Drip drip-- stop

[BrianX128]

Ok I'm a bit more confused then anything. I've noticed that my idi drips 2-3 drops of oil (I think) from the front drivers side where I park it. It does not leak more then this after sitting for days as I put cardboard under it on a hill to see if it dripped anything just sitting. What's weirder is it doesn't leak at all while running. I put new cardboard under to test theory and let it idle for ten minutes and got it it and gave it some throttle to 1.5 or so for a minute and let it idle. Got out while it was running and still nothing at all.

Shut it off and walked away. Came back to leave to run errands and there's the two drops. I drove it and let it get hot and came back and let it idle for 5 minutes and revved it up for a minute and tried the same test and nothing. Stared at it for a couple minutes after shutting down and saw two drips fall, then nothing.. Looked underneath and engine is dry everywhere I can see. Oil filter had some oil on the sides of it but barely. I'm wondering if it's not perfectly threaded or leaking around where it's threaded somehow. Doesn't seem possible to be anything from above as its dry as a bone. I was able to tighten it some but didn't want to over do it.

Furthermore 3000 miles since I changed the oil, and I had to add one quart and now it's over full by a small amount.

Hell maybe it's power steering fluid. I can't tell but I did have to add a tiny amount when I first got the truck.. It looked like oil though. Didn't smell it, should have. Looked pretty black and soot filled. Not causing any problems either way at this point, 1/2 a quart after 3000 miles is fine by me. Cavalier (granted it has 209k) takes a quart every 1500 and it barely holds 5. Little ecotech engine just will not die and it's been a very hard 209k through 5 clarion winters and much abuse.. Just trying to isolate and keep an eye on big Ernest. Now that I got my fuel air issues fixed I've been driving it a LOT and don't want to drive much else. Need to start splitting the time a bit though, not trying to rush it to 200k from 110k too fast. Heck I'm off this weekend, maybe I'll just change the oil a bit early and put the new filter on. I have a motorcraft 1995 or whatever the psd filter is on it. There's nothing that restricts using it on a 2wd cc long box that I've ever read.

 

[Hydro-idi]

Thoroughly wash engine with degreaser & preferably steam cleaner covering up IP & intake. That will help you find origin of leak. If you still can't find it, add oil dye to your engine oil.

 

[BrianX128]

I had thought about trying the dye, only because the engine is pretty clean honestly and the only wet area I saw anywhere was on the filter but not above the top of it. Would definitely help if I don't see anything above the filter. Just seems odd, it's almost like the violent shake down of the engine jars a couple drips from somewhere. My gut just keeps staring at the filter, for whatever reason.

 

[HammerDown]

I'm thinking 'maybe' the oil cooler O-rings as when the engine is warm/hot they expand, leak stops. This is how mine started to happen, the colder it was (cold snap hit) the o-rings shrunk and weeped.
Could also be the back of the valve gasket.
If it's the power steering box 'maybe' leaking at the Pitman seal you'll have a dark red tint to the drip.
Cold weather shrinks rubber, cork etc.

 

[icanfixall]

May just be a loose filter too. My filter always leaks. I hand tighten it so I may start using a wrench on it. I don't like drips either.

 

[chris142]

Your truck uses 1 qt of oil in 3000 miles?

 

[BrianX128]

I wiped it off at work and let it idle while I ate and there was 1 drop forming on the bottom but nothing that I could see above it wet. Maybe like icanfixall said, might just need to tighten more as I just hand tighten as well. I remember all too well my grandfather drilling a hole and prying one out with a screwdriver and just a mess when I was a kid growing up.

And it seems to have used a half a quart - 1 quart over 3000 ish miles yeah somewhere in that neighborhood.

Well probably closer to just 1/2 as I just checked it and it's a little over full so I probably added just a bit too much

 

[Runningaford]

Mine did a drop, or two when I'd park it, then as HammerDown mentioned, cold finally came in, and next I knew, had a little oil in the water, and a little water in the oil.

 

[BrianX128]

Man I really hope it's nothing crazy like that. It's next to nothing drip wise whatever it is, I almost didn't notice it. It's not my daily driver by any means so if it's colder then 20 it's staying at home just to try and not make it any worse. Got home from work tonight and of course with some nice white snow it's not dripped a thing.

More I think about where it dripped, it's so far diagonally towards the front drivers side corner which is right where the power steering filler and associated junk is, I need to rule that out.

I'm off this weekend, so I'm just gonna gunk the engine and change the oil and filter and tighten it with a wrench this time and see what comes of it. Thing has been running beautifully lately too. Hopefully it's nothing too troublesome if it's even really anything at all.

 

[BrianX128]

It's power steering fluid. No idea where from but it's still just about full from a month and a half ago. Still gonna wash the engine and whatnot.

 

[MTKirk]

If you turn the steering wheel while the engine is off (power steering pump is not running) a small amount of fluid gets pushed out the filler cap (on many vehicles anyway). The fluid drips down the pump, and the belt can fling it anywhere. Perfectly normal, the fix is; don't turn your steering wheel unless the engine is running.

 

[IDIoit]

i really hate the powersteering pump design. plastic reservoir

everyone ive ever pulled had a broken return nipple..

maybe the bolts are slightly loose?

food for thought.

 

[crash-harris]

2 most common areas to leak in the PS system is the fitting in the high pressure line where it connects to the pump, and the output seal at the bottom of the steering gear box. The later is really obvious by just looking under the bumper at the steering linkage. If the pitman arm is wet, most likely the output seal.

Also check the connections on the steering gear box and see if they are wet, or the "cooler" (steel return lines on front of engine crossmember).

 

[BrianX128]

Yeah it's definitely down lower where it's coming from, it's leaking directly onto the front part of the axle. It's gotta be pretty slow however it's doing it as even after a two hour drive today to get some stuff the level hasn't changed. I'm wondering if I am turning it some when I get out? Not sure.

 

[BrianX128]

I lied, we came out and here's my two drops on the pavement lol

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Extreme close up haha