Hello,

I have a 318 that is leaking quite a bit of oil. Upon closer inspection I noticed on both sides of the engine block that the oil seems to be coming from right below the heads. Is this an indication that my head gaskets are leaking/cracked/blown? I'm fairly new at this so any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Jon P.

 

Prob your valve cover gaskets dried up. Change those, then clean the crap out of the motor and watch for any leakage.

 

It could also be where the intake manifold meets the top of the block and the head, flowing down that front edge. Same idea clean it up and run it. You could also do a proper comression test and that should give you an answer, don't try retightening head bolts it will likely make it worse.
And Merry Christmas.

 

Duster -

Go the easy route first. Agree with 78, most likely culprits are the valve covers. Clean everything off (a good "Gunking" should suffice) and run the engine while watching for where the leak is coming from.

Archer

 

Thanks guys! I'll be away from the garage for a few days but I'll let you know what I find out! Merry Christmas!

 

Hello
I just wanted to let you know that I took my valve covers off and clearly the valve gaskets were the main cause of the leak. The old gaskets were made of cork and were completely saturated with oil. The heads also had lots of oil on them. I cleaned the heads, valve covers, and put new rubber gaskets on. I have ran the car for about 30 miles and so far no leaks! Thanks guys!
Jon P.

 

After you run it some more check the valve cover bolts again and make sure they are snug. Any gasket will compress somemore after you drive it a bit.

 

I seem to have the same problem, but the heads are clean, It's not that bad but on the left side of the block (where the dip stick tube is) I get oil from under the head, just when it's running. I think it's running down from the intake manifold, I just bought this car and there doesn't seem to be any head gasket issues, but when I drive the car I get this oild in the location I just discribed. Since I don't have any oil on the top area of the heads I'm pretty sure it's not the valve cover gaskets, any help would be awesome