any leaks in that area are usually down to either crank seal /cam seals/ oil pump pulley seal or balance shaft pulley seal and it gets spun around as it hits moving parts. personally i would never ever use a sealant on a steel head gasket .

 

Bumping this up as Im losing more oil than before so I think my leak is getting worse or I'm beating on the car more.

I added an entire qt over the course of 3k miles. Same scenario remains where I would really like to figure this out myself that pay a mechanic not bc I dont have the money but rather bc I plan to build the motor in the next couple of years anyway so spending ~1g now doesnt make sense in my mind.

 

What about the possibility of the intake valve guide seals having popped up? I mention this because my exhaust VG seals popped up, and my motor was spewing quite a bit of oil into the exhaust manifold. English Racing said its more common for the EVG seals to pop up, but it might be worth checking the intake ones. Just need to remove the VC and get in there with a good flash light.

 

^What spurs that thought and please dont take that the wrong way, I'm simply curious? Is it the fact that I found oil in my IM or just by looking at the pictures that I've provided?

My car has 67k on it now but its got the stock head with the exception of HKS272's that I put in about 5 years ago now.

Its interesting that you mention that bc one time last winter during a really cold day, after work it was about 10 degrees outside and when I started the car there was a good amount of smoke that came out my exhaust. Once the car warmed up it was fine and its never done that since but when I researched what could have caused that I found people mentioning valve guides.

This incident may be unrelated to my oil leak but I figured it was worth mentioning.

 

If the seals on the intake valves pop up, I think there's a chance that reversion could push some of that oil into the intake manifold. Its a bit of a far-fetched idea, but perhaps its worth checking.

 

Hmm interesting that could certainly be something to further investigate. What would cause them to pop up like that? Im running the stock springs retainers etc in my head but my rev limiter is set at 8k and I do bounce off it while autoxing.

 

Its not common, but it does happen, at least on the exhaust valves. Maybe you have a defective seal? At any rate, its not too hard to check.

 

How would one diagnose a defective/ raised seal? Im guessing once I pop off the vc and take a deeper dive it will be pretty self explanatory?

And to add to that say I find that one of my valve guides has raised up. Is it as simply as pushing it back down or will it need to be R&R?

 

thery're obscured by the springs, so they are a bit hard to see. chances are that only one has only popped up (if any at all), so you'll have a basis for comparison. you could try pushing a raised one back down, but i don't know how easily that would go. better option would be to replace it. that requires pulling a cam, so not cheap.

 

Thanks for the information, I appreciate it. When I have some free time I will pull the vc and take a look. Adding to what you said I guess if I compare them to the rest if one is defective it will stick out from the rest.

If I have to pull my cams out Ill be swapping my HKS272s with some S2's springs retainers and going to town.

I'll let you know what I find when I have time to pull her apart. Thanks for your help

 

Heel2toe, if you remember I was having the same issue with the oil leak in the HG area.

I did just redoo my HG about 2 weeks ago, it bothered me that much haha. I used some sealant around the oil drains per a conversation with AMS. Knock on wood but I haven't seen anything seeping out yet (only 400 miles so far). I'll keep you posted though.

As for some blue smoke on a 10 degree morning, I probably wouldn't be too worried about it since it isn't reoccuring. The cold weather likely wasn't allowing the rings or valve stem seals to seal very well for a few seconds. I assume youve done a compression check at some point? If those numbers are good that would at least let you confirm your rings are still sealing well (leaky rings can lead to more oil consumption). IIRC you've already checked to make sure your turbo wasn't leaking earlier in this thread.

I did end up replacing my exhaust valve stem seals when I had the head off. looked like they were leaking a bit on a few of them (let me know and I can attach a picture). The stem seals where all in place, (supertech brand), but it appeared they were letting some oil through with only 10k miles on them). The intake side showed no leaks at all (supertech brand as well). You could pull your exhaust manifold off to check the exhaust valves for signs of leaks, it would be obvious if it was leaking enough to be a problem.

 

Hey bud thanks for following up, I appreciate it. Hopefully you replacing the GH was the root of your issue. That is still certainly in the back of my mind. If Im having leaky valve stem seals I think it would be my intake valves judging by the locating of the oil on the back of my block.

I will pull the vc and take a look when I have a moment. Its just tough bc this is my dd so I cant exactly rip the thing apart unless I know I can get it back together in a timely fashion. If you could attach a picture of what the leaking stem seal looked like that would certainly help.

Please keep me posted on the status of your oil leak and let me know if you find anything else noteworthy mentioning.

 

X Double, what sort of sealant did you use?

 

more than happy to help!

Heel2toe, see the attached picture. Note I had run some 110 leaded through which explains the white coloring on the valves.


ExViTermini, I used this permatex 300 stuff as I read some articles about hot rodders using it on heads. Also it says it's for heads etc as well. Note...I painted a very light coat around all of the oil drains, make sure to have the head ready with everything ready to drop on, you don't have a lot of time before it starts to dry...ask me how I know lol.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/21169141?w...353276&veh=sem

 

Thank you so much for the picture. You can call me Eric btw

So I see the oil seepage on that valve. There is no way that I'd be losing the amount of oil that Im loosing from a leaky valve stem. Doesnt mean that mine couldnt be leaking thus causing my initial oil in my IM but I find it hard to believe that it could be making that much of a mess.