So I have an oil leak coming down the back side of my motor and dripping off of my bell housing. I know the first step will be to use some purple power and clean it up the best I can and try to trace. I will be doing this. However, I know that the oil rail plugs are known to leak and arent too terribly expensive to replace. So I was thinking of purchasing four of them from here:
Oil Rail End Plugs - UVC Cylinder Heads

along with the loctite recommended by Ford.

I have read the rear ones are a pain, so I should have fun with those lol. I plan on lubing them up with some PB blaster and having a go at them. I also figured replacing these is just another good thing to do before I ship it to Germany.

Any other things to check for leaks that are common?

 

May want to take a look at the oring seal for the turbo to pedestal and pedestal to engine mounts. They are some known culprits of what you describe.

 

You shouldn't have to do the fronts. The O-ring on the plugs for the back go bad due to the heat from the exhaust down pipe.

 

Yeah, I was afraid of that. I have been dreading pulling my turbo, but I know the day will come. I'll see what happens after replacing the oil rail plug and go from there.

 

I did read that the common one is the one near the down pipe(rear passenger). I guess I could just replace the one.

 

I'm not saying it isn't the oil rail plug leaking....but that, by all accounts reading here, is pretty rare. It's more likely turbo pedestal or-rings, either between the block and the ped, or the between the ped and the turbo.

Or you have an HPOP line leak....that will run to the rear of the block as well.

 

What he said ^^^^
Don't hear about many of the plugs leaking.

 

Take a look at the top of the engine down in the valley.
If that has oil in it then clean it up with Simple Green and a garden hose. Let dry and stuff some paper towels around and under the HPOP.
There is a drain hole at the back/Drivers side of that valley that if fluids get in the valley, it drains out the back and looks a lot like a rear main seal leak.
It could be a fuel bowl drain valve leak - Easy fix. Or it could be an HPOP leak - somewhat easy depending on what it is.
Mine turned out to be the drain valve about 5 yrs ago, then last year it was the rear plug on the HPOP. Both were easy fixes.
After clean and dry and stuffing paper towels, run the truck for about 5 - 10 minutes, then shut it off and let it sit for another 15 minutes.
Then start pulling the paper towels out one by one. Depending on where you pulled it from it will help show you where the leak is from. If you get more fluids in the valley, check it close to see if there is any fuel smell to it or if its like a real thin oil. That is usually the drain valve on the fuel bowl.

 

X2 ------ Clean the valley out as described by BillyBob69 - here's a pic of the drain hole location & the turbo pedestal O-rings that are a common leaking point. There are a few more common oil leak locations than the oil rail plub.

 

Oops.... passenger side.

 

Ok. well, I did go ahead and order two of the oil rail plugs and some loctite from dieselorings.com. I will have to try the method mentioned above this weekend when I get time(I have two small children lol!). I have never heard of the papertowel method. That does makes sense to tell where the leak is coming from.

On a side note, Which one is better? or is that opening up a can of worms?

 

As far as the fuel bowl drain valve leak, are you talking about the two orings inside the drain valve failing? I replaced those about 4 years ago with the blue Fluorosilicone MilSpec ones from dieselorings.com. I would hope these wouldnt fail again.

Also, observing the puddle under my truck for the last few days, it started off looking pretty dark and thick, then it almost looked like it was another fuel leak, and now it is back to dark and thick(about the size of a softball usually). not sure if that's any help lol!

 

And thanks for the pic Rich. I just wish mine was that easy to see.

 

You should have the fuel leak covered then. That is the one that I was talking about. If you mentioned it i prolly missed it.

I got the paper towel idea from one of the guys on here. Cleaned it all up, made a bunch of paper towel ***** and started stuffing. Showed me the leak right away. Simple but works.

If you remove the decorative plastic cover on the top of the motor you can see in the valley pretty easily with a flashlight or drop light. Mine looked like something from the movie Creature from the Black Lagoon. Now you see dry silver color. Simple green works great. Just don't use high pressure like from a pressure washer. You don't want water getting into things it shouldn't.

 

Did a fuel bowl overhaul and used the parts from Bob (dieselorings.com) . Two years later a started getting a small leak at the drain. I took the drain valve off and cleaned the orings and area around them. I think that the screws may have backed out a little. Everything has been fine for over a year. I believe that your orings are fine, just clean and tighten back up.