I have finally started to tune my car and as I started tuning everything was fine. About an hour into tuning I noticed my head was puking oil... I'm positive it's coming from the headgasket. the head has been decked and the block was just cleaned and checked that it was flat. I have ARP head studs, metal headgasket from a 20vt, and copper spray on the gasket so I am pretty sure all I have to do is retorque the head studs and I should be fine? Anybody have any tips or ideas? I have never had a metal headgasket not seal so I am kind of frreaking out...
Head leaking oil from new headgasket
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quattrocrazy
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I have finally started to tune my car and as I started tuning everything was fine. About an hour into tuning I noticed my head was puking oil... I'm positive it's coming from the headgasket. the head has been decked and the block was just cleaned and checked that it was flat. I have ARP head studs, metal headgasket from a 20vt, and copper spray on the gasket so I am pretty sure all I have to do is retorque the head studs and I should be fine? Anybody have any tips or ideas? I have never had a metal headgasket not seal so I am kind of frreaking out...
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166 Posts
Have you checked your oil cap? Mine started leaking even when tightened down and it looked like i was leaking from my head as well because it tracked around the entire gasket. I ordered one from Audi and it fit tighter no problems since.
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the cap is new and sealing nicely. The oil is coming from the back side of the head kind of by the heater valve. I know it's coming from between the headgasket I just want to know if I torque it down and the surfaces are straight will it seal?
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I also know that you have to retorque the heads after like 500 miles but the instructions don't say anything about if fluid comes out... you can't compress a fluid so I am worried there's enough oil to createhydraulic pressure and break something.
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What exactly are you going to break by retorquing? Anything thats in between the head and gasket will be squeezed out during the retorque assuming your block and head are really square. You're sure not going to be breaking the head or block and you'd have to be a gorilla to break one of those studs. More likely to break your torque wrench or a socket.
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I have broken head studs on my scirroco.......I'm 6'3" and about 250 does that qualify as gorilla?
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They were raceware studs and I was using a torque wrench..... the studs are the same size as the 20v motors.....
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ok, since you want to be difficult. either your studs were so old they were junk, your torque wrench is a pos, you cant read a torque setting, or they were defective... happy now?
Good, non-defective, studs do not break at the torque loadings they are designed for.
Good, non-defective, studs do not break at the torque loadings they are designed for.
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I am not trying to be difficult. Just saying that I had one break. Must have been defective. I had bought them back in 04 from EIP tuning. Torque wrench may have been off as well, but they also got cycled a lot of times.... blew a lot of head gasket back in those days.
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1. Do not use ANY kind of sealant on an MLS hg..It is normally written on the instructions in the package..
2. ARP's have to be re-torqued after the first heat-cycle.
3. What lubricating agent did you use on the bolts before torquing them?
4. I have seen oil leaks with ARP's and MLS gaskets if they are not re-torqued. This can usually be resolved by pulling the vc and torquing them again.
2. ARP's have to be re-torqued after the first heat-cycle.
3. What lubricating agent did you use on the bolts before torquing them?
4. I have seen oil leaks with ARP's and MLS gaskets if they are not re-torqued. This can usually be resolved by pulling the vc and torquing them again.
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Retorque it and hopefully it will clear up. You certainly won't damage anything by tightening the studs again.
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Did you put the half moon gasket on the valve cover in the correct spot? When I did my head gasket, I put the half moon on the outside edge, instead of on the inside edge, and the gasket blew out. The oil was gathering in a spot where it looked like it was the head gasket.
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1,243 Posts
Thanks for the replies. I am going to retorque the head in a few days I am working hard snowboarding. I have used copper spray on all my metal headgaskets and have never had an issue. This is my first head to ever leak and it freaked me out a little. I was thinking the hydraulic pressure from compressing the oil with warp the head or crack it but you can't compress a fluid in a sealed container so it should squeeze out.
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Yesterday I started the car and it ran fine for about 30 mins. after about 30 mins it started to missfire. I had a problem running too rich and figured the spark plugs were fouled. When I took out the plugs I had oil in cyl 1/2, oil being pushed out of the headgasket between cyl 1/2, and my dipstick blew out...
Here's a quick list of what I have done t the car and maybe some guys will throw out some ideas. The engine is a 10vt.
I got a 20vt metal headgasket victor reinz
sprayed it with copper spray which I have always done...
had the head machined new valve guides etc...
didn't have the block machined looked straight with straightedge
A couple scenarios I was thinking...
1. the copper spray blocked the oil passages when the gasket was squished.
2. I installed the larger filter from the 1.8t and maybe the check valve is screwing up my pressure. Kind of a stretch...
3. blocks not straight as it looked with feeler guage and straight edge.
4. Heads not straight from machine shop.
5. my torque wrench is off and didn't get to 80ft/lbs for the final torque
6. I warped the head after running the engine and not retorquing the head after the initial heat cycle.
7. I warped the head after retorquing the head after the second heat cycle.
Now for the questions...
1. can I reuse the gasket? I have never but I am super broke right now...
2. I have 3 5000t paper gaskets from buying whole seal kits. How much power can they take?
3 Should I try to torque the head 5ft/lb more where it's leaking?
4. can I back off the nuts and retorque the whole head?
Any ideas and comments are welcome. Thank you.
Here's a quick list of what I have done t the car and maybe some guys will throw out some ideas. The engine is a 10vt.
I got a 20vt metal headgasket victor reinz
sprayed it with copper spray which I have always done...
had the head machined new valve guides etc...
didn't have the block machined looked straight with straightedge
A couple scenarios I was thinking...
1. the copper spray blocked the oil passages when the gasket was squished.
2. I installed the larger filter from the 1.8t and maybe the check valve is screwing up my pressure. Kind of a stretch...
3. blocks not straight as it looked with feeler guage and straight edge.
4. Heads not straight from machine shop.
5. my torque wrench is off and didn't get to 80ft/lbs for the final torque
6. I warped the head after running the engine and not retorquing the head after the initial heat cycle.
7. I warped the head after retorquing the head after the second heat cycle.
Now for the questions...
1. can I reuse the gasket? I have never but I am super broke right now...
2. I have 3 5000t paper gaskets from buying whole seal kits. How much power can they take?
3 Should I try to torque the head 5ft/lb more where it's leaking?
4. can I back off the nuts and retorque the whole head?
Any ideas and comments are welcome. Thank you.
I personally would say try simply re-tourqing at the recommended sequince/torque. Its possible that a stud was missed, stretched, or something else that is simple and stupid. I personally would NOT tighten up only a couple, either do them all or not at all. I dont see why a couple extra pounds would hurt (not more than 5), but if anyone knows this a bad idea, please feel free to chime in.
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I retorqued as instructed by arp. Stopped leaking but still dumps oil into the cylinders and pressurizes the crankcase. I am a qt too full and I have the big 1.8t filter on there. So, I am going to take a qt out and put on the stock filter and see what that does. I suspect nothing. I got a new gasket at our local German parts store for 49 bucks! I also took a pic so everybody can see hy you shouldn't spray 20vt head gaskets with copper spray. Look how small the oil passage holes are... I have sprayed a lot of headgaskets with that stuff and never had a problem until now and I can see why.
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1,243 Posts
Here are the small oil passage holes probably filled with copper spray... but first take out the extra qt of oil and the 1.8t big filter just in case being over full a qt and having a diferent filter would change my oil pressure drastically. I have worked with people who used this oil filter on their 5k's but you never know... Have to take every easy route first.
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1,793 Posts
i have used copper spray for years...it does not clog and I never had an issue with it. I use it on almost every gasket especially the valve cover gasket. everyone has their special way. yes you can back the nuts off to retorqued, i am pretty sure arp is made to be reusable.
check your check valves ... left paper towels ... spark plug center gaskets
check your check valves ... left paper towels ... spark plug center gaskets
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