fired up and broke in the new 225 i built today, sounds great. there is a smallish leak of oil coming from the bell housing area. small drips, leaves a little puddle, doesnt seem to keep leaking after its shutoff though. i did notice the oil level is a tad high, its about 1/8inch above the "FULL" mark. do these motors like to leak past the rear seal with a little bit overfill? i have exactly 5qts, and one of those comp cam zinc additive bottles. or am i screwed and need to pull the motor to see whats goin on? id really hope its the cam plug or something, and not the mainseal which would be such a pain to change, if its NOT the overfilled scenario. what do you guys think

Leaks from the back of the rocker cover can sometimes masquerade as a leak from there. Seen it many times. Worth checking before going into "panic" mode.
I hope for your sake it is not the main, that is a right Royal PITA with a new engine.
Hope luck is on your side. And - no, I do not know if a slight overfil would cause a problem. Doc will be your man with that one.


regards,Rod

Well holy $#!+, it is coming from the cover, oil is all over the side/rear of engine from up top.

Any idea why it would leak and how to fix it?
Brand new felpro rubber gasket. I have it glued to cover. Valve cover wasn't tweaked or anything as far as I was able to tell. The bolts were torqued Down evenly and whatnot. Maybe I just need to snug them up?

Maybe?
Also take a look around the bolt holes, as people tend to "just tighten it" until the holes get pulled down into the gasket, which can split the gasket there, or leave the rest of the gasket without enough pressure, when you fit a new one.
Maybe worth a look, anyway...

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I have no idea what I am talking about.

Check the cover around each bolt hole for "pull down" distortion.
At this time it is best if you tell us what cover you are using - original, Chinese chrome aftermarket rubbish or perhaps an alloy one?
Also, check that any wiring has not become trapped across the rear face of the head. I had that happen to me once and it leaked just fine.
I am personally not a fan of the neoprene gaskets and stick to cork. Works for me.
If the cover is original, how you go about fixing the distortion is up to you, but it does not need much pressure and light tapping of a hammer to fix. Getting all the same is the trick. Again, Doc or SSD might chime in with a suggestion or two.
Above all, the bolts require very little torque to hold correctly, and it is a common error by us big, strong humans to apply too much force. End result is a distorted cover and a leak.
A much easier fix than a rear main seal anyway.

regards,Rod
Edit:
You wrote: "The bolts were torqued down evenly and whatnot. Maybe I just need to snug them up?"

Just how much torque did you apply here?
With a cover in good condition, just a little over finger tight is all I use. Be sparing with the muscles . As for "snugging them up" - at this stage I do not think that is the answer.
Perhaps it is the "whatnot" that is your trouble.

I am using factory cover. And as for torque, I don't have an inch lb wrench so i used a 1/4 drive ratchet with a mile long extention. And I did take into consideration not to do crazy torque. They are just snug. It seems to be leaking mostly from the rear most passenger side corner. No wires pinched.

The what not just ment I torqued them down evenly and started from center out in a cross patern. Whatnot is much easier to type

Also I may need a new fuel pump, using a clear plastic six filter, I can see the pump is fairly erratic. It will look like its hardly getting fuel and every 10 seconds or so it will get a big splash and then Ho back to being very low level of fuel in filter. I dont think this is normal as I never noticed this in any vw I have worked on. I kept the old pump because its a made in usa carter, and the car drove fine before needing the rebuild. Figured that would be better then a China made piece. Maybe not huh

If your bolts are too long, or some crud has taken up residence at the bottom of the valve cover’s bolt holes, you will never snug the cover down if that is the case. Try shimming bolts with a few washers. I use a nut driver to snug up valve cover bolts, making it harder to over tighten them.

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67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC

You too huh?

regards,Rod

Progress on the leak ?:?:

regards,Rod

Changed out valve cover gasket to cork. Let it sit over night for the silicone to Erie from cover to gasket. Have not run it yet. Will report back. Also changed out fuel pump, oil smelled a lot like gas, but I didn't notice oil level rising. Also it didn't seem to be pumping very well from what I can tell in the filter. Fuel pump in the car is a horrible job.