Noticed while running I've got a very slight oil leak on the passenger side towards the rear of the engine. It appears to be running along the top of the timing cover then down the back of the engine. It's a pretty small leak, only happens while the car is running. I basically get one small drop of oil on the garage floor when parking up after a drive (and that side of the gearbox/speedo housing covered in a film of oil).
The only place i can think this could leak from is the oil feed between block/head on that back corner of the engine. The head was freshly skimmed and I used a Victor Reinz gasket with Loctite 3020. The only thing I didn't do in hindsight is re-torque the head nuts after running the engine. It's done about ~400 miles at this point.
Should I re-torque the nuts? Is it likely to help? Really don't want to bugger about taking the head off again...
1987 Mini City
#91
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Mini Mad
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Posted 30 September 2025 - 12:14 PM
#92
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Posted 06 October 2025 - 01:14 PM
Noticed while running I've got a very slight oil leak on the passenger side towards the rear of the engine. It appears to be running along the top of the timing cover then down the back of the engine. It's a pretty small leak, only happens while the car is running. I basically get one small drop of oil on the garage floor when parking up after a drive (and that side of the gearbox/speedo housing covered in a film of oil).
The only place i can think this could leak from is the oil feed between block/head on that back corner of the engine. The head was freshly skimmed and I used a Victor Reinz gasket with Loctite 3020. The only thing I didn't do in hindsight is re-torque the head nuts after running the engine. It's done about ~400 miles at this point.
Should I re-torque the nuts? Is it likely to help? Really don't want to bugger about taking the head off again.
Yes, absolutely no harm in checking your head nuts are torqued correctly, even though you've done a few hundred miles on it. I've never actually had a nut loosen after a few good heat cycles, but as it's standard procedure to check and re-torque,.. it's still worth doing.
Edited by Retro_10s, 06 October 2025 - 01:19 PM.
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