[V8] Update: 93 4.2 oil leak fixed!!!

Mon Nov 20 13:11:25 EST 2006

Well, well.  I can't let this go by even if it is almost 7 months later ;-)

As you may recall, I also had this kind of leak at the back of the left head
where it meets the engine block on my '93 4.2 V8 (as far as I could tell at
the time).  But I also had some smoke in my exhaust and oil consumption of ~
1 qt every 500 miles or so.  PO said that the engine likely needed a rear
main seal when I bought the car, but I had a suspicion at the time that this
was unlikely (just a feeling).  Anyhow, after I replaced the coolant pipe to
cylinder head o-rings on Saturday, I checked underneath the car to see a
drip-drip-drip every 4-5 seconds.  Good news:  Not coolant.  Bad news:
Engine oil! :-(

So now I knew I had to address this leak right away!  So I checked for all
the usual areas once again to make sure:  No leakage in the distributor
area, none around the VC, but oil at the junction of the engine block where
it meets the cylinder head (can be hard to see as it's behind the heat
shield next to the trans dipstick.  Alright, off come the valve cover (which
some dumba$$ had additionally coated with black rtv).  Anyhow, I proceeded
to cinch down the headbolts (center outward in proper fashion) 1/8 turn and
replace the VC with the old gasket (which was still pliable -- I have a new
spare if needed).  The I retested and ran the car for 20 minutes).  No
drippage (but with all the cleaning I can't say I expected much).  The I
drove it  another 40 minutes Saturday night.  Started up and ran again
Sunday morning.  Verdict:  Slowed considerably but not entirely.

Off came the VC and I retorqued by 1/8 turn except the bottom right one
(which appeared to be - but I can't verify to have been less -torqued) 1/4
turn. Replaced the VC, Cleaned the area once more, idled the car another 20
minutes.  Drove the V8 like I stole it for another 20 minutes (revving to 6k
on occasion ;-)  No leak!  Let it sit overnight.  Got below freezing this
morning.  Drove it 11 miles to work this morning (brought the maglite with
me to check for leaks).  Verdict:  No more leaking!!!!  Yeah.  Another point
of interest:  I checked for smoke on acceleration:  also none.  Hmm.

I wonder now if the oil was not only leaking outward but also into the
cylinder?

BTW, I also had to try and figure out what a drop of oil (warmed-up oil)
dripping every 4-5 seconds with the motor running equates to in terms of oil
consumption.  Assuming that heated up motor oil (in my case 10-30 Mobil 1)
has similar volume to water droplets, then 16 drops= 1 ml.  There are 29.573
ml to a fl oz.  32 fl oz = 1 qt ~ 15,141 drops.  At 15 drops/minute and 275
miles or 9 hrs of running the car > 1/2 qt. per fill up.  Yup.  That's just
about what my oil consumption has been.

Now to trace that hydraulic leak up front...

Ingo

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ingo Rautenberg" <i.rautenberg at waratap.com>
To: <swett at comcast.net>
Cc: <v8 at audifans.com>
Sent: Monday, April 24, 2006 12:58 PM
Subject: Re: [V8] 93 4.2 oil leak

> You make want to define "large."  Is there a large puddle of oil on
> the ground after sitting overnight, a small puddle, a few drops, or a
> bunch of oil coating the bottom driver's side of the engine?
>
> I'm looking for a similar leak, but would certainly not classify mine
> as "large" -- at least not yet...
>
> Ingo
>
> On Apr 24, 2006, at 12:03 PM, swett at comcast.net wrote:
>
> > Hello V8 heads,
> >
> > I'm having some trouble finding the source of a pretty large oil
> > leak on the drivers side bank of my 93 4.2.  Not being very
> > familiar with this engine yet, allow me to ask for your expertise.
> >
> > This leak appears to be coming off the back corner of the head, at
> > the head gasket.  Is there a distributor gasket that could be blown
> > sending oil down along this route?  I thought I've heard or read of
> > somebody else over the years experiencing this leak.  It just
> > doesn't seem to me that a head gasket could leak oil at this rate.
> > I'm hoping that either my V/C gasket is leaking or perhaps
> > something at the distributor.  Car has 100k on it.
> >
> > would love to hear about any similiar symptoms of this nature that
> > you've seen before.
> >
> > Thanks!
> > Regards,
> > Allen
> > Too many audis to list.
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