I'm new to this forum, so I hope that I'm posting this in the right spot. I've searched as much as I can through old posts, but it seems like a lot of people don't respond about what their eventual fix is. Anyways, here's my deal. I have a 2004 f250 V10 4x4 with just under 96,000mi. I am the original owner and been very blessed with never any breakdowns or leaks until now. 2 months ago I was changing my oil and noticed some oil on the rear oil pan bolts between the pan and tranny. I cleaned it and changed my oil. 2 days later I noticed a bad smell after I parked and found oil was dripping onto the exhaust pipe that crosses over to the passenger side. During cleaning it appeared like the pan gasket was saturated front to back. I tried tightening the pan bolts, but maybe got a 1/4 turn. The leak seemed to stop, but must've been from cleaning because it returned a couple days later. After further inspection, my passenger valve cover gasket had some build up around it, but was pretty dry. Another words there was no visible sign of a significant leak, but I thought it was the culprit. After pressure washing everything and driving about 50mi. I'm not seeing any oil coming from the valve cover. I stopped by a shop for an opinion and there guessing that its the rear crankshaft seal, but naturally can't guarantee it. I don't know if its from cleaning the grime off, but now it's leaking a little worse. I'm considering replacing the rear main seal myself, but have read of others thinking that their leak was coming from up top. Maybe the intake or valve covers. Unfortunately, I spend most of my days in a wheelchair from being a paraplegic and I was having a hard time getting to the rear of the engine under the hood. From what I can see underneath, it doesn't look like its running down from the valve covers, but I can't see the top rear section of the motor. With me in my situation, this will be a 2-3 day job. So my question is, am I safe changing the rear main seal or have some of you found the leak to be something else? Thanks

 

Well I guess I'm going for it. I'll let you all know how it turns out.

 

Well I'm surprised no one responded to this post, but hopefully it'll help someone in the future. Turns out my rear main seal was leaking. It was a two day job for my brother and I. It would've been smoother if I had a tranny jack, but we made my motorcycle jack work. Here's a shot of the torque converter. You can see the oil was leaking through the seal and the centrifugal force was throwing it out wards.

 

I'm surprised too, but commend your determination to get it fixed and glad it was only the rear seal. So the rear seal put an end to the leak completely?

 

Thanks for the follow up! This thread will act as a good reference for someone with the same problem. I was hoping someone would give you some input. I read your post a couple times, but had no idea since I'm fairly new to the V10 and haven't had any oil leaks yet. This thread will act as a good reference for someone with the same problem.

 

@sammie0126 yes so far. It's been 3 days now and no signs of a leak. Thanks for the responses guys! $20 for the rear main seal, $10 for the transfer case gasket, $10 for anaerobic sealant for retainer plate and $100 for transfer case and tranny oil ( I used some expensive mobile 1 synthetic). $140 total and shops were asking about $1100