Good Morning Everyone,

This is my first official post since purchasing Shortwide's 66 last week. As he had mentioned in some earlier posts, the truck had a bad oil leak at the rear of the engine. After driving it home and parking in the garage, a puddle would immediately start to accumulate on the floor. Too much for me to ignore (I hate oil leaks !!).

The leak really looked to be coming from the rear of the oil pan, but my gut tells me it might be the rear main seal from sitting up so long. I decided to remove the pan first and began that process Sunday and got the pan off last night. The interior of the engine looks very good at first inspection. There is virtually no sludge buildup on lower section or in the pan. There is what I would call a typical amount of bearing material in the pan, so my next step will be to pull a main and rod bearing to inspect, but am pretty sure I will go ahead and replace anyway.

Unfortunately, I do not see concrete evidence that the pan gasket was the culprit for the oil leak, so I am seriously thinking I will go ahead and R&R the rear main seal while I am into it this far. Don did remind me he had replaced the pan gasket (without removing the pan), and the leak got worse after that, so I will decide later whether I pull the transmission for the rear main seal.

 

Hoss, You didn't say what engine your truck has, but if it is V8, your truck would have come with a 352, and you are looking at the wrong side of the engine.

FEs are noted for top side leaking, valve covers and intake manifold, and almost never the rear main.

Air blowing through the engine bay drives the oil down the back side of the engine, making the new owner think he's got a rear main leaking when it's not.

Clean the back of the heads and top of the block really good, drive it and check it out afterwards.


John

 

Sorry about that..... its a 240 inline 6cyl.

I decided on pulling the pan to allow me to also do a quick visual on the internal/lower side of the engine. As I mentioned in the original post, there is no sludge buildup at all. The cam lobes I looked at last night all look good. I am glad to have that knowledge now, and can proceed with resolving the oil leak issue.

Could not see a path to remove the pan from the rear (with transmission/bellhousing in place), so I went out the front after removing the oil pump. Is it even possible to remove pan on 6 cylinder with tranny/bh in place ?