Popped my throttle body/UICP coupler today. When I was fixing it, I noticed some dampness on the left side of the engine, by the cam gears between the head and block. Curious, I took the cam gear cover off to see if the cam seals were leaking and dripping down or it was indeed the headgasket





You can see the seam under the "A" looks like there is some oil residue. The was also some residue on the inside of the cover itself, only very little toward the bottom of the cover. It looks and smells like oil.

I have no other tell tale signs of a bad headgasket. Haven't done a leakdown or compression test, but the car is strong, no white smoke. I do get a hint of leaking coolant from time to time and haven't be able to find a leak, but this looks like only oil. Haven't needed to add any coolant. No overheating. So I'm thinking if in fact it is leaking, it's leaking externally. I'm thinking that there is an oil passage there and it's seeping oil outwards, but the cylinder is still sealed.

Anybody see this before?

My only experience is replacing a headgasket on a D16 and a K24. They were both over heating, oil and coolant cross contamination, not heat in the cabin, air in cooling system, etc. All the usual signs.

 

If it's a stock head and block with no aftermarket head studs ...I would pull head get MLS head gasket arp studs and a weekend to replace.

It's leaking oil and burning a little coolant now ....in a matter of miles or months it will go really bad....just do it now so you don't warp your head when it finally overheats.

Good luck man!

 

Mine does the same on the driver's side of the block right underneath the throttle body. So far still holding up with perfect compression and leak down! I am personally just letting it go until I can pick up a few other goodies.

 

What I'm going to do is clean it off and continue to drive the car and see how fast the leak continues. I'm going to get prices on parts and see if I feel likendoing this myself. All of my heavy duty experience is with Honda's. I really never touch my own car much other than to do bolt-ons and maintenance.

Is there a detailed how-to on a headgasket install? I want to try and keep the intake manifold in the car to avoid dealing with the bracket and vacuum lines. The headgasket I changed on a k24 I did this and it was basically a cake walk. But for some reason the 4g63 intimidates me haha.

I know since it's seeping on the outside it's only a matter of time before it leaks into the cylinders, but how long? Days, weeks, months, years?

 

the exact same thing happened to my car, same location.
Evo 9 head gasket (5 layer), MAP L19/H11 headstuds @ 105ftlbs.
I'm just in the process of pulling my engine apart and seeing where it was leaking from (internally)

 

Well I'm in the process of doing a leak down test as I type this in my phone. Cylinders 1,2,3 all have less than 15% leakage. Which is acceptable. The leak I see is by cylinder 1. Cylinder 4 has 28% leakage. Accruing to the leak down tester, up to 40% is acceptable but a difference of over 15% indicates a problem.

I think I have a small internal leak in cylinder 4. I noticed when I took the spark plug out the top of the piston had a damp spot. Nothing serious but no other piston had this.

Right now I had the tester set up on cylinder 4 with a coolant funnel attached to the radiator cap checking for bubbles of the coolant to rise. So far after 5 minutes there are no bubbles and the coolant hasn't raised. I'm almost afraid it's a ring problem

 

on my 04 when i had it, it also had a oil leak coming from the head. I installed arp studs and a new head gasket after i did my cams that when the problem arose. I drove it with it leaking until the day it got totalled and never had a problem with it overheating or lack of power only had to top it off once in a while.

 

Is there a specification of cylinder leakage? I've been trying to find a specific specification on Google and haven't found a thing. I did the leakdown test at 100psi. Like I said, the gauge on the tester shows that up to 40% leakage is "Normal" up to 60% is "Moderate" and higher than 60% is "High". But I'd think that certain engines or manufactures have their own specifications, as they do for compression tests. I did not do a compression test by the way.

I've narrowed it down to there being an issue. The headgasket is leaking externally by cylinder 1 and under the cam gears. Cylinder 4 has more 15% more leakage than 1, 2 and 3. So it could be the headgasket leaking internally. However, no bubbles from the radiator, and the coolant level didn't rise with cylinder 4 filled with 100psi making me think that though there is more leakage, it's still not enough to cause an issue, maybe still "in spec". At 100psi in cylinder 4, I popped the oil cap off and could hear a hissing, leading me to believe there could be a ring problem... big sad face But then again, at 100psi, it's almost inevitable to leak past the rings slightly. I did not hear and leaking from the intake or exhaust pipe, thinking a bent valve or something.

I really don't know what the actual issue is, other than that there is something going on in cylinder 4. Da ****..... I'd hate to replace the headgasket, put it back together and it turn out it WAS rings. I could spend a few extra hours while the head is off and re-ring it, but don't want to if I don't have to.

Also, how big of a pain is it to leave the intake manifold IN the car?

 

You don't need APR's for your power level but if you do a head gasket might need to replace yours if they are over stretched past spec.

Doing this all on warped surfaces does nothing anyway so verify the straightness of your head and block.

If you did a leak down did you not find out where your leak was coming from? Rings, head gasket, valves, guides?

 

Do a compression test.

 

how the oil look? milky or bubbles?

 

with mine, the water and oil is perfect.
compression ratio came up at 160psi across all 4, cold and hot.
2.3 with CP 9:1 pistons. GSC S1 cams on a Mivec Head.

 

I thought about headstuds. I know I don't need them. But who's to say I won't make more power someday? Not to mention, I didn't look at prices, but I'd venture a guess that APR headstuds are cheaper than OEM bolts. And I'd most likely want to replace them since they're torque to yield. It's usually recommend to replace them. Checking the straightness is a must. I got lucky on one headgasket I replaced I just cleaned it up and slapped the head back on.

Oil and coolant are not cross contaminated.

And no, I couldn't find specifically WHERE the leak is, other than the fact that cylinder 4 leaks 15% more than 1, 2 and 3. I'm not to concerned on the amount of leakage, but more so the difference.

I forgot to mention, when I did the leakdown test on cylinder 4 and found a problem, I took a small amount of oil and poured it into the cylinder. I cranked the engine for a few seconds to hopefully seal the rings better if they were leaking. The results came back the same. So I don't think it's rings, but it's still a concern as I'm not sure if that tricked really worked.

Again, I listened to the tail pipe and at the air filter for leaks checking for a bent valve or carbon build up on the valve seat. I have no reason to have a bent valve as I never rev past 7200 RPM intentionally. Have the limiter set to 7500 RPM anyway. Thinking back, when I listened at the air filter, I never opened the throttle body... I'll give that another try.

Also, I'll do a compression test tomorrow and see how it comes up.

I'm leaning towards headgasket as there is DEFIANTLY a leak externally around cylinder 1, why couldn't it be leaking internally in cylinder 4? Plus there was some dampness on the piston that I could see through the spark plug hole. I was just thinking I'd see some bubbles in the radiator with 100psi in cylinder 4. Like I said, maybe that amount of leakage really isn't an issue... but jeez, a 15% difference is significant. I just don't want to go through all this trouble doing my headgasket and it not be it.

Where can I find the specs on head/block straightness so I can check for either being warped?

Any parts suggested I replace if I do replace the headgasket? ARP studs and headgasket are the two obvious ones. I was going to get the IM and EM gaskets, but I decided l'll probably pull the manifolds with the head. Was going to get a timing belt kit. I'm at 48k miles, it's due at 60k. Maybe I'll wait. Hell, maybe I'll wait to replace the gasket until I'm sure it's bad.

I get flustered when I have to work on my own car. I don't know what's wrong with me.

 

.003 would be maximum for straightness. Rings may be too far gone for oil to help them seal.

Did you do leakdown hot or cold? How many miles on the car?

 

True, but if the rings really were that far gone, I would think there would be drivability issues, and there aren't. The car pulls as hard as it ever has. If the rings are in fact the problem, I guess I'l be yanking the oil pan off as well. I'd like to avoid this as I'll be fixing, whatever the problem may be, in my parents garage. Headgasket, rings, or both.

48k miles and the leakdown was down when he car was warm. Not operating temp, but it wasn't 100% cooled down either. I know this could have an effect on how much leakage there would be for all cylinders, but it shouldn't effect the difference between cylinders.

Thanks for the spec