So my fresh rebuild has a weird leak. I noticed upon first startup a few days ago, but chalked it up then to being clumsy filling the oil. Now I just had the car heat cycle a few times and its first drive, and theres quite a bit of oil ontop of runner 4 and 3 flange and dripping down the block/transmission seam

My first instinct was it has to be coming from above, the valve cover gasket. But it appears dry there. Almost seems as it it is coming out of the exhaust? From inside the engine.... :willy_nilly::willy_nilly:







That is after about 30min of idling and break in. What do you guys think is going on?

 

Remove the exhaust manifold and spark plugs to see whether the oil is coming from the cylinders.

 

Removing the exhaust manifold is going to be al all day job if I have to do that, so crammed in this car everything has to come out

 

Remove the spark plugs and look into the cylinders for oil.

 

Well then just pop the plugs out and see how it looks. That much oil will be very obvious on brand new plugs.

 

Theres is no oil on the plugs at all.

Could it possibly be because the motor is a fresh rebuild and just needs the rings to seat? Ive only got 2 miles on it so far

 

Could maybe be a manifold leak and you see carbon build up + moisture or too much fuel from exhaust?

 

I installed an oil pressure gauge today, and my pressure even at idle is through the roof. This is a fresh build and my bearing clearances were loose so I went with 10W40 for first fill. Guess that was to thick lol

I was getting 70psi on cold idle.

im guessing Im blowing right through the seals, hope that doesnt damage anything in the 30 min I drove it.

Ill buy some thinner tomorrow, you guys think thats whats going on aswell??

 

question.
If its a rebuild, and everything is "new" even the oil, why is the leak color BLACK? shouldn't new/fresh oil be in a golden color?

also has the head been pressure checked? cleaned ? new seals? etc

fresh coolant or just water in the radiator?

 

Im guessing its black because it is being mixed in with the exhaust before leaking out, the oil on the dipstick is golden

The head was rebuilt yes, I dont know about pressure checked, but new seals, cleaned, valves lapped etc by a great shop

Its a 60/40 water/coolant mix