Oil leak from head gasket?

bigalpha · Mar 25, 2010

I have a buddy who has a 1990 MJ with the 6 cyl.

Looks like he's leaking oil from the head gasket. He says it runs at normal temps. I wasn't sure if you could leak oil without having it overheat.

VC Gasket is new.
Oil filter adapter orings are new.
New oil sender
New rear main.
No oil in AF; no AF in oil
No discernible loss of AF.
Lost 2.5qts of oil on a 500 mile round trip

jmcleish · Mar 25, 2010

it needs a headgasket.

Talyn · Mar 25, 2010

Normal. The head gasket will leak oil in that area when it gets old. Unless it really bothers him or the leak is large just let it go. Or if he is lazy, clean the area off and try to slap some RTV on it.

bigalpha · Mar 25, 2010

The leak is pretty annoying, so I imagine he'll be replacing it sooner rather than later.

JJacobs · Mar 25, 2010

I really doubt it's the head gasket. There are no high pressure oil passages that go through the gasket- only the gravity-fed oil drainback from the rocker arms.

Talyn · Mar 25, 2010

No, it is the head gasket, but there is nothing crucial in that area. It is just sealing the empty space above the lifters where the push rods run through and the oil drains back down. There are also no bolts there that really compress the gasket.

lil_red_wagon · Mar 25, 2010

i had one leak in the same place. it eventually blew and i had to replace it.

lawsoncl · Mar 26, 2010

Mine looks exactly like that. I haven't been bothered enough to do anything about it yet.

cruiser54 · Mar 26, 2010

BTW, if those Sharpie numbers on the distributor cap are correct, his distributor is indexed improperly.

bigalpha · Mar 26, 2010

cruiser54 said:
BTW, if those Sharpie numbers on the distributor cap are correct, his distributor is indexed improperly.

Well he drove it to work today without any issues! lol.

90 waggy · Apr 4, 2010

im having what looks like the same problem on my wagoneer. but im to lazy and poor to fix it so i chalked it up to rust prevention. its the only thing that saving my floorboards

ChevelleSSLS6 · Apr 4, 2010

90 waggy said:
im having what looks like the same problem on my wagoneer. but im to lazy and poor to fix it so i chalked it up to rust prevention. its the only thing that saving my floorboards

can you see through your rear floors? I can.

thankfully I'll have a Honda to drive around to rust out this winter, and will save for new sheetmetal (floors, a rocker, and a fender) once I have a locker in it.

1987Comanche · Apr 5, 2010

My '90 4.0 has the same leak. The oil is clean and the coolant is clean so I'm just letting it ride for the moment. If I decide to pull the head at some point will I need a cherry picker? I'd imagine a straight 6 cast iron head is pretty heavy. Anyone know what one of these heads weighs?

Shorty · Apr 5, 2010

bigalpha said:
Well he drove it to work today without any issues! lol.

is it just me, or does it look like there's a hellacious crack on the terminal numbered 6??

Eddy_AL · Apr 5, 2010

The stock head is heavy. I replaced my head gasket last weekend. I ended up with one foot one the driver's side motor mount and one foot on the bumper, but I got it out alone. A wife and two daughters aren't much help with those tasks......

Talyn · Apr 7, 2010

An engine crane is though. Lift the head, intake and exhaust manifold while still attached tot he head. I lifted the head out alone once. Didn't do that again.

Oil leak from head gasket?

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