Engine Head Leak

[Jezza]

I have a Vertex 21 engine (Taiwan) and I have just replaced the piston and sleeve. When I started the break-in process there is a pretty big leak between the cooling head and engine body - quite a bit of oil coming out when the engine is running.

This did not happen before so it's obviously linked with the new piston/sleeve. I have searched load of sites but cannot get any info on what to do to fix the leak. Please help!

 

[olds97_lss]

Are you sure you didn't forget to put the head shim back in? It's made of brass or something similar that is soft to not only shim the head properly, but it's soft enough to seal around any anomalies in-between the head and sleeve.

 

[beason]

also make sure when you tighten down the head you do it in an X pattern so you dont tighten down one wat to far, just snug them all then go back and tighten each one a little untill there all tight

 

[Rolex]

The gasket is a soft copper, and compresses when tightened down properly, and true, it needs to be secured in a cross pattern so that it sits flat. Just like a 1:1 head.

 

[Jezza]

Thanks for the advice.

The shim is fitted and I also tightened up the bolts in a diagonal pattern - but it still leaks.

I am thinking of resorting to using some RTV sealant. Any thoughts on that?

 

[Karl M]

I think I would resort to reshimming it first. I would think the compression of the engine would push it out.

 

[olds97_lss]

I'd pull it back apart and inspect/clean it. Maybe you got a piece of dirt or something between the seal/head or seal/sleeve or sleeve/crank case. There should never be a need for RTV between the cooling head and crank case.

 

[Jezza]

Thanks - that's what I was thinking. The RTV option feels like a temporary fix rather than a long term solution.