diatibe24

Hi,

I have kind of a weird problem, well weird to me at least. My car runs fine boost pulls hard etc. I have oil leaking at what looks like the corners of between where the block and head meet. I am running 20psi of boost with a Cometics HG and ARP studs (granted I have "reused/torqued" them maybe 3 or 4 times) I wanna say I have the ARPs tq to 75lbs MAYBE 80lbs cant remember exactly. The motor is a B18B1 LS with a semi built bottom end (just pistons/wrist pins and rings).

Like I said car runs fine the only problem is visual right now, the oil leaking from corners. I googled around and didnt see much and nothing that I found was the exact problem of oil leaking from between block and head at the corners of where the HG is sandwiched. Any input as to what the problem is or how to fix would be appreciated.

2kdrift

I have experienced this many times, most people think its the headgasket leaking as I originally did

9 out of 10 times its gonna be leaking from dizzy o ring or vtec solenoid, replace those 2 gaskets before trying anything else. o ring is like 50 cents, vtec solenoid gasket is about $10 you can find both honda genuine parts on ebay or local honda dealer

does it leak on both corners or just distributor side?

TravisBiggie

clean with non chlorinated brake cleaner, and look for the source.

TravisBiggie

If oil seems to be seeping again, might be the gasket, if its in all corners.

was the deck of the block flat?

did you resurface the head?

did you use copper spray on your head gasket, or RTV/honda bond around the oil gallies? (not needed, but doesn't hurt)

diatibe24

Yea it seems to be in all corners. I know the head is flat I had it checked but do not know if the block is for sure. Yes I had the head resurfaced they took off very little like a thousandth from new. And lastly no I did not use any spray or anything just straight gasket.

diatibe24

B18B1

2kdrift

In that case cam plug, dizzy oring, and cam seals are all possible culprits. Clean off those areas as stated by others and check for leaks after about a day of driving if you want to verify this.

Apparently baby powder works well when tracing the leaks although I have not tried this method

boosted94gsr

Like the others said its more then likely coming from either the distributor o-ring, cam seals, or valve cover. Do you have a proper catch can setup? I just experienced the same thing ended up being the o-ring at the dizzy and the valve cover gasket. I cleaned the oil up with carb cleaner and now my motor is 100% leak free. Make sure you use a small amount of honda bond on the valve cover gasket in the right places.

diatibe24

I highlighted in the circled area where I am talking about with this engine example pic

diatibe24

Oh and here is my breather set up. Off the valve cover to the box style located where the battery goes

2kdrift

yup try what was stated, check for leakage at VC gasket, cam seals , cam plug, and dizzy oring. these can all cause the symptoms you are looking at. in retrospect VC would be the most likely since you have oil on both sides

TheShodan

iTrader: (14)

CO-SIGN.. Nice Diagnosis!

diatibe24

I tried all that, looked at all that etc. I know where it is coming from, my question is WHY is it coming from the place I have highlighted and circled.

There is no mystery as to where my oil is leaking from which for some reason seems to be everyone's focus on my thread?? I guess I wasn't clear in my description??

Where the head mates to the block where the HG is sandwiched oil seems to be seeping out at the four corners, by the power steering mounting bracket (facing you) is the worst spot. As it comes back the quickest after I clean it away.

2kdrift

We are simply suggesting the more probable and easier to fix issues. If you are absolutely sure its leaking from the head gasket the only fix is replacing the head gasket, but make sure you are certain about that before removing the head as it is a more expensive and time consuming repair

TheShodan

iTrader: (14)

Relax. This isn't Phone support for an appliance. We're trying to help, but there is only so much that an Interwebz can do based upon your description... FOR FREE, no less.

2kdrift.... Just let him figure it out at this point. He' s obviously frustrated, and it's time for more do on his part, and less talk.

Get back to us if you want after changing the head gasket. Let life teach.

diatibe24

Oh no lol I wasnt upset, after re-reading it I can see coming across a little b***chy. I was just kind of throw as to why responses were to where it was coming from when I stated I already knew. I was just asking to see if this might be an issue that comes up with boosted Hondas. I found on other forums after searching more that this is a semi common problem stemming from possible combination of HG thickness and having the head milled. The common solution seems to be using an OEM with copper spray on both sides and that can either fix it or cut it down a lot. It seems to be the oil return galley in the head at the corners (under I guess the added pressure?) can have have a tendency to cause leaking at those points under boost.

boosted94gsr

See post #691 for reference. If you end up replacing the head gasket...

https://honda-tech.com/forums/forced...086196/page28/

diatibe24

Oh wow! Cool, thanks, very helpful, there was a lot of good info in those pics. I decided to go this route and will mirror a lot of what he did in terms of tq specs and sealant. Logically that should help or fix the problem.

boosted94gsr

Yessir. Good luck and be sure to update with your results.

2kdrift

I wouldnt think boost has anything to do with it. Just to clarify my reasoning to my diagnosis, when you have leaks in the areas I have suggested it runs down the cylinder head (very hard to see) and lands on the corner. It will look like its seeping from the corner when it actually is not

diatibe24

That's cool, I see what your saying I went over the easy stuff first as from my original search thats the solution or possible alternative to look at that I found (I already checked prior myself). I looked at all that and it is bone dry from HG area above all the way around (I cleaned and double checked etc). I will be replacing cam seals, VC gasket, etc as I usually do when I have to do a tear down as the gaskets are super cheap to replace.

2kdrift

Gotcha, so my experience was I had the same symptoms (i was not able to "see" the leak either) replaced the said gaskets cleaned oil and magically the problem was fixed. So still worth a shot IMO. Headgasket replacement is a total pain to do

Sprockets

iTrader: (6)

I had this same problem on a brand new build and thought it was the headgasket. It turned out to be the valve cover and distributor o-ring. The leaks were very slight and difficult to locate.