Ford F350 Deisel Oil leak

[AJH]

Never owned a Deisel, and don't know much about them. SO Please help.
I have a 2003 Ford F350 6.0 diesel. When I was crossing the mountains last week I noticed that every time I stopped, there would be oil dripping from under the engine. It was right at the point where the engine and transmation meet. (OH its a automatic trans.) I stoped at a Ford dealer, who told me it was engine oile, and was leaking some place on top and that in order to find the leak they had to pull the transmission etc. (they were booked for 2 weeks) Any way since it wasn't a big leak I continued on my way keeping track of the oil level and gauge. The gages showed no problems at any time, but I did add about 2 qts of oil over 600 miles. (mountain miles). Anyway when I got to KY (where I am staying for a couple weeks), I kept checking under the truck and no leak (Yes it has oil in it LOL) It has not leaked a drop in since being here. Has anyone experianced this when pushing the the truck (Up and down mountains towing a rig). IN short should I worry or just keep an eye on it and see what happens? Ford wants 800+ to pull the transmission and locate the leak. Not sure its worth it at this time. Any suggestions.
Thank
AJ

[Bill-N-Donna]

I would keep a close watch on it. I’ve had some minor leaking but mine doesn’t seem to be big enough of a leak to be concerned with. I haven’t noticed any kind of oil usage or a drop in the oil level but it still bugs me sometimes even thou it doesn’t drip on the ground. I sometimes smell it when it leaks on the manifold. I always hear how bad the 6.o engines are and that’s when I usually tell them how many miles are on the one I have. I’ve had this one for about 4 years now and overall it’s held up pretty well. I’ve had to do some work on it and when I do I usually try and use the Ford dealership. I figure they know what they are doing. The people that used to work on my vehicles bad mouthed the Ford before I bought it so I don’t take it to them for the work that needs to be done. You might also check out some of the diesel forums.

[Bill-N-Donna]

Where are you staying while in KY?

Sent you a PM!

[thor]

could be the rear main seal.but sounds like the dealer is not sure where it is leaking.hate to spend that kind of money to pull it apart only to find that is not where it is leaking.to bad the daeler wont give the money back if you find it is still leaking after there done with it.good luck

[Crossthread]

I have a 05 f350 w/6.0 . I had an oil leak coming from the top right side of the engine. Ford changed the ckp sensor and seal. As far as I can find out, that's the crankshaft position sensor. That stopped that leak.
Dennis (hamrad) had a leak on the right side of his engine. That was an oil port plug ,I believe ' and was on the top right side of the engine,in the "valley",or in that vicinity. Just tightening the plug a little solved that one. IT was hard to see.
I'm pretty sure that they have a dye that they can add to the oil and find the leak.
I hope this doesn't muddy the waters too much. Bill

[noneck]

This makes no sense...

They said leaking some place "on top", need to pull transmission to locate and engine oil leak?

This suggests you should be able to locate an oil trail that ends up at the location you describe where the drip occurs.

I had an ICP sensor fail on my 03 which resulted in a small oil leak ran down left rear side and drip at the engine/transmission seam lowest point. My symptom was more dramatic as the engine would surge, stall w/o any accelerator peddle depression, pretty scary and the sensor was a real PITA to change out.

[HOOK]

Clean engine completely with a degreaser such as Super Clean the Purple Stuff. Run engine and look for new stain. Very likely a gasket under fuel pump in valley at rear of valley on top of engine.
Also check seal around crankshaft at front bottom of engine. Both were troublesome on our fleet of International trucks...same engine. Probably something simple as these engines don't give much trouble with leaks. Good luck!! Larry PS Also check oil cooler lines at connections, they loosen with viberation.

[jackel1959]

AJ,
On my 02 F-250 (7.3L), the High Pressure oil pump on top of the engine was leaking. It would fill up the valley on top and then drip down the back especially if I was on an incline. I thought it was the rear main because of where the oil was leaking at from underneath. But after looking on top of the engine and locating the puddle in the valley, I could see how it was leaking from top to bottom. I don't know if this could be a possibility in your case, but thought I would pass it along.

Jack

[ols1932]

On ours, we had a leak from bad O rings in the turbo. Had them replaced in 2004; no more problems. Very similar to your problem though I wouldn't swear that it's the same. Sometimes we''d see a leak (especially in the morning when the truck is coming up to temperature).

Orv

[HamRad]

I looked and worked trying to find that oil leak. If I didn't have the great friends from the MOC especially Bill (Crossthread) and Mel of Mel and Joy. After I had returned it to the Ford place at least 4 times and to an independent dealer they still could not find the leak. It looked like it was coming from the bottom of the engine. Ford folks told me it would take them about $15K to pull the engine and check the oil pan etc. Well that was just too much. So at the next MOC gathering the guys got together and within 10 minutes had found and corrected the leak that had been leaking for over 10 years.

I had leaks in some other places too including the high pressure oil pump. Ford replaced this thing twice before they got a good one. Fortunately all was under warranty until the leak that would not go away!

My advice is to find someone like Bill and Mel to trace the leak down. They started where the oil was hitting the ground and then proceeded to simply walk up the engine until they found the leak. Simple fix but very difficult to do the tracing. But they were determined and found the problem. Good luck. Dennis