Hi all need some help and on a very tight budget at the moment.

Changed the heater core today and started up the car to put some coolant back in. When I turned the car off I noticed a sound and went to inspect. There is oil pouring (exaggeration, more like bubbling) out from between my head and block. I'm not sure if its just oil or coolant as well, but it sucks. I ran the car for only a few minutes to fully warm it up and I have a nice pool of oil on the ground.

So I'm wondering how much it will cost to fix this. This is my daily driver and I will need it for work. I can't see any gasket there now which leads me to think its got a shim style gasket and maybe I can use the FelPro style one for at least a few months without much trouble?

I'm assuming I'll also need to replace the manifold gasket? Can anybody shed some hope on this issue? Is there anyway I can do this for less than $100?

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'66 Dodge Dart

Can you take a picture of where the oil is comming out? Are you sure its oil and not just coolant comming out and then mixing with any old oil on the outside of the block? As long as there are no cracks in the head/block,you should be able to just replace the head/intake gaskets and call it good.

If you really want I can take a picture later. The location is distributor side, more so toward the firewall but also some just above the dizzy.

I'm not 100% but it seems like its mostly (or all) oil. Would it be worse if it were coolant or a mix of the two?

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'66 Dodge Dart

im actually doing my head gaskets rite now. i found a head gasket set on ebay for 50 buks manifold gaskets in all. enless you think its warped or cracked then you mite be in for a lil dough.?

jimbo

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dodge b150 4x4 225 supersix,8 inch lift26605_1315915292058_1055981099_30764636_7102626_n

Just for giggles, have you torqued all the head bolts to spec?

Aside from that.... pull head, check both surfaces for flatness (good time to have the head milled a bit anyways, guaranteeing flatness and raising compression), then reinstall with new gasket.

- Mac

pull your oil filter





check to see if someone left old oil filter gasket on
you may be running two gaskets



and that will leak....

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slant six's RULE!
http://www.usajon.com

check your drooltube gaskets and vavle cover gasket first.

Thanks to everyone who has weighed in on this. I really appreciate it.
I last changed the oil filter, only 1 gasket there, and the underside of the filter is bone dry.
Valve cover gasket is semi-new (reused once after valve lash adjustment) and doesn't leak. The drool tubes do leak a bit, but that is not this issue.

I saw the oil coming out and it was definitely coming from between the head and block.
I've never touched the head bolts on this engine and it hasn't given me trouble since I bought it over a year ago. I didn't think head bolts would come loose, should I retorque them just to be sure?

I don't really have time/money to get the head resurfaced as this is my daily driver and I'll need it Tuesday for work...[/quote]

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'66 Dodge Dart

when u run 2 oil filter gaskets the oil weeps onto the ledge between the head and block, backwards towards the firewall. I did this once and never had oil under the filter.

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slant six's RULE!
http://www.usajon.com

That's interesting, but still not the case here. Haven't changed the filter in 6k miles and this is a new problem. And I'm always very careful to clean the mating surface.

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'66 Dodge Dart

I would definately retorque and go to factory specs,if they dont move there.go anouther 5lbs,at this point ya got nothing to lose.

Unless you are using a large, very good filter, you're heading into "overdue".

Has the valve cover been off (or the spark plugs been out) since before the problem began?

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

I meant just over 3k, just did my second oil change with this filter. I was thinking 3k miles * 2 oil changes... and there is the error. Sorry about that.

The plugs where changed about a year ago and haven't been touched since. Valve cover was off for valve lash two months ago.

I must say, lots of interesting questions to this problem! Its hard to see where you guys are going with your diagnosis sometimes

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'66 Dodge Dart

WE are all trying to figure out how to give you the best advise.The better the info you give us,the better advice we can try to give you.Mark

Remote diagnosis is going to require a lot of questions. It isn't in our garage/carport/yard/wheatfield.

Have you positively identified the location of the leak? Not where it runs down, but dried off, clean, not running from one place to another?

There are several locations that can be leak points. the valve cover is a great place to start. Make sure the valve cover is nice and flat prior to putting a new gasket in place. A block of wood and small ball-pean hammer will fix that in short order.

Oil will migrate along the deck where the head is mounted. See if it's coming from further forward. It's almost as bad as gasoline, which will find itself leaking up at times.

Clean and dry the whole surface of the block and head, then positively identify the location of the leak. The front block bolt for the alternator bracket is a common leak point. pull it out, clean it up and put a dab of rtv on the threads. Reinstall.
If your going to pull the head and put a new Felpro or other composite on there, get cracking. The weekend isn't getting any younger.

If you were closer, I'd say motor on down. I think Mike might swing by for a bit of tuning tomorrow. He doesn't need help, but it's nice to do things like this with friends!

CJ

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