IntegD

Only has 1500 miles on motor....slight small oil seep at the front left corner of the motor near the block code. It is a thick *** cometic with copper spray. Would tightening down my arps from 65 to 75 help?? I really dont think its blown or anything....car runs fine, never overheats, no probs..etc.

ykracing

Its a relatively common thing with the Bseries...

Not that I think that it is acceptable, but seems to be common nonetheless....

I wouldnt worry too much about it, and I wouldnt try to overtorque your headstuds to fix it....
You might make things worse...

Next time you do a headgasket, just make sure to heavily coat that area to try to help it out...

My two cents.


[Modified by trboCIVIC&WRX, 3:46 PM 1/23/2003]

servion

I've been having the same exact problem... except its beginning to get worse... ti has spread to other places around the head (where the head meets the block). Would it be worth it to try and re-torque the head? Or could my head be in need of a new hasket and milling?

b18bturbo

you can try to retorque a few but i woudl jsut get a new gasket and service the head.

ninesecteg

if everything was assembled correctly I would say it's probably coming from the valve cover somewhere and running down the block. check the dist, vtec solenoid and valve cover seal. next time use a stock h/g.

IntegD

Its coming from the headgasket..nowhere else, and everything was installed correctly by me. The only reason I didnt go with a stock one was because the head has been milled and block decked(about 15k ago). I dont know how to clay a motor, and I didnt want any piston/valve contact so I got a thicker gasket to be safe. Thanks for the replies...

Farnsrocket

Dude, I have the EXACT same thing happening also on my B18C1. It's got 2300 miles on it since I rebuilt everything. It's so freakin cold out, I haven't had to make sure it's not the vtec solenoid or the distributor leaking.....I know it's not the cam seal.
If I go drive for about an hour or so, there will be about a teaspoon of oil down the block. One time I went out and there was nothing, but usually there is a little there. I have a stock size Cometic, copper sprayed, ARP's torqued to 78lbs. I kept thinking it was my dowels causing it, since I did not file them, but, I have been boosting 1 BAR and there are no problems with compression or loosing coolant. I will probably do a new headgasket this Spring and see what happens. It's more of an annoyance than anything else, but like someone said, not acceptable. If the dowels were the problem, wouldn't I have compression or coolant problems also?

ninesecteg

get rid off the cometic gasket. thats most likely your problem then. I had problems with them also.

Farnsrocket

That's what I have been hearing lately. Does anyone know the price for a bored out stock headgasket (84.5mm) from GE?? Or anyone else that sells them? I thought someone said a B20 CRV headgasket was 85mm.

Farnsrocket

UPDATE!!!
Well, I figured out my leaking problem.....my vtec solenoid was leaking, not the head gasket. I am gonna try to honda bond around the whole thing before I buy a new gasket. Anyone offhand know a price for that gasket, it looks expensive, with that screen and all.
IntegD, any news on your problem??

IntegD

Well..looks like my news is from the fawkin headgasket. This sux...it better just be a small leak. Im gettin tuned in a few weeks...

Farnsrocket

Sorry man, that stinks!
Hopefully it won't be a big problem.

earl

99 out of 100 times those leaks turn out to be the valve cover, vtec selenoid, distributor or cam seals etc. They all fool you into thinking it's the head gasket.

Boostfed

earls is right I have seen quite a few motors where original thought was the headgasket is leaking right at the passenger sisde front and comes to be a leaky cam seal, distributor or vtec solenoid. I think the next biggest scare is when you rip the oring on the water jacket and when it leaks it looks as if it is completely pouring out of the oil pan Then sometimes someone has a legitimately bad headgasket or seal or dropped sleeves. Good luck to you guys with probs hopefully it is one of the simple things.

tony1

Remember, NEW arp studs should be retorqued after a few heatcycles. This could be your problem...

servion

I'm about to get some new ARP studs.... when does this retorqe-ing need to be done?

I can see a lot of oil above and below my exhaust manifold on the head and block... and its dry directly below the valve cover so its not coming from there...


[Modified by servion, 4:09 PM 2/2/2003]

SpoonFed

good post... what do u do if u have an oil seeping valve cover... thats my problem... Oil always seems to leak thru the front of the cover... Do I Hondabond the hell out of it or what

boosted hybrid

Retorquing needs to be done since the metal "relaxs" a little bit. When i spoke to vince at GE about the proper torque specs for their headgasket, arp studs and blocks he told me that after 10 times the engine comes up to full heat after everything is installed, retorqueing needs to be done again. At first i thought it was bull, but after taking a metallurgy class recently i can see how the bolts will back off some of their torque.

Boostfed

According to ARP when first installing the studs you need to get them to operating temp, let cool down for 30 minutes then get to operating temp and cool 30 minutes. AFter 10 heat cycles , loosen and retorque headstuds one by one. I've had a couple of friends loosen and retorque one by one and some just torque down more as opposed to loosening them. ARP advised us of the 10 heat cycle method and then loosen and retorque. I have some AEBS Head Studs now and the instructions given just advise to pretorque to 10ft-lbs then 75 ft-lbs with oil, no heat cycles mentioned but I may call them before putting the motor back together. HTH

earl

I don't remember anything in the ARP catalog about retorquing studs. We do it just because it seems like good insurance.
However, I don't understand the theory of loosening them first. Seems like it would bring you back to your starting point, not to mention messing up your head gasket seal and possibly warping the head. I would not loosen them first for any reason. I could be wrong but that's my feelings.

Flamenco-T

when you loosen the head studs, you may have a chance of getting the headgasket wet and have a big leaks...

i did that before, and it leaks all over the place.....

I'd just re-torque them down...not loosen and re-torqued them...

I did mine at 70lb/ft. I am getting too many different answer for the arp studs with moly lube, I just find a median in the middle ..so far no problem...7000 miles and counting. I even went on 1500 miles road trip in 24 hrs, not a single problems...

stan

Boostfed

I never said this was in their catalogue this is what was told to my local shop when they called ARP, as I mentioned we just retorqued without loosening actually having the same thought as you Earl. Me and my machinist did everything we could without running into problems with my motor. Call ARP and aks them there heat cycle and retorquing sequence. Hopefully they're not like some companies that every time you call you get a diff answer depending on who you talk to. Someone else posted here that they talked to a rep from ARP at the Sema show and about the heat cycle and max torque was actually lower at 70-75 ft-lbs, just remembering posts from here previously.

IntegD

Ok..thanks guys. Your reassurance was all I needed....I have new arp's and I always heard to retorque them..but when I searched for info, I couldnt find anything on it. Im gonna retorque them soon.

turbosol

The instructions that came with my b16 arp's stated they should be retorqued after 10 heat cycles. I just don't feel like taking the cams out again, no problems so far. If I could find some gsr cams the arp's might get retorqued

SpoonFed

bump