Awl_TEQ
Supporting Vendor
I've got my head off and will be dropping it off at the machine shop in the next day or two.
The back story:
I had to head out to Banff about three weeks ago to look at and ultimately pick up a canoe I found in the classifieds. The weather was heavy rain all the way there and back which has nothing to do with anything. But it was raining. I was flogging it a bit cruising at 100 to 110km/h indicated (plus 10% rubber overdrive) up and down through the foothills. Drove the same way all the way to Moab and back. No issues then. So I get home and park in the garage and as I walk past the hood on the driver's side (left hand drive) I see oil streaks coming out of the hood and cowl louvers.
Opened the hood to find oil pretty much all over. The intake air crossover hose, the brake master, the underside of the hood, all of the injection lines, pump, water pump... All over. No visible source was apparent.
The next day I took her to the car wash and steamed it all down. In the 4km drive home through traffic the water pump was wet on top. The head was wet only from the gasket down. All wetness was confined to the front and below the head gasket.
There was no oil in the water and no water in the oil that I could see.
I consulted a few of the guys in the RMLCA and to a man they advised I just keep adding oil. So I naturally ordered a full engine gasket kit and a set of pre-cups. I have a trail ride coming up and I'd rather know whats wrong now than be a day into the whipsaw before it all went sideways. I want to see the condition of the head anyway and start with new cups. I hate oil leaks.
Indications thus far were a simple oil leak from the head gasket. But I knew it could be much worse. The truck has at least 185km on it and perhaps much more due to a stuck odometer. I got it quite hot several times but never boiled it on the way to Calgary from Nanaimo. That issue was eventually traced to a 2F thermostat being installed by a previous owner rather than the much different 3B t-stat.
Today I pulled the head. After removing everything else I went after the head bolts. If you go by the FSM bolt #1, 7 and 9 were not tight at all. In fact only a few (2,3,5,6) were really tight. I checked the gasket first and other than the front bit being oiled quite well the rest looked good. No visible cracks in the head. Some small ones in the pre-cups. No surprise there.
Barring any cracks found by the machine shop I would say my issue was the front bolt. The head design actually uses the #1 bolt hole as an oil passage. Having sat for something like twelve years and then being pressed into daily driver use for a month before doing 3600km to Moab and back I figure she just let go. In hindsight I suppose if I just re-torqued the head bolts I could have stopped the leak. Maybe.
The back story:
I had to head out to Banff about three weeks ago to look at and ultimately pick up a canoe I found in the classifieds. The weather was heavy rain all the way there and back which has nothing to do with anything. But it was raining. I was flogging it a bit cruising at 100 to 110km/h indicated (plus 10% rubber overdrive) up and down through the foothills. Drove the same way all the way to Moab and back. No issues then. So I get home and park in the garage and as I walk past the hood on the driver's side (left hand drive) I see oil streaks coming out of the hood and cowl louvers.
Opened the hood to find oil pretty much all over. The intake air crossover hose, the brake master, the underside of the hood, all of the injection lines, pump, water pump... All over. No visible source was apparent.
The next day I took her to the car wash and steamed it all down. In the 4km drive home through traffic the water pump was wet on top. The head was wet only from the gasket down. All wetness was confined to the front and below the head gasket.
There was no oil in the water and no water in the oil that I could see.
I consulted a few of the guys in the RMLCA and to a man they advised I just keep adding oil. So I naturally ordered a full engine gasket kit and a set of pre-cups. I have a trail ride coming up and I'd rather know whats wrong now than be a day into the whipsaw before it all went sideways. I want to see the condition of the head anyway and start with new cups. I hate oil leaks.
Indications thus far were a simple oil leak from the head gasket. But I knew it could be much worse. The truck has at least 185km on it and perhaps much more due to a stuck odometer. I got it quite hot several times but never boiled it on the way to Calgary from Nanaimo. That issue was eventually traced to a 2F thermostat being installed by a previous owner rather than the much different 3B t-stat.
Today I pulled the head. After removing everything else I went after the head bolts. If you go by the FSM bolt #1, 7 and 9 were not tight at all. In fact only a few (2,3,5,6) were really tight. I checked the gasket first and other than the front bit being oiled quite well the rest looked good. No visible cracks in the head. Some small ones in the pre-cups. No surprise there.
Barring any cracks found by the machine shop I would say my issue was the front bolt. The head design actually uses the #1 bolt hole as an oil passage. Having sat for something like twelve years and then being pressed into daily driver use for a month before doing 3600km to Moab and back I figure she just let go. In hindsight I suppose if I just re-torqued the head bolts I could have stopped the leak. Maybe.
. So the next day I stopped on the way home from work and tried to coerce them into finishing it this week. As I was begging a tech came in from the shop and pronounced there was a crack! We all went to take a look and there was a very minor crack between the valves on cyl#1. Maybe 2mm. Couldn't see it without the dye. They weren't worried about it at all and suggested we put a pin in it to stop it's progress. 
. I called the the shop at 7:00 and let them know. It's now 12:30 and I am itching to call them but that would border on harassment.
