About 6 weeks ago I put on a new set of heads and gaskets on my '98 Ranger 4.0. About a week ago, I noticed drips of oil appearing on the driveway. After taking a close look, it's coming from the rear driver's side of the engine. I've cleaned everything up, and can't tell if it's actually coming from the head gasket, or from the the backside of the lower intake manifold. Anyone else had this problem? Pretty bummed out after doing all that work and having more problems! Thanks for any advice....

 

TQ head bolts is a very important process. And in the racing realm we run the engine a bit and then go back and re-torque them.

You'd be amazed at how much they relax from the first TQ.

IMO.. you need to do a leak test with dye. That way you'll know for sure where the leak is.

You very well might get away with just retorquing the head bolts. They do stretch though so you'll only go so far before they yield and will hold even less TQ.

Rich