Head Gasket Leak

[mgslayer]

Greetings All:
Well I finally took the Beast (68 2000) out for it's 1st real drive on Sunday for about 40 miles since I swapped motors last summer. Before I took it out on Sunday I also did an oil change (Mobil One 15W-50 - Same Oil the PO was running when auto crossing the car) and installed an MSD 6AL, Went to finish w/ the MSD wires last night and I saw some oil puddling under the line that runs from the block to the dist. Figured it was some left over oil from when I replaced that line a few weeks ago, cleaned off the block and put it back in the garage/shed. Got in it tonight for some stress relief, came back and popped the hood to check on the oil spot. Looks like it is coming form the pass side rear between the head and block. It's not a big leak, just enough to give it a sheen, but I can see where the corner of the gasket looks wet. I want to address it before it becomes a BIG leak. The motor basically sat for 10 yrs or so with only being started once in a blue moon before I bought it and swapped it out. Before I go and switch out head gaskets is it worth loosening then re-torqing the head bolts? I wouldn't have thought twice about removing the head on the old motor because the cam has that nifty little dowel pin to keep everything in place, but this one has an adjustable cam gear, which means no nifty holder, a bit more involved messing w/ at least the top chain, and more chances to screw things up. Any advise? I do have a NOS engine gasket set so I do have a Nissan head gasket and a new set of head bolts just calling to me from the shed......

Thanks in advance
Mark

[keith0alan]

Retorqing the head bolts is worth a try. What I usually do on head gaskets is to put a really thin layer of Permatex around the oil and water passages. Just the tiniest amount, you don't want it squeezing out and clogging things up. The U20 seems to be prone to leak oil where your's is.

[spyder]

Mine does it more so than you describe. I would be careful about retorquing the head bolts. If you do it incorrectly you could cause the cam to bind. I torque mine with no cam followers and no cam gear in order to make sure the cam is free. I wouldnt worry about it unless it begins to leave big oil puddles.

[JoeK]

Mine also leaks a little in that local too. The longer the car sits in between drives, the worse the leak seems to get. But when the sun is out and I drive it a few times a week, the leak seems to go away, along with a leak at the rear, which I believe to be the rope seal at the crank.

[dbrick]

Just rplaced a head gasket on a friends car, same exact problem, he needed to have the head cut. I would retorque first and see how bad it leaks