7.3L: Front of engine oil leak - help needed quickly!

[BKahler]

My husband Brad drove our 1988 Ford F-250 4X4 diesel to Nebraska (from Arkansas) and he is currently there in 13-degree weather with a brisk oil leak that has developed down the front of the engine. It seems to be dripping down onto the front differential, on the left half of it. The truck recently had the water pump replaced and he is wondering if something could have gone wrong there (bolt loose, or through an oil gallery or something).

If anyone is familiar with this leak, or could suggest what it might be and a fix, we would be very grateful!

Thank you,
Susan

 

[Ford428CJ]

Try this. If you have a small compressor with a blow gun on it you can find where the leak is coming from for sure! Get some babe powder (or foot powder) and squeeze it on where you think the leak is coming from. Next take your blow gun and blow off all the lose powder. It should show you a trail on where the oil leak is coming from! And then you can go from there. JMO

 

[icanfixall]

First off if the water pump was replaced then there are several bolts that enter the crank case side and need to have thread sealer on them to stop oil leaks. Also being the drivers side of the motor it could be the oil cooler and that could mean some bigger repairs need to be done. More information is needed as to exactly where the oil looks like its coming from. Hopefully its just a leak at one of the water pump bolts.

 

[tonkadoctor]

Try this. If you have a small compressor with a blow gun on it you can find where the leak is coming from for sure! Get some babe powder (or foot powder) and squeeze it on where you think the leak is coming from. Next take your blow gun and blow off all the lose powder. It should show you a trail on where the oil leak is coming from! And then you can go from there. JMO

There's a few around here that if they did this trick they would think they had a porus block. If I'd done that on my 2000 F350 I would think the whole underside of the truck was leaking.

 

[Ford428CJ]

There's a few around here that if they did this trick they would think they had a porus block. If I'd done that on my 2000 F350 I would think the whole underside of the truck was leaking.

If it is that oily, I guess you need to clean it and let it run for a little bit. But it is better then taking a wild a$$ guess and start replacing stuff that didn't need to be replaced . Just trying to help out is all. And good point.

 

[BKahler]

Thank you for your responses! He has been checking further into it and says he can't see oil on the engine anywhere (from this leak) except on top of the front diff.

I read him your post, icanfixall, and he is going to check those specific areas out to see what he can find.

The problem with the "clean and look" approach to finding the leak is that probably none of the carwashes are open due to the weather, and he doesn't have a real garage to work in.

Thanks again for the input, please keep the thoughts coming! I will let you know what he finds when I hear from him again.

Susan

 

[icanfixall]

Susan.. The water pump bolts that require thread sealant are the 2 top bolts and the 2 bottom bolts. Now the top bolts are a very special length so they don't go in to far and contact the injection pump gear. The bottom 2 are not anything special but need to be sealed. This leak could also be from the injection pump gear cover. It the half round cover that the injection pump mounts to. Do not remove it. The gear timing will be lost and that will cause plenty of extra work for someone. Do keep us informed so we can help out.

 

[BKahler]

Okay, he thinks he has found it. He is in a dark garage under an apartment building (so it was very hard to diagnose) and his brother-in-law brought him a bigger flashlight and another pair of eyes.

It looks to be the front diff, maybe from the breather tube. He is not sure about that (the tube), but they are pretty sure it is coming from the diff. He had it in 4WD to drive around the icy roads, and he thinks the pressure/movement was blowing oil out. (They finally determined the oil was gear oil and not engine oil.) He will leave it out of 4WD to get home tomorrow, and thinks it will be fine.

Thank you again for your help, and icanfixall, we will be saving your very helpful messages in case we have any issues with that stuff!

Take care,
Susan

 

[icanfixall]

Wow... I'm sure happy to see things are looken up.... This was something I wasn't aware of being in 4 wheel drive but its nice to have found the problem. Has anybody added gear oil to this differantial lately? Maybe it was overfilled or water has gotten into it causing an over fill condidtion. Sure glad its better now.... You know someone is always here to help. We all learn something that way and it doesn't cost any money to ask questions either.

 

[tonkadoctor]

If it is that oily, I guess you need to clean it and let it run for a little bit. But it is better then taking a wild a$$ guess and start replacing stuff that didn't need to be replaced . Just trying to help out is all. And good point.

I know you are helping, old school inexpensive diagnostic trick works good.

My 2 oil leaks were both my own fault, one was an improperly installed rear main seal that shot out a gallon all over the chassis in 100 miles before I replaced it again and the other was getting in a hurry and forgetting to put the plug back in the high pressure oil resevoir on the PSD BEFORE starting it and revving the engine ..... that shot out over a gallon of Rotella Synthetic into every crack and crevise under the hood in a few seconds before I got it shut down, looked like a geyser shooting up and riccocheting off of the hood. It was still dripping out of places almost a year later after several washes when I traded it. Didn't need undercoating on that truck .


Another thing he might try if he can't get it cleaned up good enough for the baby powder trick is a UV dye kit. NAPA used to carry them.

 

[BKahler]

Hoo boy. Brad just called from the road and said the oil leak has not gone away, and it appears to be coming from the left side of the engine, not from the front. He has tried and tried to look into that area and has not been able to. He is wondering if there is a hose, a sender, a fitting--something that could be leaking in that area. It is leaking very badly and he will have to pull into the next town to see if he can find a place to stay.

That is a shame about your oil leaks, tonkadoctor! I can definitely feel your pain! And the UV dye kit is a good idea. I think he will have to find a station who can look at it tomorrow, though. He is going to try to limp into Mound City, MO and see what he can find there.

Susan

 

[dwaymar]

sounds like oil cooler or maybe a oil filter split at top

 

[BKahler]

Now for the rest of the storry.....(long winded)

When I first noticed the leak it was just drops and I'm trying to make the decision as to whether to stay in Lincoln and see about getting it fixed or leave Sunday night to try and beat the ice store that was headed for Missouri. I figured since its only a few drops I just need to stop frequently to check the oil so I decided to head home. Probably not the smartest decision I've made in my life.

I left around 5:00 pm and made my first stop about 60 miles down the road. I had to put in 2 quarts which didn't make me feel to good. Worse, when I looked under the truck there was a nice 5" puddle of oil that formed while I was sitting at the gas pumps. This sure didn't look promising. Anyway I headed out and after about 40 miles the oil gauge started fluttering so I pulled off at the next exit and checked the oil. Dang, it didn't register on the dip stick. I had enough oil to fill it back up to full and I took off again hoping to make Mound City which was another 17 miles or so. No such luck, within 6 miles the gauge was fluttering again so I took the off ramp and turned the truck off. Checked the oil and it didn't register on the dip stick again. I didn't have enough oil to make it to Mound City so I called RV Road Help towing service and in 45 minutes they had me towed to Mound City where the driver dropped my truck and trailer at the local Dodge dealer (only one of two service centers in town) and then took me to the Super 8 motel.

Keep in mind the temperatures were in the teens and the wind was very brisk so I was very thankful to have gotten towed into town.

Next morning the Dodge dealer said they couldn't fix it and said it needed to be towed to Mound City and the Ford dealer. Ok RV Road Help guarantees towing you to a place that can FIX your vehicle so off I go with another tow truck driver down to Mound City and the Ford dealer. The dealer looks it over and says its the oil cooler seal and the total to do the job is going to be around $900. :***: The only choice I had was to have the truck fixed. Unfortunately they needed a part from Kansas City so they wouldn't be done until noon on Tuesday. So much for beating the ice storm. The dealer carted me off to a motel where I spent the night only to wake up to a freezing rain storm. Worse, the motel had lost power at about 7 am so here I am waiting for the dealer to call with no heat or lights . Tuesday morning I heard from the dealer where he told me they were closing down for the day due to power outages. On top of that they were done with the truck except for the oil filter. They couldn't find one because all the parts stores had closed due to the storm . So I didn't make it out of town Tuesday after all.

At that point I walked across the street to the Motel 6 which just happened to have electricity and spent another night in Mound City waiting for the truck to be finished.

They finally had it finished Wednesday morning and I was on my way by 10:30 am. I finally made it home Wednesday night around 8:00 pm after spending three nights in three different motels. One in Mound City Missouri and two different ones in St. Joesph Missouri. Total repair cost was $906.22 .

The good news is I didn't seem to have done any damage to the engine and I made it home without any further problems. In 30 years of driving coast to coast towing trailers, etc this is the first time I had a vehicle break on me to the point I couldn't fix it myself. Even so I'm proud of the old truck cause its still running strong and has a new lease on life .

The only thing I can figure that happened was with the 6 degree temps while I was trying to start the truck Sunday morning combined with old dry seals on the oil cooler the high oil pressure probably blew a small hole in the seal that grew progressively worse as I drove.

Thanks for all the suggestions you provided my wife, its nice to know someones out there to help when you need it.

Brad

 

[HammerDown]

Hmmm so it was in fact the oil cooler?

That is where I suspect mine weeps from and leaves a quater size drop here and there on the concrete.

 

[icanfixall]

Too bad those donkeys didn'y just put your oil filter back on it so you could get outa Dodge sooner. Oh well Monday morning quarter backing it sounds fun but never really works. That is a difficult job working on the oil cooler bundle anyway. Do you know what all the replaced like maybe the bundle or was it just the gaskets and o-ring seals....