M60 Head Gasket Leak

[Super90]

Well, looks like I have a fun issue to contend with. Oil is leaking into the galley on the left side, into the bell housing and on the ground. Cleaned it all up and the problem starts again within a couple of days..

Took it too my indy (www.rhinewest.com) and they say the head gasket is leaking on the left cylinder bank. They are thinking that before we dive in and do a complete head gasket job that we try a work-around. This would entail finding the closest head bolt to the leak, removing it, installing a new bolt and torquing it down. The thought is that a bolt is not holding it fair share and that indentifying the closest bolt and replacing it may solve the problem. Evidently, they have done this proceedure on some six cylinder motors that had coolant leaking from the head and that fixed the problem permanently.

Any thoughts on this?

I am hopeful it works in this instance as the alternative is pull both heads, mill them, new gaskets, etc. etc. About $2k to do properly while covering other bases while it's all apart.

TIA,

R.

[632 Regal]

get a second oppinion regarding the leak, it is more likely the valve cover gaskets leaking down and not the head...could be wrong but I would seriously entertain the valve cover idea.

[Kalevera]

Are there any other indications that there's a blown head gasket? What're the compression and leakdown numbers on that bank?

It's farily common for bad intake gaskets to leak oily looking goo into the galley. Fun mess to clean up, too.

best, whit

[Super90]

Valve cover gaskets are dry, without a doubt.

Not sure about the compression or leakdown, but, theoretically, there could be an oil galley leaking that doesn't affect the nearest cylinder, could there not ??

I replaced all the intake gaskets not too long ago, and yes, there was a nasty mess. Those tend to accumulate oil more slowly as best I know. This leaks visible oil into the galley within a couple of days. Not a lot of oil, but a couple of ounces.

I have a lot of faith in this shop. These guys are very well versed in the M60 motors and are very good at trouble shooting. The whole idea about replacing the head bolt was theirs and is the "easiest and lowest cost" potential fix.

Keep the brainstorming coming !!

Thanks,

R.