oil leak from head stud ?

B

Backndagame

Member
Joined
Jul 28, 2014
Here is the story,just bought a 1987 buick turbo t with a built 109 motor and champion heads. 66 turbo, 60pd inj. it is a studded head bolts. t&d rockers, ls1 maf, and alky injection it looks like copper head gaskets. so the vehicle was leaking antifreeze from the middle of the head on the driverside. posted on here and was told to drop gm coolant tabs. I did that and looks like antifreeze stopped. I am getting oil from the same spot though. so I decided to pull the head and put a new gasket in. on removal of the header and cleaning the area with brake clean, (brake clean dries quick ) shot from under the car there was no oil above gasket. i then ate breakfast and returned and found oil on the outside middle head bolt and no sealant on that bolt. i did rechecked torque on the head bolts last night and everything was at 80ft pd. what is your take on this , and what would you do. would appreciate any suggestions. I am mechanically inclined and owned forced induction cars. Just have not messed with a 3.8turbo motor in 20 years. thanks.
 
So you had a oil and coolant leak from the head gasket added seal tabs and the coolant stopped but oil continued.
Then changed the head gasket and its still leaking oil in the same spot?
 
Did not change head gasket yet. I was tearing down the engine to do head gasket when found the bolt with the oil on it.

Posted from the TurboBuick.Com mobile app
 
Subscribed. Curious to see what you find. My copper gaskets leak a small amount of oil in the center, too.

Posted from the TurboBuick.Com mobile app
 
Just did a coolant pressure check. Found no.1 cylinder with antifreeze. External leak from pass. Side heater hoses. Pulled head on Dr side. Not cooper gasket. 3 piece gasket. No. 1 cylinder around cylinder broke.

Posted from the TurboBuick.Com mobile app
 
Sounds like that motor has been hammered hard. Don't be surprised if after slapping new head gaskets on it you spin a bearing in the near future.
 
Found a YouTube video of the car. New engine was installed on 10/31/2013. Removing engine and putting on stand. To pull the passenger head even though I . Found no signs of leak n going to remove oil pan and check it all out. The gasket wad broke around the no 1 cylinder. Not the block or head.

Posted from the TurboBuick.Com mobile app
 
How long ago exactly did you buy the car?
Sounds like someone prior to you owning it had got on it pretty hard and the head gaskets that weren't upto the task that they had used blew on the driver side. Never heard of anyone using a 3-piece head gasket on our cars, don't believe even the factory ones were that type. Looks like you may of unfortunetly inheritted a prior recent rebuild with insufficient head gaskets from the previous owner that now you have to deal with. The weakest link under boost will show it's face, hope for your wallet and time sake that replacing the head gaskets with new ones is all you need to do to cure the issues you're having. Also hope you don't end up with alot of stuff inside being torn up from a gasket failure. Good Luck with it and sorry to hear of your mis-fortune. Welcome back to the TR family btw.
 
It is what it is. I believe they are mls gaskets. It was not mixing in the oil or antifreeze. No signs on the spark plugs . If was not for the coolant pressure check with the spark plugs out and the cylinder up. I would of never seen it.

Posted from the TurboBuick.Com mobile app
 
You might of gotten off lucky then if nothing had mixed, i'm sure someone else will recommend certain head gaskets to use to avoid the issue in the future. Wished i could help with recommending those, i got lucky to never of had to worry about that as a couple months before i got my TR which was almost 4 years ago that the motor only had about 100 miles on its fresh rebuild the previous owner had done to it and none of the gaskets had issues as of yet.
 
I do need advise for head gaskets. And the rest. I ask also thinking about going back to bolts instead of the studs. Any recommendation would be nice. Planning to have the heads at machine shop by Tuesday.

Posted from the TurboBuick.Com mobile app
 
No doubt the rod bearings have been pounded from the knock that blew the headgaskets. If you aren't gonna beat on it then the stock style headgasket will be fine. If your gonna beat on it with those style head gaskets and they blow it sends a ton of graphite and debris into the engine. Not to mention it milkshaking the oil or coolant. So then if you use a cometic gasket it won't blow ( it still will blow under as bad tune just not as fast) graphite and debris out but will send the uh oh to bigger components like crank, rods, etc. In either case the rod bearings get hammered from knock. So pick your poison....lol. Just can't have a slip up in the tune...these engines are finicky....a couple of pings at higher boost and the train wreck ensues.
 
Last edited:
So what is higher boost on these cars. It was set to 25 pds. When i purchased the vehicle.

Posted from the TurboBuick.Com mobile app
 
The safe bet would be getting some cometic head gaskets, since it appears there's been some major work that was done to the engine on your GN based on what you've said in your posts of this thread.
Anything that is 15+ Psi of boost is considered high boost on these cars, 25psi of boost will easily pop a head gasket really quick if it isn't tuned right at that boost level. You probably should adjust the boost down to a lower setting like 17-18 Psi and after you get it back together leave it that way for awhile until you have it tuned correctly.

Sounds like it needs to be tuned properly so it isn't taking out stuff when you're in a good amount of boost.
You know what chip it has in it? If it's a TurboTweak it'll have a label on it with numbers and such on it. I have an older 5.6 TT chip.
28eeff6ed203a23c961b1985413f859a_zpsd8a47e14.jpg
 
Last edited:
Has turbo tweek chip specified for 93 octane and methanol. With all the specs of the engine. Have the paper work for it . Shows for 25pds.

Posted from the TurboBuick.Com mobile app
 
Most likely the tune in some way is off and there was some knock that ate the head gasket on #1. Whether it was not enough Alky to keep the knock away or it was not enough fuel, the tune was off and it took a head gasket with it pinging at the upper boost level it reached prior to you getting the car.
By any chance does the car have a Scanmaster and or a PowerLogger in it?
 
Scan master. No power logger . I am planning on getting a power logger during the winter

Posted from the TurboBuick.Com mobile app
 
Tr6 plugs. 60pd injectors. Walbro 340 pump. Looked like fuel regulator while idling was at 45pds. Did not check gasp on spark plugs

Posted from the TurboBuick.Com mobile app
 
I run the felpro 9441pt no problems,even with the cosmetics I've read of problems sealing, having to retorque depends on how flat your block and heads are some even take the rivets out and spray copper seal between the layers. It's all about the tune I run 22-25 ibs of boost 93 + meth I don't run a lot of timing 19 in 3rd unless I'm at the track and running race fuel
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Paulmac201
Head Gasket Failure
2 3
Replies
40
Views
1K
Dylan4570
D
Pierre
Refresh engine
2
Replies
33
Views
3K
ITSAV6
ITSAV6
spross86
Valve cover correct ones?
Replies
7
Views
809
earlbrown
E
J
Found oil leak around oil filter
Replies
5
Views
447
TIMINATOR
TIMINATOR
hemi8
Equalized Cooling
Replies
13
Views
2K
J-B Racing
J
Top