The_Bishop

Damn oil leak at the rear of it. Again. Thought it was the dipstick until I pulled the starter to look at it, and found that the oil was coming down from the top of the motor on the passenger side. What a PITA... I was surgically careful with the intake last time I did it. Well, when I pull it off in the morning I guess I'll see what I missed. I even gave the damn RTV a few days to cure last time, too!

Pontiac_97

you sure its not a valve cover gasket?

95Blackhawk

Exactly what I was thinking

The_Bishop

Nah, I jammed my hand in back there and felt around. Back of the head by the valve cover is dry. Top of the intake is dry. The block behind the intake is wet with oil.

Jazsun

Use the RTV you can buy at autozone called "the right stuff" everyone who has used it has had zero leaks. The stuff is incredible...It's what GM uses on all their vehicles now.

ENRKyle20

the right stuff is amazing.. but, sometimes it works to good.. dont use it on oil pans.. there is a truck at school that has the diff cover being held on by the right stuff only.

Rising Phoenix

The Right Stuff does work really well. It should prevent any further oil leaks if you do it right.

The_Bishop

Maybe I'll go pick up a tube after I get the intake off tomorrow morning. I have a tube of Ultra Copper I was going to use, but I see an awful lot of recommendations for 'The Right Stuff'.

SC/TA

Another vote for "the right stuff" Its a little expensive but IT WORKS. Also You wont have to wait a couple of days like you did with the RTV.

Jazsun

I've used a lot of RTV's and the right stuff is different...its almost like tart its very sticky. Also it doesnt come in a tube that I know off, look for it in an aerosell (sp?) type can dispenser.

ENRKyle20

YEA.. THE the stuff does not come off hand well either!

The_Bishop

Pulled the intake off and found the problem.





Apparently I made the bead too far to the rear of the block on the curve, which resulted in my leak. There isn't a lot of surface area where it actually seals, from the looks of things.

Where the RTV was actually located in the right place, it was very well adhered. Took a decent sized pry bar to get the intake to come loose.

The front was sealed just fine:





I'm on my way to pick up some of that 'right stuff' sealer, then I'll put it all back together. For the record, none of the intake bolts were loose, either.

I'm not looking forward to cleaning all this stuff off.

TobyZ28

Here's what we did with my intake manifold to make sure it sealed right (we used copper rtv and its been 2-3+ years now and holding great ).

#1. Bought a new tube of RTV, the old tube's stuff stayed slimy and didn't even skin over!
#2. After laying down the bead we waited a little (10-20 min?) until the bead skinned over a tad.
#3. placed two chopsticks in the holes to use as guides. (One on the far rear left one on the far front right)
#4. We then were extremely careful laying it straight down on top of the intake!


The previous intake's bead looked similar to yours, but I'm pretty sure it was because the person who placed it put it down slid it back a tad to line up the bolt holes. The chopsticks basiclly ensured it was lined up before making contact with the bead

brianswimmer23

hey bishop i hope your able to get it all working out! you should do a write up on how you did this with pics and then it would be useful for people that are having the same problem! just my two cents!

The_Bishop

Toby: I did use guides. I know for a fact that I did not slide the manifold back and forth; I cut down a pair of 3/8 bolts and threaded them in on one side so it would go down straight and lined up.

Brian: Not a bad idea. I have been taking pictures, maybe I'll do a write up. Even though I believe it's been covered a *bunch* of times.