Wrong cylinder head gasket!

[Soulcharger]

They were famous for leaking oil there, the later ones had the hole in the head in line with the hole in the block and a round hole in the gasket, I think that these ones were less bad. I've not seen it mentioned in connection with the 2.0 but on the 1600 s series (also famous for oil leaks), unipart gaskets came with a recommendation to smear a thin layer of hylomar on the gasket around the oil feed hole, but nowhere else...not tried it yet, so don't know if it works or not. I guess that whether or not you replace the gasket depends on how annoying you find the oil stain. I haven't heard of any catastrophic failures in this area, just annoying dribbles.

Yes more annoying than anything affecting engine, in fact it doesn't drip onto the floor and the oil level is staying stable. Thing is it burns off on the hot engine and you get smell inside the car and on your clothes.

[Doctordiesel77]

Does sound annoying, I've got quite used to oil leaks due to mostly running diesels and Land Rovers, but still get very annoyed by oil leaks on my other vehicles, ie the ones I've looked after / rebuilt.. As Jeff says, it is not a major job, apart from the possibility of broken studs...I'd forgotten about them, my knuckles have healed up after the last ones ha ha! I haven't done anything with my 1600 yet, but my plan is to follow the manufacturers instructions then, if it still leaks I will fit an external oil feed, like they used to have in the good old days and seal the existing feed holes up completely, this might be a bit too drastic for you, unless you like taking engines in and out.... I guess keeping a good stock of gaskets could be a good plan though..

[Soulcharger]

As John says, it won't damage anything as just an annoying leak. Changing a headgasket is quite easy but you'll also need another manifold gasket. If taking the head off with the manifolds attached mind out for a broken stud thay attaches to the downpipe as they can snap easily. While changing the gasket I would also change the cam seals and any core plugs you can get to

It's started to leak onto the floor now, not much just a drop a week, I have to assume it'll be getting worse. I check the oil level everytime I go for a run and there's no noticeable change, will get me a drip pan for garage floor (old piece of plastic mat at moment) and try and gause how much I'm losing. Also gonna spend some time on gathering views, reports, etc from other Montego/Maestro owners who've had similar issues. Apart from that runs fine well, with all the rattles and shakes of course BTW have 128.000 kms on the clock (about 88.000 miles in old money)