[Third of a Herd]

I have changed a head gasket on a td42 and now have some oil leaking down the side of the block. Mostly leaking on the exhaust side. I used a ACL head gasket and torqued it down to specs in 2 stages as recomended. Any ideas as to why this would/could be leaking oil? I have done a compression test and everything seems spot on there and seems to be running great apart from the leaks. Do these need to be re-torqued once hot or somthing? Any suggestiuons would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

[ITS A FORD NOT A NISSAN]

how much oil ?

 

[Third of a Herd]

Not much really. I have only driven the car about 30 kms since fitting it. Its not running on the ground or anything but there is still a little bit there. I would have thought there should be no oil leaking? Thanks

 

[GU4.2ST-L]

could be residue oil between head/block or vice a versa have you tried cleaning it and rechecking after a drive?

 

[Third of a Herd]

I degreased and cleaned the engine bay on completion of the job then drove the car around 20-30 kms and notice there were some wet patches on the side of the block. I wasn't sure weather to just keep driving it and see how it goes or if i should be doing some further investigation. I'm wondering if there was some oil in head the bolts holes that has came out once gotten hot or something. as i did oil the threads of the bolts. Not sure really just seemed strange.

 

[ITS A FORD NOT A NISSAN]

I'm wondering if there was some oil in head the bolts holes that has came out once gotten hot or something. as i did oil the threads of the bolts. Not sure really just seemed strange.

thats what i was thinking , the main issue if this is the case is that you may get a hydrolic lock when tensioning the head bolts which will give you a false tension reading
just wondering if it would be worth removing one head bolt at a time and syringe/clean out any oil then retension the headbolt

 

[Third of a Herd]

Yeh that would probably be worth doing, I'm not sure how much clearance there is from the bottom of the bolt to the bottom of the hole. I might try that and see how I go. Thanks for your help.

 

[MQ MAD]

Getting the hydraulic lock (if you like)in the head bolts will be catastrophic

As mentioned false reading on torquing head bolts will cause the gasket or head to stuff up quickly

 

[Third of a Herd]

I blew all the head bolt holes out so the only oil in the holes was what i put on the threads of the bolts themselvs. I have great compression so I doubt the head has lifted from incorrect torque setting, but then again its got me stumped.

 

[omgmud]

have u checked the tension of the head bolts again after the engine has warmed up to op temp then cooled down for atleast 4 hours? u will probs find they need to be re tensioned. this is what i did a couple months ago when i did the head on my tb42. also make sure its not the rocker cover gasket as i thought the same as u and found the rocker cover is actually leaking oil. also another thing did u check the block deck for warp? when u had the head off?

 

[Third of a Herd]

I did check the block with a straight edge and I tried to re-torque the head bolts but they are all tight mto specs. I'm pretty sure its not the rocker cover gasket although i'm going to give it another good clean and take it for another drive and see what happens, hopefully it has stopped. Thans

 

[omgmud]

yer ive taken mine off about 3 times and it still keeps leaking! really annoying probally why i havent taken it off in the few weeks i drove it. and its a new seal/gasket aswell.