Well my project is over, I got the new motor in and all together with no parts left over. She runs like a top. 12 miles on the clock, I look under there and see that my oil pan is weeping at the front. Sucks, but that I could have predicted, and the fault is my own, though I took every precaution imaginable to seal it correctly...
Then I look up top and see oil weeping around the head bolts. WTF? Re-torque? It seems to me that they should have been torqued correctly from the factory, but hey that is just me. Is this a something that I need to be really worried about? Advice needed!

 

Worse than I thought. Besides the head bolts weeping ever so slightly it's leaking HEAVY from the front crank seal at the oil pump. I think I'm going to have a heart attack.

 

So i don't quite understand where you got your motor? did you rebuild it yourself, buy it new somewhere and install it yourself??

 

How do you know this? The head bolts are under the rocker cover you can't really run the engine without the rocker cover on. The head bolts are being bathed in oil when the engine is running... maybe you mean the bolts that hold the valve cover on? Those just need to be tightened a little more or a little less.

 

Sounds to me if a few small oil leaks are the only problems you have, you did ok. You will get all of them worked out. My front oil seal leaked the first time I tore my motor down aswell. Just had to buy a new seal and replace it. It's only a 20min job on the 22re.

 

Not completely true on the 3.0. Half the head bolts are under the rocker cover and half are exposed outside of the cover. But I can't really imagine a head bolt leaking oil as it would have to be from a HG failure around the bolt. The bolts are in blind holes and don't extend into the oil gallery. I think you're right about it being the valve cover bolts.

 

i would clean the areas around each headbolt really well, drive it for a day or two, then check it again. it could be oil from the valve cover or somewhere else. i don't see how it would be physically possible for oil to travel upward and out of the top of the hole, those headbolts are in there pretty good!