So after some problems with oil getting in the coolant and after replacing oil cooler and water pump i decided to go all out and get the headgasket. I installed it with some problems but finally got it all back together last night. I started it up and I noticed it had a horrible noise starting because of the top end not having much oil in it since it had been sitting for awhile. So I finally got it started after 20-30 secs of cranking. Then it all sounded smooth.

The thermostat housing started to leak since it cracked when I was reinstalling it. I had already expected this so it was no big deal. I turned it off after about 3 minutes of idling and let it sit.

This morning I went to start it and oil started oozing by the headgasket even though I had not noticed this last night. It looks like it was oozing from these tiny ports (2mm diameter) above the head joint. These ports or holes were about a few mm from the headgasket.

Anyone know what could have gone wrong? The oozing is pretty steady and it's not spraying out but it's a pretty fast ooze of oil. The gasket was in the dowel pins and aligned. Maybe I didn't torque it enough. Or maybe it slipped a little when I set the head on the gasket. I doubt the latter since the dowel pins keep it in place pretty well.

I'm just wondering what these "ports" are. If they are a saftey bypass for oil if the path is blocked by the gasket. Another issue I had when putting it back together was timing. I believe I got it right and had a buddy double check it. Could timing cause an oil leak if the valves aren't opening at the right time?

I'm just really confused on what direction to take with this problem. I was thinking of retorqueing the head bolts some but I don't want to shear them off. I was also thinking of taking the whole head off again and checking the gasket.

Thanks for any help.

 

Do you know what torque you were using on the cylinder head bolts? I believe the manual calls for 35 ft/lbs (4.8kg/m). Might be worth double checking your torque values on those bolts.

 

Can you put some pictures up of where the oil is coming out?
Is there a chance that you've damaged the mating surfaces when removing the old gasket?
I'm at a bit of a loss to guess any further without seeing exactly where the leak is.

 

I'll tear it down again in a couple hours and take pics. The mating surfaces I cleaned with very fine steel wool. Just to get some gunk that was on it. The problem is it doesn't look like the gasket joint is leaking it's just above it where this tiny hole is. That's why I was wondering if you guys knew anything about it. I'll post pics soon.

 

Nevermind but thanks for your help. That hole apparently is a drain hole for the spark plug well. It sits about a couple mm above the headgasket because that's the lowest point for water/oil to drain from in that well. It was leaking oil only from that port because of an incorrectly seated valve cover gasket that goes around that spark plug well. Each spark plug well has one and it sits right below the exhaust.