I've got some problems guys

[suv7734]

You mentioned in another post that you installed the exhaust gasket with some grease to hold it in place. How much grease? Is the grease burning out and maybe that is what you're seeing dripping out when running?

 

[FordGuy100]

Hardly any, just took a little grease on my finger, and put just enough to hold it onto the turbo. Even if it was burning out it wouldnt even have been enough to have cause this much oil to be leaking.

 

[FordGuy100]

Thinking about it, I dont think its a head gasket. Unless moracuously in the last couple of weeks just sitting there in the shop it blew out, I dont think it is. I didnt have any oil leaks before I put my new turbo in (well I kinda did when my turbo crapped out on me, the seals were leaking oil, but it wasnt leaking like it is now). I'm going to go check all the fuel lines and see if I have one pinched and what not, I hope thats the case.

 

[FordGuy100]

Checked all the fuel lines, they all look good. And the oil just smells like regular motor oil. I just put it back in the shop and checked all the fuel lines, I guess I will pull the starter, but I'm getting really burnt out working on this thing, and I dont want to open a can of worms when I pull the starter. I guess I have to do it to see whats wrong, but I've been working on this thing the past 3-4 days, and I'm tired of it.

 

[SKimballC]

Come on guys, its gotta be somewhere around the turbo. Justin, did you pull the pedestal out of the grommet at any point? You can get a look back there from the top to check if the oil is leaking as it drains back in the pedestal. Any fluid that leaks back there will collect around the oil pressure sender, so get some rags and clean it up as well as you can then watch for it to leak again.
Look under the turbo, make sure there isn't a puddle on the intake manifold or running down the pedestal from the bottom to the turbo.
Sounds like the grommet in the valley pan or the o-ring under the turbo going into the pedestal. I wouldn't pull the starter. All you will see is oil running down the back of the engine and won't see the source up above.

 

[FordGuy100]

Alright I wont pull the starter off. I will clean up all the oil I can get to and let it run for a bit to see what happens.

 

[6 Nebraska IDIs]

One thing you can do is die the oil, it'll show allot of hidden gremlins. Other than doing that, i'd just run it till you can just start to see it leak, then shut it off right away so it doesnt spatter all over and you'll never find it.

 

[Fordsandguns]

Justin, my 7.3 has a oil leak from the rear of the passenger side head. It seems to have stopped now for some reason, but it dripped onto the starter and cross over pipe like you are describing. I hope it isn't your head gasket, but it would be worth a look. You can get a flashlight and get under the truck from the passenger side and look up to see the back of the head. At least on a na truck like mine. You might not be able to see yours for all of the extra piping for the turbo. But you might try any way.

 

[FordGuy100]

I will check the headgasket, but I doubt thats it. Russ and Shane, when we put in the oil temp gauge, where did the sender go? Didnt it go into some oil line or something? I'm hopething thats the case, and that the oil line rubbed up against the up pipe or down pipe causeing to to spring a leak.

I'll dig in to it later tonight to see whats up.

 

[SKimballC]

The stock oil pressure sender is now in the top of the turbo, but I don't recall where the oil temp sender is. You guys put that in while I was under the dash. I do remember Russ talking about a tee in the oil feed line, but I don't remember where it went or if the tee even went in.
Seriously, this is easy- look over the back of the block, you might need a mirror and you will need a flashlight, dead center behind the pedestal. The stock oil pressure sender used to be down there but we moved it. There's a piece that threads into the block, and the sender used to thread into it. I don't know if you guys put a plug in it or put the oil temp sender in that. That could very well be your leak. Get a light and climb on top of the engine, you will see what I am talking about. Put your hand down there and I bet its soaked with oil.
I wish you were a bit closer, I am busy but could meet you halfway or something if you weren't worried about driving it. Maybe Russ can refresh my memory about how that temp gauge is plumbed, but either way, get back there and follow the oil feed line too and tell me what you see.

 

[RLDSL]

If you don't already have one, one of those little mirrors on a extension shaft that you can poke down in there and shine a flashlight in to see can be a big help for seeing around corners, or see if your mom has an old makeup compact she doesn't need any more, those little mirrors work pretty good ( make sure to ask first..I've got a bad habit of *borrowing* those things from my wife when I can't find my good mirrors to crawl around an engine. She generally isn't too happy about it

If you have a UV leak detector light set for AC , or can pickup a cheap one, you can get dye to go in engine oil from Napa for about $6( would take 2 bottles for an engine this size, it's about $3 a bottle ) and you can pinpoint a leak in a heartbeat with that stuff it glows bright yellow where it's coming out.

----Robert

 

[typ4]

The temp sender is in the oil galley where the pressure sender was, I am guessing that the temp sender got whacked and is cracked and leaking

 

[FordGuy100]

Thats what I was thinking as well, it got hit when I put the turbo in one of these times. Makes sense, I'll go take a look (I would have earlier but we went out to dinner). Yes we have one of those mirrors on an extension I'll take that and look around. Good thing ISSPRO is based in Portland, that'll be a quick ship with a new sender if mines bad.

 

[Diesel JD]

Justin, from my reading here and in my own experience. 6.9s usually blow head gaskets on the water side. Usually the leak starts as a drip from the edge of the block, rear or front usually. Next the leak gets worse, you might see puddles of coolant under the motor, then you start seeing blowby gases and/or bubbles in the rad and start smelling that sickeneng sweet alcohol smell of antifreeze at the tailpipe. Finally, and sometimes after a lot of miles and delay, the engine either hydrolocks or the problem is addressed in time. An exception is that the first update to the head gaskets addressed the coolant leaks but used rubber grommets in the oil passages, which would eventually deteriorate and cause an oil leak from the head gasket. they came up with the latest design around 1988 according to Mel. Since your truck is an 84 I'd think it probably has the original, no grommet on either passage head gaskets, or has been changed within the last 10 years to modern gaskets. But I can't be sure. I think your leak probably has something to do with the turbo feed or return or drainback... any chance you could get Russ or Shane to help you out? Sometimes when I work on a project like this too long, I just get frustrated and overlook obvious stuff.

 

[FordGuy100]

Well I just went out there and worked on it, let me tell you what happened. I was figuring the leak was going to be on top somewhere (because I really, really do not want to think about my headgaskets going bad). So I took of the intake, and placed one rag in the valley pan right behind where the pedistal goes into the valley pan, and I put a rag back where the oil temp sensor is. I put the intake back on (wow, that is second nature to me now ), and fired it up. I let it idle and idle, and no more oil leaking on the ground, it kicked off high idle and still no leak, I let it idle for a couple more minutes and all was good. So I shut it down and took the intake off to get to the rags. The first rag (valley pan one) was bone dry, so I looked at the rag back by the sensor and sure enough it was halfway soaked with oil. So I guess I will get a new one from ISSPRO tommorow, hopefully it will be here before Friday.

So on another note, Russ how the heck can I get that thing out? Its so far back there and in such a place I dont think I could use a socket, maybe a rachet wrench (man those things are totally worth the money)? Plus if I used a socket on it theres wires coming out the top so they would get in the way.

I just hope my headgaskets will hold out till next summer, when I can replace them with some studs.