Oil leak; cant figure out where its coming from and its getting bad

85_305 · Jan 23, 2013

It started off as just a little drop when I'd drive it and let it sit... drop here, drop there, of oil on the cement (last winter sometime).

The past few times I've driven the truck, the front diff is covered, and the drivers-side wheel well is COVERED in oil. I just realized how bad it was this morning when walking away from the truck in the daytime and seeing the diff covered and oil dripping onto the driveway.

The oil is older (needs a change), it's about 0-2* f out, lots of windchill... far too cold to be rolling around looking for an oil leak. Over the summer I had a buddy over and we were trying to pinpoint it, but we just couldn't figure out where exactly it was stemming from..... and at that point, it was so minute I didn't think much of it.

Does this leak sound like a common spot or common problem?

bruce · Jan 23, 2013

You should get this moved to the tech forum

lincolnlocker · Jan 23, 2013

i wouldnt say common. if its coming from drivers side i would guess valve cover, oil cooler, oil filter, or any loose oil plugs on the block, maybe oil pan... i dont think there's to much else that can leak on that side. start high and work your way down till you find oil seeping out... may help to clean it very good and let it idle to see if it starts seeping.. if it doesnt, drive it a little ways and recheck, if still cant tell, drive it for a while stopping to recheck whenever you get out of the truck.

live life full throttle

85_305 · Jan 23, 2013

bruce said:
You should get this moved to the tech forum

Oops, if a mod wants to move feel free....

lincolnlocker said:
i wouldnt say common. if its coming from drivers side i would guess valve cover, oil cooler, oil filter, or any loose oil plugs on the block, maybe oil pan... i dont think there's to much else that can leak on that side. start high and work your way down till you find oil seeping out... may help to clean it very good and let it idle to see if it starts seeping.. if it doesnt, drive it a little ways and recheck, if still cant tell, drive it for a while stopping to recheck whenever you get out of the truck.

live life full throttle

thats the thing.. the oil is all over in bits and pieces it seems. The u-part that comes down in the front of the engine (but the diff kinda-sorta), drips oil down. Its just so damn cold that its hard to look at the truck right now, not to mention its loaded with oil.

But where could it be coming from that it gets plastered all over the my plastic wheel-well cover?? Any of those places you mentioned?

lincolnlocker · Jan 23, 2013

you will have to clean it up real good. then start checking like i said before.

live life full throttle

85_305 · Jan 23, 2013

Great. Looks like its gonna be a cold, cold weekend :doh:

thanks for the help though.

Stroker#66 · Jan 23, 2013

Just had this problem on my truck. It was the oil cooler and the fan was blowing it all over the place

85_305 · Jan 23, 2013

^I'm wondering if thats what it is, because the oil really is EVERYWHERE and it makes it impossible to figure out where its coming from. I'll have to really clean the hell outta it and watch it while it runs.

I'm wondering if its the seals and its doing it this badly because its 0* and the cold is shrinking the seals even more then when its warm out.

Hotrodtractor · Jan 23, 2013

My money would be on the oil cooler - its common that they leak when they get some age on the o-rings and they start doing it when its cold outside - the problem goes away or slows down considerably when ambient temperature goes up.

85_305 · Jan 23, 2013

Hotrodtractor said:
My money would be on the oil cooler - its common that they leak when they get some age on the o-rings and they start doing it when its cold outside - the problem goes away or slows down considerably when ambient temperature goes up.

Ya but the thing that got me is my drivers side wheel well is coated... wtf? I mean, I know wind does some crazy stuff... but to navigate all the way up to my wheel well?

Stroker#66 · Jan 23, 2013

Mine was everywhere and it was just idling. So I imagine while driving it would make a lot more mess

85_305 · Jan 23, 2013

fair enough... thanks for the direction guys.

85_305 · Jan 23, 2013

On that note, if this is an oil cooler issue, do you guys recommend upgrading to a bigger one, replacing the entire cooler, or just replacing the o-rings?

ToMang07 · Jan 23, 2013

85_305 said:
On that note, if this is an oil cooler issue, do you guys recommend upgrading to a bigger one, replacing the entire cooler, or just replacing the o-rings?

Just rebuild it as long as the core doesn't have any holes in it. You can get the o-ring kit from Bob @ Diesel O-Rings or Clay @ Riffraff.

85_305 · Jan 23, 2013

Good deal thanks man

Arisley · Jan 23, 2013

And get ready to get messy.

85_305 · Jan 23, 2013

^lol isn't that always the case

Blowby · Jan 23, 2013

Make sure that you push a wire through all the small passages that you can't see light through while you have it apart. Good luck with the O-rings and end cap removal and install.