Oil leak...again...from a strange place

Alright I think it's oil...99% sure it's oil. I have never seen it leak from this location though.

I crawl under the from of my 88, auto, 4.0L with my head right under the power steering resevor. Shine the flash light up onto the hose that feeds coolant into the water pump. The oil looks to be seeping down that hose and dripping onto the front driverside corner of the oil pan. From there it blow back on everything.

I just replace the valve cover gasket...what else could be leaking on that side?

Any way to tell oil from dirty tranny fliud. I guess it could be form the leaky coolant line in that same area...but it sure looks like motor oil. The driverside corner of the oil p[an is drenched along with everything else on the left side

Anyone?Alright I think it's oil...99% sure it's oil. I have never seen it leak from this location though.

I crawl under the from of my 88, auto, 4.0L with my head right under the power steering reservoir. Shine the flash light up onto the hose that feeds coolant into the water pump. The oil looks to be seeping down that hose and dripping onto the front driver side corner of the oil pan. From there it blow back on everything.

I just replace the valve cover gasket...what else could be leaking on that side?

Any way to tell oil from dirty tranny fluid. I guess it could be form the leaky coolant line in that same area...but it sure looks like motor oil. The driver side corner of the oil p[an is drenched along with everything else on the left side

Anyone?

Could it be your front seal? On the timing chain behind the crank pulley/harmonic balancer.

Could be residual from the valve cover gasket, or possibly the head gasket. I think the oil drain back is on that side of the block. The pipe you are refering to is the one from the heater hose correct?? This is my best guess... pics would help..

Scott.

put a coupla drops on a sheet of white paper- red is tranny fluid, black/brown is oil.
If its "spraying" backwards, thats not a drip, its a leak- wipe down the area around the front of the valvecover gasket, start her up and check for seepage-also, check the multiline connect where the cpvc/vac/crap all connects-if its plugged or loose, it`ll head south and end up right around that area.

Was out working on one of my customers systems on friday and he had a cherry 85 Merc up on the rack. They were trying to find out where all the oil was coming from. With 4 sets of eyeballs looking around we figured out it was coming from the power steering pump, it was slining oil at the engine, looked like a front seal but wasn't...

Rich may have it. Check carefully for pinhole rust spots on the power steering lines too, especially where they cross under the radiator hose and you can't see them. While you're at it make sure you aren't wearing a hole in the lower radiator hose. It's a poor design.

Thanks, no luck so far. The hose I was refering to is the "in" port of cool water from the radiator to the water pump. The oil looks like it's dripping down the outside of that and landing on the front driver side corner of the oil pan.

I will do the white peice of paper test tonight. I am pretty sure it's oil though. It'a also dripping on the tranny coller line that runs right through that there. It's the area where the cooler line turns from solid to flexable.

The valve cover gasket is not the culprit The top of the head is dry as a bone now. I am thinking either front main seal or head gasket. More like front main. Wouldn't I be seeing other issues is the head gasket was out?

If it is the front main...when I pull it off should I go ahead and replace some other stuff? The rig already had a new raditor in it when I bought it. I'm thinking even the rear main was down because the pan gasket looks fairly new.

Any othere ideas?

Taste it.

Probably the front main ... just had mine replaced. The damn thing was leaking and the harmonic balancer was spraying oil all over the place. Shortly therafter my rear main started leaking much much worse...

I guess the front/rear should be done at the same time.

JohnJohn said:

The valve cover gasket is not the culprit The top of the head is dry as a bone now. I am thinking either front main seal or head gasket.

If it is the front main...when I pull it off should I go ahead and replace some other stuff? The rig already had a new raditor in it when I bought it. I'm thinking even the rear main was down because the pan gasket looks fairly new.

Any othere ideas?

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