I don't think it's the I-6 design,

Have you worked on the 80's BMW's with 4 cylinders? They are known for headgasket problems too! I think the sealing area in the gasket around the feed through just doesn't have the surface area as the gaskets age.

Gasket design changes have made improvements. V8's don't suffer the same failures but they have more meat around the oil-feed through in the block.


Michael

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Michael McGuire
83 300d
01 vw A4 TDI
66 Chevy Corsa
68 GMC V6 w/oD
86 300E