I have a '02 Escape. V6. XLT. FWD. I have 175K miles. The other day i noticed some drops under front of vehicle. This is a slow leak, maybe 3-5 drops every 2 days. I see drops beading up on some device that looks like a waffle iron under the front of the vehicle. I am not a car person...so can somebody give me some possible explanations? No loss of power. No blue smoke. No loss of mileage.

 

Welcome to the site.the waffle iron looking thing is your oil pan.You probably are leaking oil mine does the same thing.

 

Oil pan gasket leak is a common problem on early models. Fel-Pro has a nice NEW design gasket which should take care of the problem for a long time.

 

do you have to mess with the exhaust to replace gasket?

 

Yes the exhaust crossover pipe has to come down to get clearance to get pan out.