realcanuk

Compression is good. Havent done a leakdown but I see no sign and have no reason to believe its anything to do with the actual cylinder or valves.

realcanuk

My next plan of attack is to remove the header, pour oil in the lower area of the head, and hope to see where its coming from with one of those little cameras. There is no pressure up there, so it has to be just seeping through somewhere.

Joe_G

I am thinking cracked cylinder head or blown head gasket. I've never seen oil leak out of a exhaust port, doesn't mean it can't happen but I'd think it would burn up well before it could leak.

realcanuk

I am also starting to think crack. It isn't the head gasket. The only oil passages are at the end of the heads, and this is more to the center.

To add to that.... there is no oil where the head meets the block.. I have run my finger there 100 times now looking... nothing at all.

extrapilot

I mentioned using air pressure because cold, cracks may not be evident until the head has warmed, and the oil gets thinner, easier to seep through.

realcanuk

Will try that for sure if I don't see anything with oil. It starts almost right away after starting the car from cold....... I dunno... will see.

Thanks for the suggestions.

(hmmm)

That makes me think that the leak's source is somehow related to the oil passageways where the oil is under pressure.
Is it possible that a hole was drilled (or drilled deeper) for any headwork or headers?
Could you pull the headers off about 1/4" to 1/2", run the engine and see if the oil truly comes from the interior of the exhaust port? Sounds like it should be quite evident.
.

realcanuk

That's the plan when have some time. Pull the header and try to see what's up. I already checked the adjacent header bolts and nothing there. There is no oil pressure in the heads. Oil comes up the pushrods and then just drains back down. The bolts on the intake rockers go through to the ports (like all cnc'd heads) but the exhaust bolts are blind.

c5racr1

Check the oil cooler, or block off plate drivers side of the block above the oil filter

realcanuk

Trust me. Checked, double and triple checked. There are no leaks to be found. Will have answers Monday I hope when I pull the header.

xBoostx

That's the valve cover don't go desasemble nothing just yet I know you said it isn't but just give this a try! take a paper towel and wipe the area just below the valve cover rail where the oil is falling to the header pipe see if comes out wet.

realcanuk

Appreciate the suggestion, but that has been done many times as well as the valve cover gaskets changed with no change in the leak. Trust me, it's not the valve covers.

xBoostx

There's no presurised oil anywhere in the head and a bad head gasket makes the engine overheat if not overheating your head gasket is must likely not the culprit.

One thing I know oil is coming from somewhere, check your spark plus see if one near by is lose.

realcanuk

Yes... I don't suspect the head gasket as the oil is above it anyways. Spark plugs have been checked. I will know more Monday. I suspect a possible cracked head, as I am out of other options until I remove the header and check further.

extrapilot

Realcanuk, did you figure it out yet?

realcanuk

Forgot to update this....thanks for asking.

Oil was definitely coming from inside the port.
Problem seems to be that some valve seals just don't want to stay seated. WCCH says on some of the earlier heads like mine the guides are very smooth on the outside so on their recommendation we basically "knurled" the guides a bit. The seals went on tighter and hopefully stay down. So far so good, although I wont really know if its leaking a bit because I used a different header gasket that wont allow the oil through.
I need to get the guides changed, but I want to try and get through the short summer season. I will send the heads out next winter, when the car just sits anyways.

The odd thing it is is only a few seals that wont stay seated, although all the guides measure perfectly to spec on the outside diameter.

Just one of those weird things we have to deal with I guess.

schpenxel

At least it's figured out

realcanuk

Yup... been driving it for a week with no issues now. I wish I had realized what the problem was at the end of last summer, when I noticed it first. Would have done the guides over this winter.

As pissed as I was at this issue, I still realize that I have way less issues than most do, so I did something right. LOL

extrapilot

Thanks for the update.
I think some others have had similar issues like yours as I have read that some found parts of there seals in the bottom of the oil pan. He found out when doing a oil change.....

schpenxel

Yeah, at least you can still drive it.. that would really suck for it to go down during the short summer up there

And I'm assuming it's not billowing smoke, so probably not a huge deal for a summer. And it shouldn't be too bad to fix come winter