Oil Leaks - Help Please...

[Andrew1941]

Here are a couple of pictures of some leaks I have and woud like some help...

http://community.webshots.com/album/562944382zkXSra

First picture; there is a leak at the top of the engine just below the MAF. I already did the EGR repair and cleaned the hose off from the top of the engine oil cover to the MAF (you can see it in the pictures). Now, about a month later I see oil in this location and can't understand where it is coming from? Also, not sure what the little pot is just below the MAF? The oil has been collecting on the top of this as well as the hose.

Next two pictures; there is a leak under the van which appears to be coming from between the oil pan and the transmission. It doesn't appear to be tranny oil as it is quite black like engine oil (I checked my tranny and it is still reasonably red) and the engine oil level has dropped a bit over the past couple of months. Any ideas on where the leak is and how big of a deal is it to repair?


Thanks in advance for any help.

[tartersauce]

The little round thingy under the hood with the vac line is your EGR valve. It does not connect to any kinda oil source. So the oil would have to come from somewhere near there or from the intake hose, from the PCV valve. Make sure that valve isnt suck open. that is in your valve cover.

Since you have oil up top, the oil under your engine may just be leaking down between both engine and trans.

Oil - If its not from the top of the engine its from the Rear Main seal for the crankshaft. To replace, the transmission has to be removed.

It may be leaking from the head gaskets or even valve covers and running down. The oil runs pretty easy when hot, almost like water.

Might be a good idea to clean everything then start running and looking. Running it at 2000rpms hot.. If you have high mileage and oil in the intake insides of the butterfly, Your engine may have high Blowbye - Compression from the pistons getting pasted the piston rings and causing High crankcase pressures pushing oil thru the PCV valve into the intake hose..

[tripletdaddy]

It readily appears to me that there is a fair bit of oil leakage associated with the oily looking tube and its connection to the intake as marked by the head of the blue arrow in photo 1. That would also be consistent with the oil on the "pot", egr valve, as it is directly below the suspected leaking hose. It would also be reasonable to expect the oil seen below is from this.

Do I have an amen, brother Tartersauce?

In your other photos, you may be looking at a trans cooler, but you need to trace the two lines that come from the front of the trans and see where they go. It kind of looks like an AC condensor, but it could be other things because they functionally are all the same, so they can all look alike. I'm not familiar with your year, but on mine, the two trans lines go to the "tank" portion of the radiator on the passenger side. If you have an add on or trailer towing/aux./heavy duty cooler, it would be either in place of or installed in line with the radiator. Hope that is of some help.

[Andrew1941]

Thanks for the help. I have no understading of what the EGR valve does, but at least I know that's what it looks like!

I thought the oil maybe from the PCM hose too b/c of the location of the oil, but checked by pulling the hose off with the engine running and there is a lot of vacuum there so how would the oil come out? Only way would be for it to leak when the engine is off and vacuum is gone. If that was the case, then how does it spread out so much? I did notice though that the PCM hose does have oil in it again. However, when I first did the P0174 fix (about a month ago) the hose had oil dripping out of it and now it just has a wet look to it, but not dripping out the end. The oil is getting on top of the EGR valve, so it must be from overhead b/c if it was spraying up from underneath, it would be on all the other hoses and wires in the area and it is not. I did check/fell around with the van running and off and couldn't figure it out? Maybe both are caused by the leak that may be at the crankshaft; some getting up to the top and most going to the bottom?

The leak on the bottom of the engine I was hoping didn't have anything to do with the crankshaft, but it probably does... I have a mechanic friend who I will beg to have a look at it and tell me if I should sell the van! I will let you know if I figure out where it is coming from...

[tartersauce]

Originally Posted by Andrew1941

Thanks for the help. I have no understading of what the EGR valve does, but at least I know that's what it looks like!

I thought the oil maybe from the PCM hose too b/c of the location of the oil, but checked by pulling the hose off with the engine running and there is a lot of vacuum there so how would the oil come out? Only way would be for it to leak when the engine is off and vacuum is gone. If that was the case, then how does it spread out so much? I did notice though that the PCM hose does have oil in it again. However, when I first did the P0174 fix (about a month ago) the hose had oil dripping out of it and now it just has a wet look to it, but not dripping out the end. The oil is getting on top of the EGR valve, so it must be from overhead b/c if it was spraying up from underneath, it would be on all the other hoses and wires in the area and it is not. I did check/fell around with the van running and off and couldn't figure it out? Maybe both are caused by the leak that may be at the crankshaft; some getting up to the top and most going to the bottom?

The leak on the bottom of the engine I was hoping didn't have anything to do with the crankshaft, but it probably does... I have a mechanic friend who I will beg to have a look at it and tell me if I should sell the van! I will let you know if I figure out where it is coming from...

Check that PCV valve and make sure its not stuck open. When your running down the road at 2k rpms with high crankcase pressures it will force oil up into that hose. Which maybe the case. A compression test of each cylinder should give you an Idea of your engines wear. At idle, it wont force oil up.. You can try this too, remove the PCV from valve cover, but leave it connected to the intake. Cover the PCV hole On the Valve cover with your thumb and bring up your rpms. If you have some pressure pushing off your thumb, You have blowbye.

Also, About the Crank seal.. High Blowbye will also push oil thru the crank seal.

[Andrew1941]

I pulled the PCV valve from the cover and started the engine. I guess I didn't remember to test the valve cover for pressure pushing my thumb off, but I will do that today (Thanks). The PCV valve seems fine, as it is not stuck and with the engine running, the intake sucks the valve part way closed as I rev the engine. For $7 I just bought a new one and will stick it in today and check the hose again for leaks.

I did spray off all the oil leaks all over the side and bottom of the engine with some brake cleaner. Then I ran the engine and heated things up and then looked for the leaks. What I found was that there is a leak on the drivers side rear of the engine where the head? meets the engine block. It weeps out of the gasket and runs down the engine towards the bottom area where the oil was showing below. However, not enough leaked to get to the bottom during this test, but going underneath, I could see fresh oil leaking from behind the cover on the transmission. I checked and it is engine oil, not tranny oil. I couldn't get the cover off to see further up, but I suspect the oil seal where the pan wraps around the bottom of the crack shaft. Looking at the other side of the engine (passenger side) there is a small amount of weeping from the similar spot where the shaft comes out of the engine for the pulleys.

I was thinking about trying some oil leak/gasket conditioner to see if it would help reduce the leaks without having to tear things apart. Any comments?

[tartersauce]

Originally Posted by Andrew1941

I pulled the PCV valve from the cover and started the engine. I guess I didn't remember to test the valve cover for pressure pushing my thumb off, but I will do that today (Thanks). The PCV valve seems fine, as it is not stuck and with the engine running, the intake sucks the valve part way closed as I rev the engine. For $7 I just bought a new one and will stick it in today and check the hose again for leaks.

I did spray off all the oil leaks all over the side and bottom of the engine with some brake cleaner. Then I ran the engine and heated things up and then looked for the leaks. What I found was that there is a leak on the drivers side rear of the engine where the head? meets the engine block. It weeps out of the gasket and runs down the engine towards the bottom area where the oil was showing below. However, not enough leaked to get to the bottom during this test, but going underneath, I could see fresh oil leaking from behind the cover on the transmission. I checked and it is engine oil, not tranny oil. I couldn't get the cover off to see further up, but I suspect the oil seal where the pan wraps around the bottom of the crack shaft. Looking at the other side of the engine (passenger side) there is a small amount of weeping from the similar spot where the shaft comes out of the engine for the pulleys.

I was thinking about trying some oil leak/gasket conditioner to see if it would help reduce the leaks without having to tear things apart. Any comments?

I wouldnt use any stop oil leak stuff..
Check your Oil Pan bolts one by one and give them a tighten first.
The leak up top, maybe your intake gasket where the V would be. If you can take a photo.

[Andrew1941]

Just to report back.... the aftermarket PCV valve did not fit and Ford didn't have one and so I still have not installed a new one, but I know my old one is not stuck open and seems to work just fine.

I did use the engine oil stop leak product and I seem to have no more leaks...at least for now.