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Leaking head gasket?

V

vertebrate

New member
So I have now finished replacing valve cover gaskets, lim gasket, and oil pan gasket over the last couple weeks. I think I still have a leak. The valve cover and lim gaskets were done about 10 days ago. I only wiped down the top part of the heads by the valve covers, I didn't get to clean the full back side of the engine after doing them. The car hasn't been driven more than 15 minutes since then.

Last night I got the oil pan and gasket back on and replaced hoping that that would be the end of the leaks. I just got out there and I have some oil on the floor, under the backside. I checked the valve covers, and they look clean and dry right under them. The oil definitely appears to be coming from higher than the oil pan. So I'm wondering if there is anywhere else the leak could possibly be coming from other than the head gasket?

The gaskets were all leaking for quite some time, so a good bit accumulated on the back of the engine. How long would it possibly be dripping oil for? I'm thinking it would need to have a steady source, but I'm really hoping for something other than head gaskets here.

After I get the subframe back on tonight and can get it into the driveway I'm going to get under there with some degreaser, and try to wash it all off. Hopefully it will all go away, and my problems will be done, but I'm not counting on it.
 


There is no pressure in the oil areas of the head. This means that you need to run the car for more than 15 minutes when you take it to the car wash and clean that thing down.
 
Bill, you mean drive for 15 min after cleaning before checking for leaks, right? If you mean before, I'm curious why that would be.
 
dsmuts, I know the 3800 has a reputation of not blowing head gaskets ever. So I'm hoping that's the case. I just don't know where else this oil would be coming from.
 
I've had the front main seal leak. Very very slowly, and took me ages to track down. I've also had the oil filter adapter leak where it attaches to the block.

That's all I've got since you replaced the most common gaskets that go.
 


My adapter gasket seems to be good. I have heard about the front and rear main seals going. How exactly do you track those down? They also require engine removal to replace, don't they?
 
The rear does, the front doesn't. You just have to pull the crank pulley on the front.

I ended up letting the car run until it was warm, then held it at 3k rpm for awhile to get the juices flowing. Shut her down, jacked up the pass. side, removed the tire and got under there with a flash light. I saw that the block/oil pan right behind the pulley looked wet, and then after a few minutes of looking around, 1 drop of oil dripped off the rear edge of the crank pulley.
 
I mean..if you had leads and only ran the car for 15 minutes max. Likely there's still a ton of crap on it. Go clean it.. run it for a bit more than 15 minutes. Likely it's cured. Or your VC gasket fell out of place when you did it.
 
Got it cleaned, and driven a bunch over the last 2 days, and no oil anywhere so far. So happy about that! Thanks for the help and suggestions guys.
 
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