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Has anyone experienced an oil leak in the seam in the engine block? A back yard mechanic friend told me that my oil leak was the seam in the block, this was a couple of years ago. Recently an actual mechanic friend offered to help me pull the engine and fix it, huge job I know! He asked me to do some prep work and we would start Thursday (this week) so Saturday and today I was busy using engine de-greaser, cleaning the underside etc.. To me it looks like one or two valve cover gaskets? After reading years and years of posts over the last several hours, I am not finding any block seam leaks, lots of valve cover gasket leaks. Of course my mechanic will look at the clean engine Thursday, but I was just wondering about engine blocks actually leaking and what to look for if anyone has any information?

I don't recall reading of leaky blocks, but leaky valve cover gaskets are a different story. Before you go worrying too much about a cracked block, I'd search here for info on the best valve cover gaskets and how to correctly install them. IIRC, some are prone to getting sucked into the cover and thus leaking.

Update: With a clean engine, it looks like the oil is coming from the lower bolts where the cylinders (2 & 3) meet the block, I would be tempted to call it the head gasket, except I see no head gasket in the parts drawing? Dang, I was really pulling for the valve cover gaskets!!

Please add your location to your profile to expedite closest help.
Yes, the seams and fasteners can leak over time and the only way to verify source is to add trace dye to the engine and use a black light to isolate the source.
Warning, use only Permatex aviation sealant, use of silicon sealant may result in engine failure.
Silicon sealants do not compress to zero tolerance.
You should be doing a compression and cylinder leak down check before starting repairs and also have a complete gasket seal set on hand.
Have at least $1500-$2200 ready to spend for any needed parts.

Thanks for your advise Jim! So far we have pulled the engine and used die and a black light to find the exact area of leak, it was easy to see. 2 of the seal rings on the oil return tube have failed (710.2.04.013.1) We will get started on it again Thursday and make a plan of action before I start ordering parts. Some notes: I am surprised how easy it was to pull the engine, I hope it will go back in as easy. Also I was expecting the ring gear to be missing teeth (I get that grinding noise at times when starting) NOPE the ring gear on the flywheel looks great, so I have some reading to do here because in the last couple of years I read something on here about Unimog starters or something? Oh, the only casualty was the passenger side motor mount was broken, I don't know if we broke it or if I have been driving around with a broken motor mount?
Question? Are seal rings (712.1.12.125.1) for the exhaust something that can be reused? Or do you just add them to the parts list and replace them with new?

Update: The Leak turned out to be the oil return tubes in the cylinders, 2 of them cut into by the cylinder cover on the bottom, and a 3rd one scored but not leaking. Over time it must have worked like a hack saw cutting away at the tubes. If anyone has any tips or tricks to replace the oil return tubes I am all ears. It looks like the top of the heads have to be removed at the minimum. This looks much better than having the actual seam in the block leaking.

I will be wondering if the guilty cylinder cover was installed wrong or if some of my crazy 4x4ing over the last 7 years dislodged it to rest on the tubes? Hard to say?

Lee

jb weld plus some BIG sign so the next owner is aware?

Is there enough room to fit a fuel hose around it?

hahaha, that would be to easy!! Nope, we'll pull the top of the cylinder heads and replace the tubes unless someone has knows magic? Actually when the project stared I thought the oil leak was the seam in the block, would require total engine rebuild, so in a way I am getting off easy.