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

[Ingo Rautenberg]

Dag,

This is what I wrote last year in November:

Begin forwarded message:

> From: "Ingo Rautenberg" <i.rautenberg at waratap.com>
> Date: November 20, 2006 1:11:25 PM GMT-05:00
> To: <swett at comcast.net>
> Cc: v8 at audifans.com
> Subject: [V8] Update:  93 4.2 oil leak fixed!!!
> Reply-To: Ingo Rautenberg <i.rautenberg at waratap.com>
>
> 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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>>
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>
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