Leaking Head Gasket

[WarNose]

I hate to admit it but the driver's side head gasket on my newly rebuilt motor is leaking both oil and coolant to the outside of the motor. It didn't take long for it to start leaking, actually. I haven't been driving it. I think the cause is that, in my eagerness to put the motor together, I forgot to let the copper head gasket spray gas off on one head before bolting the head on. I'm pretty sure it was the driver's side head. Highly annoying.

But anyway, how bad is it to drive like this? I want to tow my trailer roughly 400 miles this weekend. Will I be doing much damage? I do not have any oil and coolant mixing. Just both leaking out the rear drivers side.

 

[YJMike92]

Sorry to hear about your misfortune.
Driving the truck 400 miles in a state of disrepair is a scary thought. It's one thing to try and nurse one home when a problem is encountered on the road. A totally different thing to head out with a known issue. I would say don't do it. Totally ruining the motor is a very real possibility not to mention a hefty tow bill and inconvenience of a break down on the road.
Some on the forum feel that copper coat on the head gaskets is a good idea I do not. Auto manufacturers and gasket makers spend millions in Research and Development and neither advocate copper coat.

 

[Thewespaul]

Are you sure it’s not the oil cooler? Copper seal won’t cause that, I use it on every idi head gasket I’ve installed and never had one leak and I’ve pushed enough cylinder pressure to break the ring lands out of the idit pistons, and although manufacturers don’t use copper seal, I’ve seen Cummins head gaskets that have their own coatings on them. Aftermarket gas and diesel performance head gaskets often come with their own coatings as well.

 

[IDIBRONCO]

It's almost not possible for a head gasket to leak oil. There's no pressure on the oil when it passes through the head gasket. To get to the rocker arms in upper end of the engine, the oil travels through the pushrods. That's where it has the oil pressure. Maybe oil could leak out if you only torqued the head bolts/nuts to 2 lb-ft, but then the compression would blow the head gasket out way before you'd have an oil leak. Are you sure that it's not the oil cooler like Wes mentioned? Maybe you have two different leaks. Coolant from the head gasket and oil from the valve cover gasket.

 

[BeastMaster]

Will oil come out the dipstick tube if the crankcase becomes pressurized?

 

[WarNose]

Well that is interesting that there is no oil pressure there. The oil is dripping off the edge of the head gasket that protrudes outside the motor. So it is definitely leaking from somewhere above the oil cooler. Although the oil cooler is also leaking a bit. Maybe it is leaking from behind the intake, where I tapped in for the oil pressure gauge. I can't see back there for anything.

What gets me about the coolant leak is that I pressurized the coolant system to 30 psi before I installed the motor and there were no leaks. Now I am running it with a 7 psi radiator cap and I have several coolant leaks. There is the one that seems like it is coming from the head gasket, another from the oil cooler (wasnt installed during the pressure test), and another from a block drain plug. I'm wondering if the Redline diesel coolant additive that I put in is reacting with the ELC coolant to eat seals? Just a guess.

 

[WarNose]

Will oil come out the dipstick tube if the crankcase becomes pressurized?

My dipstick is on the passenger side and the leaks are all on the drivers side.

 

[WarNose]

Are you sure it’s not the oil cooler? Copper seal won’t cause that, I use it on every idi head gasket I’ve installed and never had one leak and I’ve pushed enough cylinder pressure to break the ring lands out of the idit pistons, and although manufacturers don’t use copper seal, I’ve seen Cummins head gaskets that have their own coatings on them. Aftermarket gas and diesel performance head gaskets often come with their own coatings as well.

But have you ever forgot to let it dry before bolting up? I installed mine pretty wet, and definitely still gassing off. I'm thinking that maybe the gasses found an escape path and created a leak. Sound plausible?

 

[Thewespaul]

I install them wet all the time.

 

[Macrobb]

Honestly, you've got a couple sets of advice you can follow. I follow the advice of the gasket maker, who says "dry". They already have a sticky coating on them that does embed itself into the head grain/finish. Never had an issue doing this.

Only time I did have an issue with gaskets was when I was using a (custom made specialty MLS decompression gasket). Recommended to use copper coat on all surfaces. I did... worked fine for 2K miles before leaking pressure into the water jacket under load.

I believe that Felpro and Victor-Reinz know what they are doing when they come up with installation instructions. Why change them, just because you 'believe' it may help?
They also say no retorque needed, and I've found that to be true as well. It just works.

 

[Philip1]

One thing you can do is double check to see if when you installed the head you didn't miss torquing one of the head bolts

 

[Thewespaul]

ARP says theres no retorque needed in their head studs, the cummins guys who really push the limits of aftermarket fasteners have proven that a warm retorque is basically a necessity. With our high compression ratios, an IDI with 15 psi of boost is seeing cylinder pressures close to what a 5.9 with 30+ psi is seeing, so I see it as a good idea.

 

[WarNose]

ARP says theres no retorque needed in their head studs, the cummins guys who really push the limits of aftermarket fasteners have proven that a warm retorque is basically a necessity. With our high compression ratios, an IDI with 15 psi of boost is seeing cylinder pressures close to what a 5.9 with 30+ psi is seeing, so I see it as a good idea.

Hmm, I haven't been above 9 psi, but I did accidentally take the EGTs too high for maybe 5 seconds when I had a bad up pipe leak and couldn't get the turbo to spool properly. That might have done it.

I just ran my hand around the back of the head and didn't feel any oil. I don't think there is any place else that it could be coming from. Maybe the machine shop missed a crack in the head. Would that cause it to leak coolant and oil from the same place?

 

[Garbage_Mechan]

The only way for oil to leak there is for the area of the gasket surrounding the oil drain back passage to be damaged. Like scored or folded....
Here is a trick I use to find oil leaks where the oil is thrown or misted out while driving and not clear. Essentially block off anywhere air can escape and use an air regulator to pressurize the entire engine crankcase, valley pan, valve covers.....everything to about 3 psi and go at it with soapy water. The dipstick is a backup safety, if you go much over 5 psi it will pop out and vent the excess. Been doing this at least 20 years and never caused a leak but found a lot of pesky leaks!

 

[Garbage_Mechan]

On the coolant leakage.... while it is not common for this to leak on a new build, it isn’t uncommon for there to be a coolant seep and some accumulation at the very rear outer corner of the head. Did the block get decked?? Head?