Oil Leak

[Philo Beddoe]

I have a 1998.5  24 valve and I leak engine oil from above the starter.  I leak about the size of a couple of quarters every night.

 

Appears I have an early engine as I have a cap on the front cover.

 

Anyone have any suggestions.

 

Thanks,
Philo

 

 

[Ilikeoldfords]

If it is back by the starter, could it be the rear main seal leaking? Either that or maybe the valve cover? Try pressure washing the engine down a bit and tracing where the leak is coming from. Then once you figure out exactly where it is coming from we can go from there with how to fix it.

[mopartechnician]

If its leaking above the starter its most likely the tappet cover gasket. Very rarely is it a valve cover or head gasket

[dripley]

Dont forget the tappet cover. It can leak at the rear and run down on the starter. Mine was leaking and the way the wind whips the oil around I thought I had more than one leak. Mine starting leaking at the rear and it when down over the bell housing and drip off the tranny as well as near the starter.

[mopartechnician]

^^^^^ yep thats exactly what mines doing

[Wild and Free]

Can also be the cam o-ring between the engine block to tranny adapter plate. They can get hard over time and seep in the same area or if there was a recent tranny swap and the adapter was removed I have seen them cut or even where folks forgot to put one back in or didn't realize there was one there even.

[Philo Beddoe]

Thanks for the suggestions, I will look into it this weekend when I have light and hopefully some patience.

[dripley]

Can also be the cam o-ring between the engine block to tranny adapter plate. They can get hard over time and seep in the same area or if there was a recent tranny swap and the adapter was removed I have seen them cut or even where folks forgot to put one back in or didn't realize there was one there even.

 

Auto or manual or both? I definitely did not know about that one and dont remember seeing anything like that when I changed my 6 speed. Come to think of it,since I did not know it was there i would not have looked for it anyway.

[Wild and Free]

They all have that o-ring that is what holds the oil in that lubes the rear cam journal, the adapter plate is what they use as the rear cam cover rather than a soft plug like a lot of engines.

[mopartechnician]

If you just pull the trans you won't mess with the adaptor plate. The plate is what bolts to the back of the engine and what your bellhousing bolts to.

[Wild and Free]

Since the OP has over 300K on his engine it is definitely a possibility, O-rings get hard over time, he just needs to get some brake cleaner and dry up the rear area of the engine and get it warmed up and crawl under it and see if he can see where the wetness is weeping from.

Not saying it isn't the Tappet cover just giving him another area to look at, at over 300K both are equal suspects.

A coworker just had a flex plate let loose a few months ago on his 03 and it cracked the adapter plate and the tranny shop that replaced it forgot to put the O-ring in.................he had a real bad leak when he got home, needless to say thy did it on their own dime the second time.

[Philo Beddoe]

The truck has over 315K now and I bought it from the original owner.  It runs much better than some of the other trucks I had: 97, 99, 01.   But the owner told me everything is original...tranny, injection pump, injectors ..etc.   I put a manual fuel gauge on it and it read 5 -10 lbs...so I put a fuel boss system on it and now see 15 - 18 lbs.

I was out of the Country for awhile and the truck sat...it had never leaked before, now I have a couple of leaks.  I changed the vacuum seal and this fixed some of my mess.  From what I can see, it appears to be coming from behind the ecu.

 

I will take a look at the block off plate, hopefully this is my problem as it seems like the easiest to tackle first.

 

Thanks again

 

[mopartechnician]

If its behind the ecm its the tappet cover

[dripley]

This all makes me feel better. After all I only have 304k on mine. OP, if your leak is behind the ECM it is most likely the tappet cover. 

[Philo Beddoe]

thanks - crap - not looking forward to it.  I also need to do a heater core.

[mopartechnician]

Both are easy just time consuming. I gotta do my cover once i get everybodys vehicles done.

[TFaoro]

I should have done the cover when I had my vp out  :banghead:  Ran out of time and had to head back to school

[dripley]

I have done both and replaced the cracked dash and like Mopartechnician says, they are not difficult just time consuming. Mike has a good article here on the heater core and evaporator. I used that to do mine. The tappet cover is just taking alot of parts off to get to a simple part.

[Philo Beddoe]

Thanks - Mike has great articles.

 

My dash is cracked and I plan on changing it out.  I was reading about how some people cut the heater core from inside the cab and splice in a new core.  I like the idea of saving time, and not pulling everything apart.  Although, I don't want extra splices under my dash, and in the cab.  I will take it out and attempt to do it "right", weather permitting.

 

My ac blows ice cold, and now my funds are low, so I hope not changing the evaporator won't come back to bite me.

 

[dripley]

I take it your heater core is leaking?