I recently re-intalled the 383 after getting the engine balanced. Everything seemed to be okay, the engine was running good, but it was leaking oil. And it was leaking in more than one place. I spent hours looking and found out it was leaking around the distributor and around one of the valve covers. I fixed these leaks but the motor was and is still leaking. I took the car to a highly praised repair shop around my area, and they found out after cleaning the entire engine that it was leaking oil from between the passenger side head and the block, between the 2 and 4 cylinders. Is this even possible? I'm hoping that the torque on the head bolts isn't right, because when putting the heads on, the only way I could get a socket on some of the bolts was by grinding a 5/8 socket with a die grinder so that it would fit between the valvesprings. I'm thinking that this could have weakened the socket, which could give me false torque readings. If retorquing doesn't work, I guess I'll be pulling of some heads, not to mention my PITA ****Ram. Has anyone heard of an oil leak from here and are there any suggestions or opinions?

 

I don't see how that's possible. It's gotta be from a valve cover or something else.

 

There's no way.

Green = Water

Red = Oil

Pink = Bolts

You tell me how oil is getting over there between 2 and 4??

 

I would be inclined to agree with AJ. Except, I would say it's merely extremely unlikely rather than impossible, maybe about as likely as Saddam becoming a Jehovah's Witness: it could happen, as long as he's still alive; but I believe I'd consider other alternatives before assuming that.

Head bolts also go into water. The deck of the block is a big flat "sheet" of casting, and the head bolt holes go all the way through it into the water jacket. If you don't put some kind of NON-HARDENING sealer on the threads, water will leak up around them and come out their heads.

Oil that leaks from other places, such as the front intake seal, will sometimes run along the crack between the head and the block, until it finds a blockage in its path. If your leak is really oil, then it's probably something like that.

Otherwise, it's coolant.

 

I've got some dye for the engine and I'll let you guys know where it's leaking from in the next few days. Thanks for your opinions though.