I apologize for posting this in the Tech area, but thought the H22 people could help better. After rebuilding my bottom end in the spring, I developed runability issues. I found several broken valve keepers, so I pulled the head to have better access to removing the valves. When I got the head off, I noticed the head gasket was soaked with oil on both sides. I used a multi-layer Cometic gasket and ARP head studs. I torqued everything in sequence and used the recommended 80ft/lbs from ARP. I noticed there were oil leaks and they seemed to be getting worse, but thought it was bad cam seals since you could clearly see it leaking from there. What would cause the head gasket to be covered in oil or leak so badly? The bottom end was decked and the head checked for straightness. Could it be the dowel pins, or maybe the wrong gasket?

 

possibly dowel pins.i would check and make sure the headgasket is the correct one just to be sure

 

Did you re-torque the gasket after heat-cycling the engine?

 

That I did not. It wasn't in any of the ARP literature to re-torque the studs, but after doing some researching, some people say you have to.

 

Usually it's the headgasket mfg that will specify it; not sure about Cometic specifically, but most recommend a re-torque.

 

I think I'm going to go with a different head gasket manufactuer, cut the dowel pins down, and re-torque after a heat cycle.