Well now that the truck is running i have even more problems. istarted out driving five miles today. when i got parked the truck was smoking bad so i crawled underneath it and oil was running (literally like water) from where the oil pan meets the transmission as well as behind that plate. i took it to a mechanics shop he cleaned it all with brake cleaner than had me start it and let it idle and oil started running again. he said it is my rear main seal thats leaking and the book calls for 6 1/2 hours wrench time and it costs 400 bucks to do it. the guy explained it to me how to do it and i think i can do it its just going to be time consuming. on top of that my oil pump is now only running around the n to the o on normal so i think thats like 20 pounds of pressure. And i think the timing is still off a bit bcuz its not running anything like it used to. im at aloss of what to do ugh someone help please

 

Do you think you could help us help you by making your posts easier to read?

Correct spelling & capitalization & punctuation & white space between paragraphs? And no Text-ese-tyle of writing? Please?

We're not a bunch of teenage illiterates here, and I think many of us might be willing to help if we don't have to read something 5 times to figure out what's being said....

 

the only text-ish word in that whole paragraph is the word "bcuz" for one. For two, there were only 2 spacing errors was accidental. So please dont tell me how to type. Thanks

 

You do have a few problems, but they aren't insurmountable. Let's take them one at a time. But first, remind me - are you the one that just replaced the oil pump? If so, you know how to pull the pan.

The rear main is a pain but isn't expensive. The pain comes from probably having to pull the mounts & exhaust connections and jacking the engine up a bit to get the pan off far enough to do the work. Someone else may know for sure as I've not done it in the vehicle, but given the hour estimate I'd say it is pretty sure you'll have to jack it up some. Beyond that it isn't too difficult, although I highly recommend you buy a shop manual of some sort to guide you through it. In any event, you are talking about more cost in the oil and filter than in the seal itself.

As for the oil pressure, is at N or O when idling? When cold or hot? That makes a big, big difference, so we need to know. And, btw, the factory oil pressure gauge is only one step better than an idiot light, meaning not very good. I have two trucks with both the factory gauge and an aftermarket gauge, and in both cases the aftermarket gauge is much more accurate. So, don't panic - yet. Tell us what the conditions are for that oil pressure. And, you probably ought to put a real gauge on there before worrying too much.

Concerning the performance, it may well be a timing issue. Did you put a timing light on it after making the changes? If not, you need to as I personally can't get the timing w/in 10 degrees of where it should be when I pull and replace a dizzy. So, you may be quite a bit off.

 

Ok, but be prepared to wait, and wait, and wait for help. You are asking for our help, not the other way around. If you want our help you need to help us understand what is going on. I know for a fact that a BUNCH of people on here won't bother to reply to posts they can't easily read. Further, many have put people who traditionally don't write so we can understand on their "ignore" list, so don't even see their posts.

I overlooked the way you did the first post, but I had to read and re-read it to understand. Had that been your very first post on here I probably would have ignored it.

 

Gary, yes im the one who just did the oil pump change. The oil leak is my main concern at the moment. Before i replaced the oil pump i never had a leak. Im curious if it is the little U shaped seal on the back side of the pan because my oil pan was a 4 piece gasket set. But the mechanic said it isn't the U seal its the rear main seal because the oil is running from behind the plate. For the oil pressure, Today it is 70 degrees and sunny, sitting at idle, the fctory oil gauge is reding Right at the "O". But when you start driving it drops to the "N". Could this be caused by the oil leak? The oil i put in the truck after putting the new pump in is Rotella 15W-40. As for the timing, I do not have a timing gun and the mechanic said they dont have a test light that i would have to buy one and do it myself. I also do have the manual.

 

I read and reread my first post. I can see now where others would have difficulty understanding it. I should have put this on my other post but i was unforsure if anyone would glance at that post. So my apologies for it being unreadable

 

Accepted. Let's move on. But, look at the post below - it is kinda run together. I wanted to address each point one at a time, but have a hard time picking them out. It would help me to help you if you made a new paragraph for each new topic, like one for the oil leak, one for the oil pressure, and one for timing.


I agree the oil leak should be the main concern. And, it is possible that the u-shaped piece as I don't think oil is high enough in the pan when the engine isn't running to come out there - but I don't know for sure. Anyway, my thoughts are that it could be that piece rather than the seal. HOWEVER, if it were me I'd replace both while I have the pan down as the cost of the seal is minimal. And, if you don't do it and if it is the seal then you'll have to do it all again - including new pan gaskets.

Having the oil pressure drop when you rev the engine up is not good. It should go up rather than down. The only thing I can think of that would cause that is low oil level - like it all ran out the back. Are you sure you have enough?

And, I'd bet the timing is off at least 10 degrees. Further, there's no way to set it w/o a timing light, so you'll have to invest or have it done. But, if your mechanic doesn't have a timing light you might want to find a new mechanic since that's a pretty basic tool - at least for the older vehicles.

Last, glad you have the manual. It is a must in my opinion.

 

Thanks for your help Gary your very intuitive. As for my oil pressure, I did go and check my oil now that the motor is cooled and it barely is reading so it has already drained my oil out so that may have solved the dropping oil pressure as it was running at the "R" on normal when i first got the oil pump in.

Something i did forget to mention is that the oil only runs out while the truck is running when you shut it off it slows to a drip than stops.

I was taken aback when the mechanic said they dont do tiiming djustments, its a 3 bay mechanic shop with a second shop behind it. i couldnt believe they didnt have timing lights

 

You are welcome. Glad you are here.

I think the reason the oil runs out only when the engine is running is due to the rear of the pan being higher than the level of the oil when it settles. But, when the engine is running oil is flying everywhere in there and some of it finds its way out. If it is running out that quickly something is badly wrong w/the way the gasket is in there. If you put that rear u-shaped seal in with RTV they can easily slip forward or rearward when you put the pan up and tighten the bolts. My guess is that's what happened to cause that big of a leak.

Check craigslist for a timing light. You might get lucky. If not either buy one or find a mechanic who has one. But, you'll probably pay him half as much as a timing light will cost just to use it once.

 

ok so do you think that it is my oil pan seal and not the main rear seal. if so i would much rather drop the oil pan again as to have to take out the transmission and all.

 

I do suspect that it is the oil pan seal and not the rear main as the latter rarely leaks that badly. Further, you didn't have that much leak before, I'm guessing, and since you didn't do anything to it I don't see a reason for it to suddenly gush. On the other hand, you did have the pan off and replaced the pan seal, so that's likely to be the problem.

However, you shouldn't have to take the tranny out or do anything to it at all to replace the rear main seal. From memory, and you need to refer to the book instead of my 64 year-old memory, once the pan is off you remove the rear main bearing and..........

Oh, no! What year is your engine? Somewhere along the line they changed from 2-piece rear main seals to one-piece units. Even the block is different. My '82 had a 2-piece seal, but I don't know where the change was made. I could figure it out in the parts catalog, probably, but maybe someone else does and can tell us more quickly than me looking at the catalog. But, if you have a one-piece seal all bets are off as I don't know how those are put on, although they may well have to come over the back of the crank - meaning the tranny has to slide back and the torque converter come off.

 

mine is the 09/82 351 windsor its the two piece, maybe i do need a new mechanic he is the one who told me its the rear min seal and he told me i had to pull the transmission and transfer case along with both driveshafts to change the main seal. But like you said, i never touched the transmission and didnt have a leak before, all i did was change the oil pan gasket so that would be my guess as well because i did have issues with that rear seal wanting to set right.

 

If it's an '82 engine then there's no need to do anything w/the tranny et al since it should be a two-piece seal. The two-piece is done by pulling the rear main bearing cap, if I remember correctly, and pushing the upper piece out gently. Wouldn't hurt to replace it while you are right there. But, you should have a torque wrench to put the rear main back on with as it isn't good to guess.

However, I'd bet the main problem is the pan seal. I wouldn't use RTV for it, but something like Permatex non-hardening sealer, which doesn't get hard but also doesn't cause the seal to want to squirt out, like RTV does. Read up on it. Do a search on FTE. Google it. Figure out what people say the best way is, 'cause you don't want to have to do it again.

 

A leaking rear main generally starts small and gets progressively worse over time.Seeing as you recently R&R the oil pan,that's what I would suspect.Once you remove the pan any leak due to gasket crush or misalignment should be obvious.If it is the rear main seal,you may have to replace your main bearings as well.It happened on my '80 Bronco.The thrust bearing was hammered(from back and forth motion of the crank)causing the rear main seal to get chewed up.Other reasons are age(high milage)and lack of lubrication.Either way,once you pull the pan and if the gasket looks OK,you might want to pull the thrust main to check the bearing.As always start from the easy and go from there.One more thing,you shouldn't have much of a leak from the pan gasket at idle unless the pan is overfilled.The crank shouldn't be swinging through oil while sitting.Without a windage tray the crank does hit oil while the vehicle is in motion.Good luck.