Ok, I'm hoping for some help on this one and sorry so long. I consider myself fairly handy with the tools/car knowledge and bought a good condition 2002 dodge neon SE with 147K miles for $650 that the timing belt broke on the previous owner and quit running. I did the research and ended up buying a rebuilt head, new timing belt, motor mounts, etc. to fix the job right. I have never worked with a multi layered head gasket before and looking at it, really couldn't tell what side is supposed to be up and how it was gonna seal everything up since it was just plain painted metal on both sides. I read equal opinions on the copper spray seal and decided to use it to help seal it up with about 4 coats. Everything went together well, got all timed up, torqued and running briefly. I went to flush the radiator and ALOT of oil ran out with the water. I changed with fresh oil and coolant but now have water in the oil and cannot figure out why and it doesn't run now. I did take maybe alittle more material off the block while cleaning off the old gasket than i'd like. So, i'm asking for opinions on what is the problem now. I almost wonder if the old head gasket design may be better for sealing in this case? Thanks for reading.

 

Did you measure the deck to make sure it wasn't warped or that you didn't take too much material off on part? Did you measure your new head as well? Where did you get the gasket from?

Ideally when you clean the deck you want to use a pad that wont remove the metal instead only the gasket.

There are a lot of variables that could cause it to still leak.