Leaking after assembly

[Jagwar]

Let me first admit that rather than doing the work myself, I got lazy and let someone else do the rings/valve replacement on my '96. I don't have a lot of free time and just wanted to get the beast back on the road as soon as possible.

He says he put it all back together and drove it 20 miles with no problems.
Upon arriving home I couldn't wait to give it a drive, but being cautious I checked the oil and water first. Oil was a bit overfull but not so much as to cause worry. The water, however, looked like it needed topped off as I couldn't see any after removing the radiator cap. It drank, and drank, and drank, then I noticed a stream hitting the driveway underneath. No worries, I thought, as it's probably that o-ring at the water pump.

Nope, pump is dry and the water actually looks to be coming FROM the oil pan gasket.

dammit

So I'm thinking he did test drive it for 20 miles, but without water, thereby causing it to overheat and crack the head gasket. Anyone have a better idea? He did call me once to say that he took the head to a machine shop to be checked and found that it was slightly warped so he had it machined.

I guess for now it'd be quickest to just get another set of parts from Bruce and rebuild the extra engine I have in my garage then swap them.

[Crvett69]

there are a couple hoses at the back that run up to the throttle body. one of them may have a hole in them or not on tight. before you start rebuilding another engine figure out exactly where that water is coming out from. engine may still be fine

[91Caprice9c1]

Wouldn't be a bad idea to have a look at the plugs and perform a compression test.

-Matt