Oil pooling

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VonCramp

VonCramp

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Oil is pooling at the rear of my heads and eventually starts seeping out of the valve covers. Never did this before my head swap. Ever since I swapped to the pro comp heads, the oil stays in the back and pools until it starts leaking out above the spark plugs. When the valve cover is removed I can see the oil sitting there at the back. I took an old valve cover and cut it out so I could watch the oil. It sits there and puddles up and then eventually works it's way between the valve cover gaskets and heads. Could just be that my anodized valve covers won't seal with these new heads and intake. Anyone ever dealt with this type of scenario before? It's a 340 with the pro comp aluminum heads and pro comp air gap style intake.
 
Oil drainback through the aluminum heads is usually a little slower than factory iron. But - the covers should seal it. Might want to check the cover flanges and replace the gaskets - make sure there is no oil residue left even from your fingers on theflanges or gasket, and don't use silicone on them either.
 
moper said:
Oil drainback through the aluminum heads is usually a little slower than factory iron. But - the covers should seal it. Might want to check the cover flanges and replace the gaskets - make sure there is no oil residue left even from your fingers on theflanges or gasket, and don't use silicone on them either.
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I used new rubber gaskets and bearing grease. I am getting an excessive amount of oil leakage on both sides of the motor at the sides above the last two plugs. It is basically running out. Not just seeping
 
With regular gaskets, use Gaskacinch to glue them to the covers. That's all you should ever need for "sealant". No grease, no silicone, nothing else. But I found that the only valve cover gaskets that work 100% of the time are the Moroso "Perm-Align". If those heads use the stock "LA" style valve covers you need Moroso #93050. The gaskets RustyRatRod specified look similar to these Morosos.

Also, check to make sure that the flange of the valve cover isn't getting hung up on the intake manifold somewhere. A lot of aftermarket intakes do not play well with many types of valve covers. Usually grinding off the offending part of the valve cover, without destroying it's sealing ability, is the only solution.
 
It's an old SE trick to use a thin film of grease so the gaskets release and can be reused. I've done it before too - with cork gaskets. It used to be that way for holley gaskets too before the reusable ones were cheap.
My impression is the rubber gasket is moving around. I would replace the rubber with cork, make sure the cover flanges are not tweaked and oil/grease free, and use 3M weatherstrip adhesive to attach them to the covers. If you want to at that point, wipe your fingerover the head gasket flange with a little grease to leave a film. Not enough to see a layer of grease - only enough to make it slick. If you don;t want to just make sure there is NO grease or oil on the flange where the gasket will hit the head. Then put the covers back on, tighten the lower 3 bolts, center out, then the top two, and don't overtighten. I had the same set of cork gaskets on a 440 for 12 years at one point ad that was being re-lashed 3-4 times a summer. They's still on the engine but it's with a new owner. No leaks. If you don't use grease the cork will bond to the head and will tear bits off when you go to loosen it after some heat cycles.
 
moper said:
It's an old SE trick to use a thin film of grease so the gaskets release and can be reused. I've done it before too - with cork gaskets.
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That's exactly what I do, just a thin film of grease on the head side of the gasket (cork) and when you pull the cover, no sticky. :D



OP, what valve covers are you using?

Are they possibly hitting the intake and not seating properly?
 
The valve cover flanges have little lips on them, notorious for hanging up on the intake runners (M/T's and MP cast do it EVERY time) if you dont want to grind the valve covers, double up on the cork gaskets, but bond them together first with rtv. downside is you may run out of VC bolt threads..stud them. Cam windage trays are a good investment, will save your oil pressure in the event of the pushrod failing and will contain most of the cam oil churn.
 
moper said:
It's an old SE trick to use a thin film of grease so the gaskets release and can be reused. I've done it before too - with cork gaskets.
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My grandpa told me to do the same thing. I haven't had one leak and I've had the valve covers off many times.
 
moper said:
It's an old SE trick to use a thin film of grease so the gaskets release and can be reused. I've done it before too - with cork gaskets. It used to be that way for holley gaskets too before the reusable ones were cheap.My impression is the rubber gasket is moving around. I would replace the rubber with cork, make sure the cover flanges are not tweaked and oil/grease free, and use 3M weatherstrip adhesive to attach them to the covers. If you want to at that point, wipe your fingerover the head gasket flange with a little grease to leave a film. Not enough to see a layer of grease - only enough to make it slick. If you don;t want to just make sure there is NO grease or oil on the flange where the gasket will hit the head. Then put the covers back on, tighten the lower 3 bolts, center out, then the top two, and don't overtighten. I had the same set of cork gaskets on a 440 for 12 years at one point ad that was being re-lashed 3-4 times a summer. They's still on the engine but it's with a new owner. No leaks. If you don't use grease the cork will bond to the head and will tear bits off when you go to loosen it after some heat cycles.
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I think the reason I am running into a leak problem is because there is a lot of oil just sitting there in the back of the heads. I am using Mopar stamped steal anodized valve covers with rubber gaskets. On a side note, do not buy pro comp heads unless you like die grinding A LOT. Not one rocker cleared the valve springs. Maybe some bee hive style if you don't mind spending the extra money.
 
I agree. The drainback is simply not as good. You can try to help that in most cases but I have not held a Pro Comp head head so I don't know where or how bad it can be. But - that aside - the valve cover should be able to seal and be completely filled with oil and it not leak. That's why I've been saying work on the sealing.
 
VonCramp said:
I think the reason I am running into a leak problem is because there is a lot of oil just sitting there in the back of the heads. I am using Mopar stamped steal anodized valve covers with rubber gaskets. On a side note, do not buy pro comp heads unless you like die grinding A LOT. Not one rocker cleared the valve springs. Maybe some bee hive style if you don't mind spending the extra money.
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I have the Mopar stamped steel chromed valve covers and have not had a leak since using Moroso and Cometic valve cover gaskets , the cork ones would leak with these valve covers , not so much with the alu valve covers I had in the past . I've never used grease , but have always replaced cork gaskets when I used them , they would break all the time .
And the 1.6 rockers needed grinding on the eddy heads as well , so it's not just pro comp . Maybe the 1.5 rockers would have fit .
 
Here's where they are leaking. Right on top of the 6 and 8 plugs.
 

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Scratch that , the bolts are not to long are they ? Guy had that problem the other day , would not hold down tight enough
 
Try some thin washers under the VC bolt heads. The covers you have are a bit thinner than stockers. The stock bolts bottom out when the gaskets have the correct crush with stock covers. In theory...
 
I had a problem like this once (not Mopar). Turned out the head gasket partially covered the return drain holes. I was able to pound a slim drift pin into the holes and crush the gasket outward.

Made the mistake of using STP some time later and the increased viscosity caused the problem to return. Hope you're not using the heavy stuff.
 
Logan said:
I had a problem like this once (not Mopar). Turned out the head gasket partially covered the return drain holes. I was able to pound a slim drift pin into the holes and crush the gasket outward.

Made the mistake of using STP some time later and the increased viscosity caused the problem to return. Hope you're not using the heavy stuff.
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those valve covers have always been a pain in the but to most people who run them, sooner or later they do what you are describing. most people I know won`t use them. oil pools in most heads too. sounds like your rocker arms were at fault too, not the heads.
 
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