Day one: Had a small little drop of oil on the driveway.
Day three: still had a a few drops falling onto the driveway, starting to smell burnt oil when driven for very long.
Day Four: Drove most of the day. Oil level was fine.
Day Five: Oil is low by a quart. Burnt smell and leak (drops) are still present.
checked oil pan, oil plug nothing apparent wiped everything down. nothing showing a leak.
Day Six: Drove about 30 miles away and back. Oil low smell and leak persisted.
Day seven: Checked oil added a quart again. Drove an hour away and half way back checked oil nothing on the dip stick. NOTHING. Added oil got truck home. Smoke now coming from under hood and again NOTHING on dip stick. Burnt smell is strong.

Leak is not visible. Any ideas on what in the world this could be? O ring, gasket, etc??? Only working vehicle and we need it fixed asap.

 

Sounds like valve cover gasket to me, it is leaking onto the exhaust manifold and burning up hence the bad smell..

 

BigPipes is that relatively good or bad? AS in is that an easy fix or hard and costly?

 

Oil cooler gasket maybe?


I didn't have one bit of trouble until I took it in to have the tires rotated.
Anyway this could have started there?

 

had the exact same problem on a 2005 5.4 SD 4X4.

In my senerio, car would leak oil when cold. No leaks when warm/hot.

This made it difficult to troubleshoot since by the time I got to the service center a few blocks away...no leaks.....bring home..let it sit...start it a few hours later..leaks again.

The problem was the oil filter. it turns out there are three types of oil filters on the non-oem market based on the thread per inch of the spin on barrel.

When down an bought a ford filter, and leak disappered.

 

thanks fritz!
We will try the filter. that is what my hubby thought it was to begin with so he made sure it was tight and he did change it not too long ago, I think he used a filter from Checker or Auto Zone.

 

I'd say it's probably the filter too...stick with Motorcraft.

 

A mechanic friend took a look. He stated it may well be the rear seal. I will keep you updated.