Oil Leaks, I am tired of them Options

[sdoolin]

Rebuilt my 2.0 back in 2016. Full "Raby Spec" 2056. Runs very well. It is out of the car right now as I am dealing with a rusty battery tray (separate thread on that). It appears that I have leaks at most/all of the pushrod tube seals, the valve cover seals, and the rear main seal. This is not a surprise to me, I clean the bottom of the engine regularly, and knew this day was coming

Pretty sure I used the Victor Reinz gasket set that came with my engine "kit" from the Type IV Store. I used the cork valve cover seals from the Victor Reinz set. I did not use any RTV anywhere. Hate the stuff. I know I used a rear main seal from GoWesty as someone back then had suggested it is a better part then what is included with the Victor Reinz set.

I installed new pushrod tubes and used the O-Rings from the Victor Reinz set.

Does anyone really have an oil tight VW Type IV engine? If yes, how does none do that?

[sdoolin]

Thanks for the compliments in the cleanliness. But I have bad news. Very frustrating, bad news.

Last night I poured 4 quarts of (expensive) Brad Penn 20W50 into the engine. Did not start it, or even crank it over. This morning I inspected for oil leaks and found (expensive) Bad Penn 20W50 coating the right side of the engine, above and on the side of the oil sump. Not good.

It appears to be leaking (a lot) at the case through bolt between cylinders 3 & 4. There is a pronounced, and obvious "stream" of oil from that bolt. Damnit. I also have oil on the case studs/bolts along the bottom of the oils sump. Damnit again.

So, it all has to come out, and I probably will have to split the cases. Which is a MUCH longer project than I had anticipated.

I have built a few of these engines (probably 5, (I owned several busses)), and have followed "best practices" for sealing the cases (according to Jake Raby's assembly video) but I obviously missed something here.

Damnit.