Yet Another 3.0 Head Gasket Thread

[oldskewel]

That's all great to hear.

The coolant was the biggest concern, so if there is an explanation for that, the others may be solvable one at a time. The serious under-filling could cause the suction due to a big hot air pocket that was in there when you put the cap on (the air needed to be hot). When that air cooled, it would shrink - not as dramatic suction as condensing water vapor (where the volume basically goes to zero), but could produce what you saw.

On the belt -
are you 100% sure it is routed properly?

Fan pulley nuts (the 4 small ones) on tight?

You previously mentioned the Power Steering - when I did mine, the PS system stayed closed the whole time, and it and the AC were basically untouched while I worked around them. But I did not do anything special to protect them. Hosed everything down, etc. If you did not open any hoses, I doubt you could have caused a problem.

I did have a couple of minor belt squeaks after my HG work - partially fixed by a new drive belt tensioner and then fully fixed when I put on a special belt designed to handle slight problem situations. I guess when you touch enough old stuff, it's not unexpected to throw a couple of things off.

[Russianblue]

Originally Posted by oldskewel

I put on a special belt designed to handle slight problem situations.

Spanx for cars. lol!

So it's possible I now have the serp belt and coolant situation sorted. The big one is the oil leak.

I have a theory here.

here are some pics of the leak location.
the "good" thing is that this is looking like a timing cover leak.

the "better" thing is that it is POSSSSIBLE that I may have actually NOT INSTALLED the long E8 torx bolts on the front corners of the cylinder head. don't ask me why i think that. just...thinking back....i don't have leftover bolts but i remember putting two in a bag with the tensioner and i seriously don't remember seeing those other two again. but my memory is terrible nowadays anyway so i have to go check regardless.

if i did install all four, it is possible that i torqued them incorrectly. i think i remember torquing them to 5 or 6 ft lbs. can't remember where i got that. one of the youtube guides maybe. apparently the torque numbers for these bolts is a tad elusive. anybody have the correct torque? 10 NM ?

if it is a torque issue, i would certainly think a few more inch-pounds applied DIRECLTY on that location (which i know is under-torqued) might pull up that section of the timing cover just a few thousandths. maybe that would help with the seal.

the location of this leak coincides with the top center of the timing cover housing.