My friend bought this car a year ago that had oil leaking from between the head and block right near the tranny, its a b20 block with a b16 head. To make a long story short we have tried everything we could to fix the issue and 6 head gaskets later there is still oil leaking.

What can be causing this? Here is a list of what we have tried so far:

-used both GE and Cometic headgaskets
-decked the block
-bought a new (used) block and decked that
-bought a new (used) head and milled that
-run with dowel pins and now running without dowel pins

The bastard does not leak it freaking SPILLS oil still, this engine has less than 100 miles on it, i feel so bad for my friend he is about to lose his mind

Here is the setup:
-B20 block 84.5mm and decked
-B16 head ported/polished and resurfaced
-ARP head studs torqued to proper sequence and force

This is a turbo motor with a GT35R, forged pistons and rods.

 

vtec solenoid gasket? distributor o-ring? valve cover gasket?

i don't think running without dowel pins is the way to go. how do you know the head is proplery aligned and isn't gonna move around?

 

I will check the vtec selonoid and dizzy gaskets/orings, i don't think it can be the VC gasket but i will check that too, we will try anything at this point.

I agree, it was a last resort, we figured we tried just about everything else

 

you've most likely left the oil inlet in the head unplugged. you need to tap this 1/8 and put a plug in it. that is where your oil is most likely coming from.

reinstall your dowel pins, they align everything. noone can justify running without them.

 

Thats done also, it actually has the whole welded up and the head was resurfaced.

 

i actually run a small thin bead with my finger of high quality RTV sealer around the oil drain holes on the deck of the block and on the surface of the head. it helps a bit. i think it's the alignment of the oil drains from the head/block that is slightly off especially when using a vtec head on a non-vtec block.

but it should not be spilling out. most of the ones i see have a little oil leaking out from that corner. i usually just ignore that and call it normal.

another thing you should check is the modification of the dowel pin holes. some machine shops don't have the exact/correct size bit to properly drill the dowel pin holes. they are sometimes looser than they are supposed to be. also if the drilled hole is not perfectly centered then you may run into head/block alignment issues.

 

you need to clean it up.. and i mean really clean.. then run it and trace the source of the leak. it's kind of hard to diagnose where it's coming from without actually seeing it in person.

I know i'm getting some leakage from the valve cover gasket because I forgot to put RTV at the half circle cam areas. check that and the dizzy/vtec solenoid area

 

I've had cam seals do that, it pours down from the rear one and flows to the head-block junction in front and looks like it's coming out of the head gasket.

 

i had this problem on 3 different builds i did for some of my guys, i did all those tricks that you guys already mention, i cleaned all up and follow the trace and in all cases the oil was coming out of that particular spot in the corner of the block so far i gave up on it, but i hope you guys share some light, buy the way my ls/vtec is doing it too!!!

 

non-VTEC i will check what you have mentioned, i know a little oil is normal but this is like a leak, there are puddles in my friends driveway

rmcdaniels cam seals also a possibility, i need to make a list of everything you guys are saying, thanks a lot.

allhonda sorry to hear it, we feel your pain, 6 head gaskets for us man, you know how much they cost each, my friend is really upset, we used the same machine shop and my b16 is fine...

 

I also smear Hondabond HT along the peripheral edges. It fixed that leak, but now it leaks from the distributor.

 

I hate when **** has to be difficult. Must definitely be frustrating.Hope you guys get it worked out. Make sure to have a few beers to celebrate when you figure it out.

 

few beers, hell we will kill a few bottles

 

Are you using headstuds or the oem headbolts?

Positive you're machinist is not off on the decking or milling?

 

studs, yeah i had two machine shops do it.

 

What dowels are you guys using? My friend had a problem with the Golden Eagle ones being a little too tall. He grinded them down a tiny bit and that solved his problem. Hope you find the leak. It's wierd that it does it with different blocks, heads, and gaskets. I had a similar problem with my LS/VTEC, turned out to be the VTEC solenoid gasket. I was using a the wrong gasket. I used an OBD1/2 style gasket on an OBD0 head. It was a pretty good leak. Good luck.

 

maybe its the dowels we are using, i will check that too, i will also check the gasket for the solenoid

 

with that being said what particular head gasket would someone use for a B16A2 head on a B16A block?

 

umm wouold that not be a friggen b16 head gasket or did mean to say waht gaskets do you use for a b16a head on a b20 block the answer to that is the b16 head gasket, you can use a CRV gasket but GE prefers the B16a gasket.

 

6000pounds b16a and b16a2 take the same gasket theres no difference there.

blinx9900 as far as i know you use the gasket that goes with the block not with the head

 

use the headgasket that goes with the head not the BLOCK

and a while back my lss vtec was leaking oil really bad when i put it together and i kept thinking it was cam seal but it was really the two giant allen bolts right behind the cam gears, they were loose because i had my head built and they must have forgot to tighten them.
you must use the dowel pins to make shure all the oil passages are lined up correctly.

 

hhhmmm ok so now im thinking about the deal with the head gasket, i have always seen everyone using the ls gasket on ls/vtec, even the the build that came out years ago on sport compact car mag. they use the ls gasket i even have that mag still, this is the first time i here otherwise. this my be the cause of the problem so anybody else has more info on the subject please ship in!!!!

 

I think you guys are on to something. x6 B16 headgaskets???(correct me if I'm wrong) I guess another $50 for a 84.5mm OEM CRV headgasket doesn't hurt to try at this point.