Hunting an oil leak - Head Gasket?

[ByronRACE]

Hey Guys,

I've been hunting a "1qt every 100 miles" on my '92 12V for a bit now, and unfortunately the problem remains. The problem is the entire drivers side of the block is wet with oil starting from the tappet cover down and from the injection pump back. That saga was over on cumminsforum, but there doesn't seem to be much 1st gen traffic there.

Here's what I've done so far:

1. Removed and re-sealed vacuum pump. It had drips on the bottom of it.
2. Removed and checked injection pump. It was bone dry; no oil/diesel anywhere upon removal.
3. Removed and replaced tappet cover with a nice o-ringed billet unit from Kenny's Pulling Parts believing that the oil leak was the cover. (I now have a big breather up top on a valve cover).

Post-work, here's what I'm seeing. Oil is puddling at the upper lip of the tappet cover and cascading over the face of it, and all down the side of the engine. Same area. Injection-pump back, and tappet cover down.

So, the question remains...where is this oil coming from? After studying the head gasket and finding there's an oil passage cross-over up in that area along that edge of the head gasket, I'm guessing that this could be the source of the leak.

Anything else in this area I'm missing? Any suggestions for me prior to pulling the head off? What gasket should I be using? Cummins? Cometic? Other? Whose head bolts should I use? This is an RV that will never see more than 30lbs of boost; studding it seems like a waste of money to me.

Thanks for any help,

Byron

[dazedandconfused]

Have you checked the valve covers?

[ByronRACE]

Yes; it's all dry up there; and across the intake area. New cover seals not long ago when I put in the +60 springs in preparation for the exhaust brake. Leaked before; leaked after...it's something else.

[ByronRACE]

And if it is probably the head gasket, is there any harm in following the cummins torque procedure outlined in the service manual and re-torquing the head bolts to see if it slows and or stops the leak?

To do this right would I remove the bolts one at a time, clean them, chase the holes the best I can, blow them out, lube the bolt, put it back in and torque? Or, do I just put a torque wrench on there and tighten them? Or is even considering this not in the "doing it right" category and I'm wasting my time.

[dazedandconfused]

Some have had success retorquing them. I know Like snapped one off doing it and ended up doing a new gasket anyway.

[ByronRACE]

Snapping one off wouldn't make me too happy. Maybe it's worth backing them out one by one and replacing them before retorque. It's only money, right.

[dazedandconfused]

I think before I went through all that is pull it.

[ByronRACE]

What does this look like to you?



Is that a coolant plug, or an oil gallery plug? The stuff on the side cover definitely contains oil; but it has a gelatin component too...so maybe oil/coolant mixed. It seems to start right under this plug...which is the head gasket area. Or, perhaps the plug itself is leaking, or also leaking...not sure, not wrenching tonight.

[ByronRACE]

That plug is coolant. Oil is still coming from somewhere above the tappet cover; but the over-all volume of fluid streaming down the engine is less now that I sealed up that plug. I'm still guessing the head gasket is leaking oil.

[CumminsPower59]

I busted one going to 110 or 115 lbft last year, ended up costing me $300 in parts just so I could get the darn thing back on the road.

[draginmopars]

they make an oil leak detector dye
I got it at O'Reilly Auto Parts

use with a black light to find the leak