[V8] 1993 V8 oil leak saga....maybe the end of the tunnel is in sight

[Roger M. Woodbury]

Well, had another visitation with the wrench.  V8 Quattro engine bits and
pieces strewn about...timing belt here, valve covers there, new parts
lurking in boxes.
The cylinder heads went to the machine shop for close examination.  My
wrench went over to examine them with Glenn day before yesterday.

First of all, there is no way to pressurize the cylinder heads.  No way that
exists anywhere in this state, or for that matter that anyone here knows
about, so ultimately, the question of what the devil is leaking oil comes
down on the side of educated guess.

The old cylinder head gasket was suspicious enough near the front end inside
edge to remain in number one culprit spot.

There seemed to be evidence that one of the high pressure oil journal plugs
might have been messed with at some point.  When?  Who knows.  Maybe at
manufacture.  It might have been weepy from day one, and with 90K, just
began to be very noticeable.  Dunno.

There seemed to be a little place on the casting of the head that looked
like it might be a porosity, but when coated with the magic casting
creme....some magic substance that the machine shop uses on aluminum casting
to test the continuity of the process.....negative:  the head is FINE, as
far as can be determined.

Sooooo.  The journal plugs are being replaced, and new head gaskets
installed and by this time tomorrow, the engine will be well underway to
reassembly.

By the time it is reassembled, the engine itself will have every seal
replaced that normally leaks on these.  We do know that the bottom end,
cylinder walls and valves are FINE.  The valves are so good that the old
rule "well, we have it all torn down so we might as well...." doesn't really
apply.  Examination of the valves indicates in the mechanic's opinion, that
the earliest that a valve job would be indicated is somewhere in the 200,000
mile range.

The usual suspects....the distributor "o" rings are new....and all the other
jazz.

So, I am keeping my fingers crossed that the oil leak WAS where we thought
it was, on the upper leading edge of the head gasket.  At the end of
yesterday, the mechanic was quite certain that that is what had
"failed"...just slightly, and it is the prevailing opinion that it was a
gasket that was basically defective from original manufacture.

Keep your fingers crossed.

Roger

P.S.  Speaking of BMW's.....I have this fantastic fantasy rolling around
about a BMW 850.  Having a long discussion with a dealer in Illinois that
has what looks like a nice one.  then again, maybe I'll just go lie down and
rest, and the fantasy will go away.