Seems a bit crazy to pull the engine to reseal the oil pan. Just for the sake of asking is there any reason I couldnt make a gasket out of some gasket material. I work on Industrial Cat and Waukesha engines and we occasionally have to. Honestly just asking for educational purposes. To see if theres a specific reason this will not work or could cause issues.

Years ago I was 5 hours from home on a Saturday night at my dads. We were changing and Intake manifold on a Ford 390. Somehow while putting the Distributor back in the oil pump shaft fell into the oil pan. Since it was Saturday night and the small town he lives didnt have a parts house open on Sunday and I had to be to work Monday I thought I was screwed. I dropped the pan cleaned everything and siliconed it. I drove home checking several times all the way. I drove that pickup 2 more years and it never leaked.

Sorry just made me think about that. either way Ill have to try something I suppose. Thanks again for the help and input.

 

It's been discussed many many times about oil pan leaks and the best way to repair is to pull the engine.

A good thread to read: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/8...-engine-4.html

But first I would suggest cleaning the engine with Simple Green and a garden hose thoroughly to find the leak. Another problem with these engines is not a oil pan gasket failure but rusty pans themselves. Nevertheless, you cannot pull the pan with the engine in the truck. There's a crossmember in the way.

 

If the oil leak is up top, it's not unrelated to a stubborn-start. Oil pressure is what atomizes the fuel and low Injector Control Pressure will contribute to your problem.

The fact that cycling the key more than once gets the truck to start says your Glow Plug system is working, but implies the injectors aren't up to the task. Again, I lean toward synthetic oil on this.

 

In regards to your clutch problem. My 99 is a manual and at 130k it would no longer go into reverse. I replaced the clutch master and slave cylinder as a unit, this is the way Ford sells it. There is no good way to bleed these units, as far as I know.You need a special tool to remove the master cylinder on this clutch. I just destroyed mine because I bought a new one. It is like a fuel line removal tool, in fact one of those may work. Maybe someone else will help you on this one. Also, these trucks are known to have a bad bushing where the clutch control arm meets the pedal. I removed the bushing and the drilled out the post and put in a grade 8 bolt with a self locking nut. Has worked wonderful for 150k. Also there is a web sight (powerstrokehelp.com) they sell a item where you cut off the bad bushing mechanism and replace it with this new mechanism that eliminates the crappy bushing. One more piece of info, I had to pull the tranny and when i did I fount the throwout bearing to be worn out, not the bearing, but some protrusions on the bearing assembly had worn off. With these small protrusions worn off it was enough to make the pedal go to the floor and not disengage the clutch.