Need help with oil leak

[JD3020]

Little background on it. Engine is in my F450, it was originally a T444E out of a bus, been converted over to a truck, i think its somewhere in the 120-140k mile range. Last winter i pulled it out of a wrecked truck i had, re-sealed everything except the front cover and rear main seal, and stuck it in my 450. Went several months with little to no leak, had some seepage around the front cover but didn't really drip. After a couple months i had an HPOP line blow on me, and for whatever reason this thing started leaking oil badly shortly after that. I'd say it leaks about a quart every 500 miles, pretty steady leak.

Took a couple minutes today to take a look at it. What i can tell is the valley is dry, oil rail plugs are dry, turbo looks to be dry, pan doesn't seem to be leaking. The only places that have any real leaks are the back of the heads, coming from the valve covers. But they just seems damp, not an actual stream of oil that i can see. I wiped everything off and watched the oil, and its all coming down the inside of the bellhousing, and leaking out of the bottom holes on my ZF6, no oil is coming down the the pan.

So what in the hell is leaking? It has me stumped, only other thing i can think of is the rear main seal but i have a hard time believing its leaking with only 140k miles, and being an 00/01ish engine. Need to get it fixed though as its my work truck, and is a bitch with it leaking oil everywhere i go. Hell theres a trail of oil on the road from where i back in every night. :shrug:

 

[bluedge8]

turbo? I'd be surprised if the rear main is leaking. Isn't there oil galley plugs on the back of the motor?

 

[mandkole]

If it's that visible, could someone watch it?

 

[Arisley]

Check your crankcase vent. If it isn't venting well, the pressure will build up and go somewhere. Where that is, usually involves an oil leak. Fix the crankcase vent, and a lot of times, the leak goes away.

 

[JD3020]

I laid under it with it running for a couple minutes last night and i cant see any oil leaking anywhere, aside from it running out the bottom of the trans. The back of the heads are clean, except for the valve covers having some seepage. Turbo and pedestal look dry, and its a blank pedestal so no EBPV to leak. Im assuming its coming from inside the bellhousing area since i cant see it anywhere.

CCV is stock but i'll check it out.

 

[JD3020]

Ccv seems to be fine, pulled the intake off and its flowing good. Isnt blowing the oil cap off or anything.


Aside from the rear main seal, what could leak oil inside of the bellhousing? All my spare engines are tucked away so i cant look at em.

 

[bluedge8]

I am pretty sure there are oil galley plugs in there, hopefully someone else will chime in.

 

[Northwoods2002]

Just went and looked at my spare. There's a couple core plugs it looks like and then the back plate. I don't know if that back plate seals any coolant or oil passages, never took one off before....

Google search shows an image from thedieselstop:

 

[lincolnlocker]

check oil rail plugs on back of heads, take valve covers off and clean/re install, pull ccv apart and make sure no gunk is built up and slowing down flow, rear cover..... highly doubt its the rear main..

live life full throttle

god bless america and the farmer who feeds your fat ass

 

[JD3020]

Finally got this thing fixed. Worked on the brakes friday, took it down the road for a test drive and came back to it pouring oil. Turns out it was one of the middle HPOP plugs. Was running along the top of the plenum on the head, but never actually got on the plenum or in the valley. Not sure how i didn't see it, guess i should've taken the time to pull the intake and IC pipes off to watch it. LOL Also amazed that this thing has been leaking for so long, but somehow the o-ring didn't split completely till this weekend.