moochie972

I finally got my car back from the shop, and now I'm having oil problems.......

The other day, I was showing off my setup to a couple of guys at work and one of them noticed that I have some oil weeping going on around the head gasket at the front right corner (if you're standing in front of the car looking down at the motor). I also noticed some oil moisture around the valve cover, oil pan and drain plug (I'm running the moroso 4qt. pan). I'm assuming that maybe a new crush washer or two might do the trick at the drain plug, but I don't know about the rest. Is this normal? Do gaskets that see oil pressure need lubrication before installation like an oil filter? If that's the case, it would make a little more sense. I've never had a boosted car before, so I kind of don't know what to expect. Any and all help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

SilverEk3dr

I've seen a lot of headgaskets seep oil. Slowly but surely. Not that big of an issue unless its pouring out.

The other issue that you might have is with your crankcase. Need to make sure your not building up crankcase pressure under boost. That will certainly not help things stay sealed.

moochie972

How do I check for crankcase pressure?

moochie972

The other problem I forgot to mention in my OP was that on the way home from work (22 miles interstate, about 3 miles stop and go/city driving) it started running a little on the warm side. Not way up there, but I watched the needle creep a bit over half. As soon as I saw it I cranked the heat and it came back down. Turned the heat off and about 10-15 mins later, it started climbing again. I checked my coolant and it was full at the radiator, but the overflow was damn near empty so I topped that off. Coolant and thermostat are brand new OEM.

SilverEk3dr

make sure the fans kicking on, and also might wanna do a compression/leakdown test to see if you can find any engine issues.

miller

You need to bring that car to someone and have all that fixxed. Headgaskets dont leak, if they do something is wrong. The car running hot is a whole other issue. It seems like you have a bunch of issues and probably will have more in time that have not surfaced yet.

moochie972

Yeah, I kinda figured.I guess I was hoping that maybe this was something that was common among boosted cars. Here's the goofy thing though...I checked the oil level about 10 times yesterday, and it didn't seem to drop at all. I didn't drive it today, and this afternoon I turned it on to let it warm up and then I changed the oil, hoping to at least solve the drain plug issue. I used the crush washer off my old drain plug and that seems to have helped alot, but if I let it sit for about 20 mins and then run a clean white rag along the bottom of the drain plug, I'll get a little spot of oil. Turned it on to build pressure, let it warm up to see how my coolant was acting (it's still full up to the neck and my fan kicks on just fine) and as of right now, my oil level is right at the full mark. I dunno...it's just wierd. Hopefully I'll be able to recruit another shop to take a look at it. It just sucks. I've been wanting a boosted civic for about 10 years and now that I finally have one, it's giving me such a headache. Think the head might need re-torqued? I'm running ARP head bolts with an OEM Honda Integra head gasket.

miller

Its really hard to tell you without seeing where it is leaking from, i would check the cam seals on either end, alot of people think the gasket is leaking and the oil is just trickling down th head from the cam seals and it seems as though its the gasket and its not that at all. Just clean everything with a can or two of breakclean and sit there and watch it closely till you see where it is coming from. Sometimes its like watchin paint dry but it has to be done.

moochie972

If I clean up where I think it's leaking from with brake cleaner, is there a chance that brake cleaner can contaminate stuff? And I don't think it's the cam seal...I replaced it with a golden eagle cam seal. Anyone have any other thoughts? Has anybody experienced something like this with a fresh build?

philafelman

ive had an issue with the valve cover gasket leaking and seeping down to the headgasket area, where it pooled up. with a fresh build the oil is ultra clean, make sure that the oil is not coming from above the headgasket.

moochie972

Yeah, that's a possibility I haven't thought of. I'll have to check that out. I was looking at that last night and looked like it might be leaking from there, but it's so damn hard to tell because it's all so shiny and fresh oil in a fresh build is uber clean. I wish there was some sort of harmless additive that you could put in your oil and see leaks without a light gun. Anyone ever do something like that? Thanks for the suggestion phil.

95civicgsr

why not get some engine oil dye and a uv light? you can get it from autozone for around 5 dollars for an ounce bottle, if you dont have a light they are rather cheap as well. add half the bottle to your oil then drive it for a short distance. once you park it use the uv light to look for dye,itll help you find where the leak is coming from. good luck with it.

philafelman

i was gonna say, you could put oil dye in there and look for the leak....much like a/c dye. funny though, when this happened to me, we replaced the head studs and gasket 3 times before the "derrrrr" factor kicked in. the dye is a good idea though because you probably wont be able to see the oil as it is so clear.