Does a blown head gasket leak oil on the exhaust side...or....?

[Tomas7]

I cleaned my motor as best as I could; I re-torqued my cam tower bolts, yes, they were leaking.
I took it for a drive and then I noticed another leak. It seems that it's leaking from the head or from the triangular/three-hex-bolt cap(s) on the side of the motor. This picture is right in the middle of the motor, between the front exhaust manifold and the rear exhaust manifold. There's another one of these plugs in the front that has oil around it as well but it was too tight for me to take a pic.

Thanks in advance.

[Idle]

If is leaking from the triangular plate then it is not a blown head gasket but it is a leak. The plate covers a drive that runs something your car does not have or need but a car in another market does. A good example is the head of the M110 engine: Some of them have a vac pump on the front and some of the don't. The ones that don't have this plate covering the hole.

Step one would be to simply replace the gasket of the triangle plate. If it is leaking it needs replacing anyway and this is cheap.

If the leak does not stop after this repair then it is time to look into other things.

[Frank Reiner]

The triangular plates are NOT for any imagined unused drives!

They cover the core access holes that were used by the foundry during casting. Behind them is water, not oil.

[Idle]

Originally Posted by Frank Reiner

The triangular plates are NOT for any imagined unused drives!

They cover the core access holes that were used by the foundry during casting. Behind them is water, not oil.

Like the ones on the front of the M-110 heads?

Regardless of if there is a drive or a casting hole there being covered if the gasket is leaking the gasket needs to be replaced before moving on to finding other leaks.

I don't spend a lot of time dithering over leaks. I run down to the car wash, blast the engine area totally clean, and drive home. Then I life the hood and the leaking is quite apparent since everything else is spotless except for the leaking gasket or 0-ring.

Bottom line? If a plate is there then your car needs the plate and not the vacuum pump drive or the suspension pump drive or the gaping casting hole that you would find when you remove the plate.

A leak is a leak. They will not fix themselves.

[Tomas7]

....what I really need to know is, does the head gasket bleed oil if it's blown?

Thanks for your replies.

[Frank Reiner]

Tomas7:

In the event of a M110 cylinder head gasket leak to the outside, water will usually be the liquid that appears. The oil feed from block to head does pass thru the head gasket, but it is inboard of water passages, and closer to the timing chain cavity than to the outside of the head. M110 top end oil leaks are typically from the joint between the cam box and the head. A very thin shim type gasket is available for the cam box.

[Tomas7]

It seems that my spark plug/valve cover gasket on first cyl. and on the fourth cyl. (counting from front to back) are cracked. Oil leaks into the spark plug receptacle and there's a drain in the spark plug cavity that dumps out of the exhaust side of the motor. After I did my valve adjustment, spark plugs, etc., last year; I cleaned those little holes so now they do their job of evacuating the oil really well.

Along with my valve towers leaking, I also have the rubber spark plug gaskets leaking. That's why I wondered if the head gaskets leaked oil because the holes are up there. Without a mirror and a good flashlight they're hard to see.

Once again.....Thanks for all your input.