Darn oil leak

[wine country ghia]

Hello all,

I received an old motor from a friend and noticed allot of old caked on oil around the push rod tubes on the right side so I replaced the tubes with new seals and reinstalled the head. It seems the oil is comming from the valve cover. So i figured maybe the valve cover is warped so I put a brand new valve cover on with new gasket and still it's leaking about the size of a fifty cent peice. Could the head have a small crack and the oil is escapeing that way? Or could the head itself be a little warped? I have a spare complete head would it be best just to replace the old head? Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks -WCG

[Marc]

Have you tried other valve covers? Set one on without a gasket and see if it rocks. If the bale is tired it may not be holding the cover on tightly enough - often you can just exaggerate the bends in it slightly in the vise to make it clamp better. Look closely, see if the oil is coming out of the underside of the rockerbox around one of the head stud holes - you may just need to put some sealant under the washers.

[larry1834]

Get some high temp rtv and apply gasket to valve cover after cleaning surface. Put cover on head and let set overnight. Pull valve cover and apply a bead of high temp bearing grease to the gasket and replace on head. I had the same problem with leaking and it cut it greatly unless you have a problem with head surface.

[Guest]

Thanks for the advise guys yeah when I reinstalled the head I made sure to add some blue rtv on the under side of the washers for the head studs
The bail arm seems strong but I'll do the check to see is the cover is not sitting flush. LOL I was thinking of just rtving each side and seal that sucker for sure but then I would need to do that every time it was valve adjustment time

-WCG