[i know this may or may not be the correct place but this is on a turbo motor]
so, so, so,
for those that may not know about my rebuild issues ive been having as of late (over a year to date), let me feel you in quickly

my ERL sleeved block was re-deck, aligned honed, ERL replaced their machined block guard, had the block reassembled locally and replaced the head gasket all due to water getting into the head and block. im having an internal leak that is quite frankly...upsetting me (nice words here).

since the deck was redone and the head was checked for flatness (not resurfaced) i thought everything was good. the previous head gaskets i was using was the GE head gasket and the last one is from JE. at one time i thought my dowel pin was the issue since one was chewed up pretty bad from trying to remove it from the head but that seems to not be the case. the only thing left to do due is to have the head resurfaced because something is off and that is only thing left that wasnt resurfaced. all the plumbing is correct so im not force feeding the block water where it doesnt belong. i havent found water in the oil on the dipstick itself but instead when i pull the valve cover off. the motor has about 8-13 miles since the rebuild and i dont want to drive it because i dont want to risk the bearings on the rod.

anyone have any advice or am going down the right path in hopes to fix this problem? here is a video of what im seeing under the valve cover.


motor:
96+ gsr
Cp 84mm pistons
turbo tuff rods
arp head studs (3 step to 80ftlbs)
used 3 GE head gaskets (those hoes are pricey) 84mm
current head gasket JE head gasket 84mm
turbo is water and oil cooled

 

seems that the head have a crack somewhere...

 

Do a simple compression test, even on a cold engine is fine.

Id get the head mag-fluxed I believe its called, where they check for cracks, but that means completel disassembly, no brainer ASSUMING the block doesnt have a sunken sleeve, which to be honest would be my first guess

Also have you tested the cooling system to see if it holds pressure or how fast it loses it in this case

 

the block should be fine, after ERL had it to do the rework on it. so i would imagine they would have checked for that.

 

ill mention that to the machinist to check for cracks if any else

 

Imagine they would check for it?? Nope. They sink and shift all the time, if the head was checked for flatness and a new gasket was used... Id be checking the block before spending $200+ to have the head disassembled and fluxed

 

Damn bro still? Should've went to Howard man. The block prob junk time for a new one. Good chance head is cracked too

 

yeah man...still
the block hasnt really been used to be honest but im unsure on the head being cracked. the head had a fresh build on it with valve springs and retainers, basically the whole nine.

 

how can one check for a sunk sleeve? i havent heard of ERL sleeves sinking. the local machine shop that reassembled my motor did my very first motor and they did a great job. i just dropped a valve due to over revving the motor.

 

Aluminum can't be Magna-Fluxed...non-ferrous, they can use a dye method.

 

was the head ever set up for ls/vtec? If so pm me I had a similar issue and it was related to when the head was tapped for the conversion

 

nah it wasnt. pure gsr

 

It could be the water port on the intake manifold where it mattes to the head. Ive seen the intake manifold not torqued and or warped causing coolant to leak into the intake ports and head. I always put a small amount of honda bond around that hole under and over the gasket when instaling the intake manifold of course im using a thermal gasket but the oem gaskets can leak and wouldnt hurt to apply some on a new gasket as well.

 

I was going to ask the same thing, but saw it was a true GSR. I've once tapped a head too far in and broke/went through the water jacket (has been repaired since then - 5 years and running still) - I'm assuming you were thinking the same thing, Lol.

 

do u use the oil water cooler in front of oil filter?

 

nah i dont have that since this is a 96+ block

 

tried that before i shipped out the erl block back to erl in september and even replaced the GE intake manifold gasket. the water still found its way in somehow. as a matter of fact, i had water in the #4 runner on the intake manifold.

i removed the head about an 1 hour ago and i had water all over the place but i think it started on the #4 piston. what was a little odd to me is that my IM gasket and the exhaust gasket had some oil/water on it. my local machinist is going to take a look at the head and do a resurfacing job on it. i requested for him to inspect for cracks in the head and he said he can pressurize it to see if there is a leak. the block is still assembled in my car and when i drained the oil (with only 9 miles) there was water mixed with it.

 

Did you have the head magnafluxed? Have you spoke with Howard ?

 

spoke to ar fab last week and they know there ****! actually i spoke to howard wife, damn she is very knowledge it just blew my mind. the head is with the machinist currently being pressurize to check for cracks and resurface. the machinist, the owner aka the soup ****, told me the the block was done really well and he can not see a problem with it when he assembled it. he also suggest that i reinstall this head before i tear it all done to rule out the block is bad. i have to take his advice into consideration, after he built my first motor and it was flawless besides the valve train in which i didnt upgrade. my new head gasket is on its way and i would imagine i would get my head back within a week or two from today.