Huge oil leak...again

[amarx2002]

So I just finished rebuilding my s13 sr20 and have a big oil leak. Its happened twice now. First time was the wrong head gasket(autozone) as it had a rear oiling hole missing in the gasket. Car dumped about 2 quarts in 5 minutes. So I order a new OEM s14 headgasket and put it on. Torqued studs to 85the ft. Lbs. And thought all was dandy. Went out and drove it around for about 10 minutes. It got a little overheated as the fans aren't hooked up yet so I went back. Pull in the driveway and can see a trail of oil drips and big spots coming down the street. Thing is I pulled out one direction and came in the other on my street. The direction I left had no drips or anything but the direction I came back had all the oil following me. I let it sit turned off in the driveway to cool down. I pulled in the garage and there was a foot diameter dirty black oil spot under my car. The oil has like 10 miles on it so its not gonna be old and black. Brand new front/rear main seal and all gaskets/rtv. Anyone have any problems like this? The trail of oil look like it was coming from both sides of the motor in some spots and only one side in others. It leaked about 1.5 quarts on this trip. I checked the turbo line and drain and it seemed ok. I can't tell where its all coming from.

[shiftdrift]

Sounds like you are missing a line or something. Fill it back up and find out where the leak Is coming from. Maybe you have a cracked line?

[Pinggg]

triple check everything especially on the turbo side.

[Juantwo3]

dam i would be killing people!!!!!!!!!!!

[Sileighty_85]

First off Why the hell would you buy a head gasket from Autozone for an engine that was never produced in the US? And No the FWD DE and RWD DET are different.

Second. What side is it leaking from im sure you will be able to find that out easily.

[amarx2002]

I took off the flywheel inspection cover and it had oil in it and the flywheel was wet. So either rear main or pan. I guess question is now, is it easier to pull the engine or trans? I really don't want to pull the motor again but if I have to.

[Croustibat]

Originally Posted by amarx2002

I took off the flywheel inspection cover and it had oil in it and the flywheel was wet. So either rear main or pan. I guess question is now, is it easier to pull the engine or trans? I really don't want to pull the motor again but if I have to.

Both are a pain to do with engine in, and chances are you will be busting the rear crank seal again when reassembling gearbox and engine if one of them is still in the car. Changing sump gasket also requires to move steering rack a bit / remove ARB.

Pulling the trans is easy, putting it back is not. It weights 120lbs and you somehow have to rotate it upside down before pulling the input shaft out of the crank. This is usually when you kill the crank seal. And then there is assembling again. Which is double /triple the pain, because the input shaft will not engage correctly easily, so you have to find the correct box orientation AND support the 120lbs trans at the same time so it does not put load on the crank seal. Needless to say you will get covered in gearbox oil even if you drained it before.


Pulling the engine takes more time (drain coolant, drain oil, mark and unplug connectors, disconnect exhaust and intercooler, and remove front bumper and intercooler as usually the crane wont go far enough), but it is easier to do the work and put it back. Pulling engine and gearbox out is "the best" because you can reassemble them before putting them in back again, which means no stress on the crank seal.

Whatever you chose it is a pain, so just make sure you do it right the first time.