I located the oil leak finally, and I'm not happy

[moparrob]

Thank you everyone for all your help in trying to locate the oil leak.

As you may recall from my earlier posting, I originally assumed it was the distributor shaft seal. After buying the seal I found out that was not the case.

Then I did some more digging on the site and determine it must have been the #2 exhaust stud since the cam cover seals looked dry. Well, that wasn't it either. I spent about an hour and several cans of brake cleaner de-greasing the side of the engine to try to figure out where the oil leak was coming from.I got it nice and clean and then after a five-mile drive I came home and here is what I found:

This is the rear of the engine at the #4 cylinder head:



This is the front of the engine at the #1 cylinder head:



Based on the above it looks fairly apparent, at least to me, that it needs the cylinder head pulled and the gasket replaced. I am really not up for that task right now and I don't want to invest a significant amount of money in the car at this point.

Given that, I have now decided that I am going to sell the car. Other then the leak the car really is in great condition. It is absolutely rust free and I've got lots of pictures of the car including the trunk if someone is truly interested.I've got about $3500 in the car I just want to get my money back at this point.

I know this is not the forum for selling cars and I will make a separate post in the classified section. Here are a couple quick pictures for those who may be interested.





Check the classified section for a more detailed post. Oh, I also have a brand new top in the box I will be including. Car has 75,000 miles.

Thanks again. Car is located in Los Angeles.

Rob

[hayesbd]

That looks exactly how my spider was when I first got it. It's really not a difficult fix and not very expensive. Your '78 would be slightly more involved with its pollution controls, but I pulled the head in about 30 minutes on my '73. Head gasket from Autoricambi has some obvious improvements to the seals around the oil galleries that were leaking and 10,000 miles later, it's just fine.

Brian

[rebar1111]

What I have found about oil leaks on the top end of the twin cam engines is that the tapped blind holes for head and camboxes is that the hole is full of carbon, sand, dirt etc. The bolts typically have double washers on them. Even leaving off one washer on a clean hole will cause the gasket to leak.

Try chasing the threads without removing the box or head, or just adding a third washer to make room for the dirt.

[moparrob]

Rebar - I cleaned and checked the exhaust studs and they do not appear to be the source of the leaks, so I am pretty sure it is the head gasket.

[rebar1111]

The exhaust studs seal no oil. Chase the cambox threads. Or add a washer.

[moparrob]

After cleaning the engine it does not appear there is any oil higher than the level of the cylinder head to block mating surface, so I don't think it could be the cam boxes as they sit above the cylinder head, no?

[azruss]

how does the car run. If it is running good, you may want to just retorque the head and live with the leak until the head gasket fails. I've had cars with similar type leaks that ran fine for years.

[carl]

Of the five studs that hold the exhaust manifold to the head, # 2 and #4 studs do go into an oil gallery and it's not unusual for them to be a source of oil leaks that look like yours...I just went through this myself. Remove those two studs (are they wet with oil on the threads that go into the head), coat with thread sealer and reinstall.

It seems this may have just been the final straw if you want to sell the car, I doubt this issue alone would be your sole reason to sell. I'm big on selling cars when for whatever the reason, I no longer enjoy them.

carl

[rebar1111]

Exhaust manifold studs go all the way to oil galleries? I didn't know that. Thanks for that info.