Oil Leak!

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Jun 1, 2003 | 02:21 PM

jiuxo

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Joined: Jun 2003

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Oil Leak!

my 1980 Ford F100 Custom (302 V8) is starting to leak oil! Im not sure why so im here to ask you guys. It seams to blow oil out the exhaust pipe when you start the car and it does it while it warms up ... although after its warmed up it stops. Why could this be happening? What can i do to stop the from occuring? What needs to be fixed? i put a yellow rag down and turned the truck on so you could see how much oil it spit out onto the cloth.. pics are seen below..

idea's? thoughts? please help!

Jun 1, 2003 | 03:35 PM

Flash

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Oil Leak!

jiuxo,
I think you're in luck, it appears to be water condesation that is washing the carbon out of the exhaust pipe on startup and it will continue until the water is evaporated or the pipe gets hot enough that the water vapor doesn't form on the pipe. It may be a seasonal thing depending on where you live. I have it in my area during winter only.

Jun 1, 2003 | 09:56 PM

bronco351

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Oil Leak!

I agree, it dosn't look like oil to me either. Was it raining when you took this picture? IF it is oil, it is probably caused by a blow by, or bad piston rings. Someone correct me if I'm wrong!!

Jun 1, 2003 | 10:11 PM

billman

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Joined: Oct 2002

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From: IOWA

Oil Leak!

How long has it been going on?

Has your gas mileage dropped? Does it seem like you have a rich exhaust smell? If so, probably just running rich.

Have you been using more oil recently? If so, maybe blowby the seals?

Jun 3, 2003 | 09:27 AM

ggarrahan

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Joined: Mar 2003

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From: Saratoga USA

Oil Leak!

If you had an internal engine leak, where oil was getting into the combustion chamber, the car would smoke, but the oil would never migrate all the way down the exhaust system and be spit, un-burned, out the tail pipe. As mentioned in the previous post, you simply have condensation in the muffler that gets spit out, along with any dirt or carbon it washes out of the exhaust system. Don't worry about it, just don't walk behind the truck with white pants on when you start it!

Jun 3, 2003 | 12:49 PM

rusty70f100

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Joined: Jan 2003

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From: Iowa

Oil Leak!

I get that a lot with my truck. Just water and carbon. Dont worry about it.

Jun 3, 2003 | 06:01 PM

jim henderson

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Joined: Mar 2001

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From: So Cal

Oil Leak!

Yeah probably condensation. Condensation is not totally harmless. If you do a lot of short trips where the engine and more importantly the exhaust never warms up enough to burn off this water, you could have the muffler or other parts of the exhaust fail early. I had a friend with a "pristine" car that had only 60,000 miles over something like ten years, have his mufflers rust out. He only drove about 5,000 or less on this car most years.

Usually this water and carbon are OK when started cold, but you do want to run it for 20 minutes or so to burn it all out til next time.

Good Luck,

Jim Henderson