oil leaking around intake bolt

[bigchief79]

I'm sure you've all seen it. A puddle of oil in the recess under one or more intake bolts(360). The engine intermitently runs rough. (new eng, new dist, fuel pump, etc) Is there any way the oil leaking past the bolt is being drawn into the intake port and fouling a plug? Can it be comming out by the bolt and not affect anything at all? Thanks

[Crazy_Jeepman]

Oil around the intake bolts not at all uncommon. can it leak and not be a problem Yes. Oil leaking out the bolt does no necessarily mean a Vacuum leak. However it does not mean there is not one either. How new is the engine, retorque the intake bolts. If it is a NEW engine and leaking so soon I would be concerned the intake was not installed correctly ;) Bet that answers your questions ;) Do you see any fouled Plugs?. Put a Vacuum gauge on it and get a reading. Just a couple ideas

[Stuka]

Re-torque tthe intake to see if it stops the leak. after you put it on you need to retorque it after it heats and cools a few times. Pull the plugs and see if any have carbon deposites.

When you say it runs ruff at times how so? Is the carb new/rebuilt?

[bigchief79]

THanks guys. The engine has less than 1000k on it. Checking the plugs for fouling was my next step but the rebuider has the jeep right now looking for the problem. Stuka, it shakes like bad gas, or a fouled plug but only for a few miles, then goes away. I retourqued the bolts to 40 lb-ft but they were all correct. it is the second bolt from the front on the left bank, but I cant remember if the oil passage lays between two intake ports or the water jackets. Is it possible the seal is still good between the water/intake ports and comming from the inside of the intake, not affecting the water /intake ports? Would a compresson test reveal anything or would a leakdown test be better? Also you mentioned a vac guage. What is proper hg on a stock engine? Thanks

[Millerluck]

Sounds to me like a CTO in the vacuum circut might be efecting the timing untill the coolant warms it up enofe. OR.... The choke might be set a little to rich. But smoothes out when it opens up all the way.

I get the pool going from one of my intake manifold bolts too.

It being a carborated engine that takes time to get up to temp you're gona get some rough running when cold anyhow.
Newer fuel injected engines with computers let you start and go now days before the oil pressure even climbs. :eek:

Later

Larry Miller

[ May 26, 2002: Message edited by: Millerluck ]</p>

[bigchief79]

Not sure what a CTO is but if it's the vac switch that works on coolant temp, it's not that. That's brand new too. It never runs rough at any specific time. Sometimes it will be in the morning, other times it will be warmed and stop at a store or something, come back and it runs bad when I crank it back, and sometimes it will just do it while driving! It would be soooo much easier to diagnose if it would do it all the time :(