Hey guys, I just noticed tonight my car strated leaking oil. I thought maybe it was the oil pan gasket or something but after looking into it more and pulling my header heat shield it seems to be coming from the head gasket. I even pulled the valve cover and timing belt cover and there is not a drop of oil on the side of the engone. Is it possible for the head gasket to leak oil and not have water in the oil? THe car has never over heated so what might cause the problem? I am posting a pic of the area most of the oil seems to be coming from. Excuse the photo quality please. Notice the fresh oil under the power Steering bracket on the block. Anyone have suggestions? I am not opposed to changing the head gasket but was wondering if this is the problem.

 

looks like a valve cover gasket, take a better pic so We could see

 

It appears your valve cover gasket is leaking.

Are you replacing the valve cover gasket each time you remove the valve cover?

 

Headgasket.

What are the compression numbers?

To answer your question you can have a blown headgasket w/o oil in the water or vice versa.

EDIT: Looking at the picture a second time it looks like there is some dirty oil around the nut on the valve cover ...really need a better picture to be sure.


[Modified by coquinn, 11:47 PM 2/1/2003]

 

Trey, hopefully it's just leaking from the corner of your valvecover.
When was the last time you "played" with it?

Is that a little dab of some sealer between the head and the valvecover in that pic?

 

well I hope for your sake its not the head gasket. Hopefully its just the valvecover seal and you can put a lil hondabond on there and that should fix it.

get rid of that power steering so we can see better

 

Yes, you could loose some oil from the headgasket and not coolant. However the more common spot is the other side (tranny side) in the front. It is hard to tell from the picture where that is coming from

Mattj

 

hope its a $7 valve cover gasket seal and not a headgasket
ugh...having to pull the cams, etc...

 

pulling the cams are not exactly hard if it is the headgasket, no big deal imo. can't really tell from the pic though.

 

any oil between where most of the oil is sitting and between the valvecover? It does look quite leaky around the one nut... could be that, and/or the valvecover gasket. G/L.

 

I've had the same thing before...my GSR has about 105k miles on it, so I know it well...

It's the valve cover gasket, replace it, and use some extra hondabond around the cam gear area and such.

 

if its a noticable leak(ie you can see the trickling) then its pretty bad
otherwise its just what we like to call "weeping"
the older the head gasket is, the more you will see it.
It may not be causing any problems just maybe a mess.

 

Judging by the picture, the leak is above the head gasket, so the head gasket is probably o.k. Valve cover gasket or cam seal is a likely bet. If it is the cam seal, replace the valve cover gasket and plug seals too, because you have to remove the valve cover to replace the cam seals.

 

cam seal.. cover valve...

one of these

 

Ahh...yeah, it may definitely be the cam seals too. I didn't really think of that at the time because it's an ITR so it probably has less miles than myself.

When you pop off the valve cover, it will obvious where the leak is then...just make sure you have a couple cam seals, valve cover gasket, and hondabond handy when you do.

EDIT: AND a new plug for the other end of the exhaust cam.


[Modified by cheezthis, 8:29 AM 2/2/2003]

 

trey the easiest thing to do is a get a new valvecover gasket and try it out. it will cost you like 15.00 tops for everything you need. if it works, then great if not, time to move onto something else. are the grommets for the valvecover worn at all? how many times have you pulled the valvecover off? how much oil are you losing? it really looks more valvecover related than a HG. get back to us and we will help rectify the situation for you.

 

Hey guys, thansk for all the input.

Here is what I did last night that I should have expounded on.

I saw a small spot on the driveway so I pulle th ecar in figuring oil pan gasket or something like that. THe oil couild be seen behind the AC brackert so I knew it was from above.

I pulled the valvecover and timing cover to see if I coudl pinpoint the leak. THe valve cover is new (less than 5,000 miles). There is not a drop of oil behine the timing belt covers so I kind of ruled out a cam seal. I added some hondabond to the valvecover and drove around for a bit. Came back and within an hour it had mae a big spot on the ground.

I took a few more pics and I am of the opinion it is the head gasket. This stresses me out a little but I think I can do the work. WIsh some We Todd's were closer.

Here are some more pics for you guys top look at.

Also it seems I lost about 1/2 a qt last night. I don't think it has as much to do with Mileage as it does pressure so revving it up seems to be the worst thing for it.

 

ok, so I was also wondering. Is it possible the Head Bolts have come loose and the head gasket is ok? Just looking for the simple stuff before I go ripping the head off.

Guess it si time to call one fo the Expo sponsors for a thin head gasket.

 

How long did it take for that puddle to form?

Have you ever had the head off before?

 

Trey, looks like you've found that silver lining ... time for a thinner head gasket!

Sorry to hear that you need to take it apart. Ed

 

I had the same problem last year on the opposite side of the head. I also thought it was the head gasket at first. Turned out it was one of the brass allen head plugs wasn't tightened all the way. At higher RPMs oil would spew out. Not sure if there are any brass plugs on that side of the head, but you may want to look.

 

Head has never been off. THat puddle actually formed in about an hour after I got home. GOt no bigger from 11pm to 10 am (overnight).

 

what plugs are we talking about? Have a pic? That would be a nice ending. Any chance this is a loose head bolt?

 

Not very likely... although, thats completely opinionated. Atleast, I've never "seen" it before. I've heard the, "yeah it happened to me." Especially if the heads never been off..

 

Trey, I would ask in the forced induction forum. They know all about headgasket leaks hehe.

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