Help me pinpoint my oil leak!

[stealthtt24]

So this seems to be the only oil leak coming from my motor which is sitting in my garage. Its at the exhaust manifold, and I know ive read something about putting RTV on one of the manifold bolts. It just doesnt seem apparent which bolt the oil leak is coming from. See how the one exhaust port is completely oiled and the other are OK? 7 bolt motor. Ive done a leak down test and a compression test a while back and came back fine. I know, it looks weird doesn't it. Help! Thanks!

 

[mikus]

bottom middle stud is oil passage, unfortunately not how oil got in there.

are you getting exhaust smoke and when?

 

[stealthtt24]

Motor is out of the car but I was not getting any smoke when the motor was running.

 

[TylerAdamson]

First guess would've been exhaust stud that plugs the oil passage, but that's not the case here. I'm going with valve seals going bad.

 

[mikus]

agreed - seals seem likely (although testing suggests not so). maybe check intercooler/pipes for oil and check/change PCV as well.

 

[stealthtt24]

Thats what ppl are telling me, awesome.

 

[stealthtt24]

Question, should I just replace the VSS with the head on the motor?

 

[stealthtt24]

Motor is out of the car, and should I just buy 2 VSS and replace that cylinder? the head has less than 10k on it.... someone mentioned if the head has a burr on it and prematurely wears the VSS to just end up pulling the head down the road, which is what ill do.

 

[broxma]

Valves seals are so cheap there's no point. Just do them all. If you're not worried about the guides or the seats, just pop the springs, change the seal and pop the spring back on. An hours worth of work.

/brox