I've got an early 94 Land Rover Discovery. We just changed the head gasket on it and the engine is running pretty good.

The main problem right now is that there seems to be leaks all over the place. I thought the front crankshaft seal was leaking but when I started looking around near the distributor, I found a puddle of oil! This was after we degreased the heck of the engine, so this oil is new.

I took a picture but you can't see it very well.. Where the speck of light in the middle of the picture is where the puddle of oil is -



I can't see much without removing the distributor. Is this a common place to be leaking oil? The only thing I can think of is the distributor o-ring seal has failed.. But that's alot of oil..

 

Tough to say for sure but it could be something as simple as the valve cover gaskets not making a good seal. Could be mis-alignment or might simply need to tighten the valve cover bolts.

 

Nope, the valve covers looks beautiful; not an ounce of oil around either of them.

I ran the engine until it got warm and shined a flashlight at the area below the distributor.. Lots of oil residue down there.

What are the gaskets around that area? Distributor o-ring and perhaps water pump gasket.. Is the timing cover gasket there too?

 

Clean the Shiat out of the engine at a car wash. Take many cans of engine cleaner with you and spray it down and wash off according to instructions.

Then add oil leak detector from an Oil leak detection kit. Then try to locate your leaks. Various types now available at Auto part stores. below is one example


Hope that helps ya

 

There are some common mistakes that can cause your problem. The valley/intake gasket. Not using any gasket sealant under the rubber valley gaskets (not covered in Rave), not using it in either corner where it meets the heads (covered in the Rave) and over-tightening the one clamp bolt will deform the clamp which negates a uniform seal.

For oil to leak up past dizzy O ring you'd have to have high positive crankcase pressure to push oil past it. If O ring's hardened, cracked and remains flat there's a possibility any over-pressure will make it leak but not that much to make a lake around the dizzy foot.