Tonight while driving around town I noticed the temp gauge was the hottest it's ever been, at around 170-180 degrees. Prior to tonight it's never been past 160 degrees. So I finally get home and open up the hood to see if I have a coolant leak or anything. While looking around I noticed I'm getting oil seeping from between the driver side head and block. Not much, and I can't find much else, but I've never found this before. It still seems to run fine. No bad sounds, oil pressure is good at around 80 psi. Anyways, I've been getting on her pretty hard lately with the but not enough that I would've thought I'd harm it. So, is this oil seeping between the head/block normal, or do I have bigger issues waiting to turn up?

Thanks.

A light oil film buildup between the head and block in a few spots isn't anything to worry about. Every engine I have owned has done this in small amounts. Just wipe it off periodically.

180 degrees is also fine and not too hot. I would not be concerned unless it was getting over 210+.

I would rather see 180/180 temps than 160 temps. Your engine will be running more effiecently.

Wow. That's great information. Thanks for the replies.

I'll add if you used oil on the head bolts to ge tthe right torque, you may have just used a little excess. It takes a while to work itself out. I wouldnt sweat it.

Well, I bought the motor from an original 60,000 miles 68 Newport. We did nothing to it other than replacing the freeze plugs, oil pan/sump, and timing chain. No leakage then. Also added a 4 bbl setup. Other than that, it was never apart.