garage, but enough to have some oil stick on the back of the block. So I believe theres a small leak in the head gasket which is causing the oil to get on the back of the block. I've tested the compression of my engine and its 175,180,180, 175, so that seems in check.

So my question really is Should I replace the head gasket now, or wait for the leak to become worse or the compression becomes lower in a cylinder?

 

replace it now

 

yes, replace that ASAP. OEM headgasket

 

That's what I figure I should do, already have the oem head gasket, looks like I'll have a weekend project lol

 

its fairly easy, could knock it out in a few hours no problem

 

it took me 10 hours the first time, but i was going slow and triple checking my work