Drivers side. here is a pic.. Check to see if there is oil on the bottom bolt.

 

Another possibility on the intake side is a cylinder pumping a little oil. Air not only goes in through the intake valves, it will also sometimes come back out. If oil is entrained it can enter the intake manifold.

 

thedru- I'll take a look but I doubt that bolt could be the issue since the oil is concentrated in the middle of the block

barneyb- if that were the case what's causing that to occur?

thanks guys keep the ideas coming!

 

Valve seal or oil control ring. As I recall, Dave Buschur wrote about losing an engine from one of the screws coming out of the throttle plate. This screw visited several cylinders.

 

I remember DB posting about that about a year ago. Ive got a Mil.Spec 65mm TB and the two screws are still intact.

If I've got a leak in the middle of the block on both the front and back wouldnt a hg most likely be the cause? The only other explanation would be that I have multiple oi leaks. Its slow enough that I never see oil on my garage floor and I need to add a little oil after a couple thousand miles so its nothing too crazy. The car runs great otherwise I have no known issues really.

I just dont like loosing oil so I would really like to figure out where its coming from. I know the symptoms of a hg failure and its not doing any of that.

My car has ARP headstuds that I insalled myself 40,000 miles ago and I pulled the head replaced the gasket and torqued them to spec. I also retorqued them after a heatcycle.

To the people who did headstuds the 1x1 method and experienced issues did they leak a little oil or have a complete hg failure?

 

Bumping this up. Does anyone have some input or advice that could help me diagnose the source of this leak?

 

At this point I would throw some dye in there and try and trace it. Oil can travel from far away lands and end up in odd spots..

 

I think that's what I am going to have to do. Ive never used the dye before but Ive heard about that trick to find the source so I think thats a good plan. Ill do that before my next oil change.

For the record to the people that did their headstuds 1x1 what kind of oil leaks did you experience? I pulled my head and did them the right way over 40,000 miles ago but I am wondering if what I am experiencing is similar to others.

 

Pull the head and replace the hg. you've just about convenced your self that the hg is the problem.. asides from the oil pressure sending unit, there isnt much else on the intake side of the enine to leak thats below the intake and above the oil pan on an evo 8.

That or just keep adding oil and enjoy your evo.

 

Well Im not positive that its the HG, im just not really sure what else it could be...replacing the HG isnt the end of the world but I just dont have the time right now to tackle something of that magnitude since my car is my DD as well.

Im curious what kind of oil leaks people experienced by their HG when doing the 1x1 method, since I figured this would be similar.

 

I wouldnt think it was a HG issue. I think you would have more sever symptoms if it were that. Does the coolant have oil in it? Does the oil look milky? Are you blowing white smoke out the exhaust? If not, I would focus my efforts else where. Start with dye in the oil and track it down. You do realize it's fairly normal for a turbo car to burn a half quart of oil over the course of an oil change cycle especially if you have some miles on the turbo. Oil gets past the seals in the turbo and gets pushed through the charge pipe and burned off. Same thing with valve seals.

Another suggestion would be going back to a stock PVC set-up for trouble shooting purposes to see how it reacts.

 

SR20DET- Thanks for chiming in, I hope you are a 4g63 guru as well. I agree that its unlikely a HG leak given its lack of symptoms but at this point I just dont know what else it could be. It has none of the usual signs. The car drives great so if it werent for the oil loss I would have no complaints. And yes I understand that its ok to burn a little oil but if I need to add oil to keep it within the desired range then that is not ok with me. The car never use to lose a drop of oil and thats how I think it should be. I think the most logical explanation is that there are a couple of different issues at hand that together are causing this loss in oil. It could be the turbo seals or valve seals.

I snapped a photo a little while ago of the front of my block where I am seeing some oil I think ill pull of the EM this weekend to get a closer look. That black stuff is sort of an oily carbon mess. Thats my best explanation. Anyway where could this possibly be coming from?

 

Bumping this up. Does this ^ photo given anyone insight as to where the leak could be coming from?

 

Looking at the last set of pics you posted I don't see any leak.... Just normal grease and grime. I would spray everything down with brake cleaner and get everything really clean...

 

But what would cause that oily sooty mess on there in the first place? I cannot find an actual source of the leak but rather just signs of on area of a leak.

I would go the dye route but Im a little hesitant and would like that to be the last resort. If I do the dye and I dont find the leak quickly then I'm sort of screwed as I only have a limited window until I will see the dyed oil in a bunch of different places.