oil leak on 305E exhaust manifold

[GMCNUT]

Hey guys - I am not too mechanically inclined where engine internals, rebuilding etc are concerned, so to some of you this may sound like a dumb question. Take a look at the attached pics of an annoying oil leak I have on the front of my drivers side exhaust manifold - not coming from the head bolt, or valve cover - appears to be coming from around the exhaust port itself? Just wondering if this means I need to pull and rebuild the heads or what? Any insight will help

[sclor]

GMCNut:
Question would be why the No. 1 cylinder is throwing that much oil out of the exhaust? What other symptoms are you having? Is exhaust pipe putting out a blue smoke screen? What does the spark plug from that cylinder look like? Have you tried a compression test on that cylinder? Have you checked the valve lash on that cylinder? Hopefully those questions help. What you see is out of the ordinary. I think you need to do some more fact finding to decide what is causing it.

Regards,
Steve
New Orleans

[GMCNUT]

GMCNut:
Question would be why the No. 1 cylinder is throwing that much oil out of the exhaust? What other symptoms are you having? Is exhaust pipe putting out a blue smoke screen? What does the spark plug from that cylinder look like? Have you tried a compression test on that cylinder? Have you checked the valve lash on that cylinder? Hopefully those questions help. What you see is out of the ordinary. I think you need to do some more fact finding to decide what is causing it.

Regards,
Steve
New Orleans

Thank you Sclor - oddly I never see any Blue smoke to indicate the oil is being burned....I have a mechanic who knows these engines, and I will have to get him to check these ideas you have I guess. The truck runs like a top so no complaints and its the most dependable truck I have ever owned - if there was ever a perfect running engine this 305 E seems to be it, but it might be about to come apart and I just don't know it too :)