hey guys,
i bought a 02 f250 with the 7.3 in it on thursday. i drove this truck all around thursday with not a singal problem. when i woke friday morning and went out to start the truck there was about 1 1/2 qts of oil on the ground under the truck.HHEELLPP!!!!!!!!! when i popped the hood it has to be on the left side of the truck. the right side of engine is completely dry. But my inner fender has traces of oil on it. The steering shaft is soaked with oil. i was told by the seller and saw the paper work from a local ford dealer where they have replaced the glow plugs and noticed that the vavle covers were leaking at the back of the head. so the seller had them replace the valve cover gaskets as well and it showed on the paper work. the truck has 347 thousand on it. with me driving all day thursday with no oil leak at all i hope its something small just need ideas where to start looking. oh yeah thursday i had the truck parked in my drive way taking the decals off the truck (as the prevouis owner had his own business) for about 3 hours and not one singal drop of oil and then when my wife came home i parked the truck on side of street in front of my house and then came out the next morning to oil. any help on this matter would greatly appericated.


thank you and have a blessed day

 

Sounds like oil cooler seals, most likely. They tend to reveal themselves on a cold engine after initial startup. The oil cooler is on the left side of the engine, low and toward the front. It's tubular with a mount on each end. The oil filter screws on to the rear mount housing.

 

every thing that i have read about this does point to the oil cooler. and like you said it shows up after intital start up on a cold engine. but i noticed it before i even started the truck. i work in a 18 wheeler shop in the parts room and i talked to a couple of mechanics where i work and they said that it could be something to do with the p/s because they think that it has something to do with being oil fed which i never heard of but hey stranger things have happen. if it is the oil cooler how hard of a job is that to fix and about how long does it take to fix it?

 

here's a link to oil cooler repair thread
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...at-a-pain.html

an important note is to clean the parts well and use liberal lube going back together to keep from cutting or rolling the orings

 

Power steering and engine oil have nothing to do with each other. If you had a quart and a half of power steering fluid on the ground, you'd most likely have no power steering or power brakes.

 

ok guys i changed the oil cooler orings out yestersday and now the gsket that bolts to the block behind the p/s pump is leaking i didnt change it due to how hard the upper bolt is to get to. it looks like if i remove the alternator and the p/s bracket i should be able to get it fairly easy. but my question is do i have drain the oil and coolant for a second time? i sure hope not. any thoughts would be greatly helpful

 

Unfortunately yes. only way to change it is dump them again. if it's new fluid drain into clean container. Filter it through an old clean tee shirt if you think crud from bottom of the truck got in it during drain process.

 

well crap that was what i was afaird of. i didnt change it becasue of where it is located. i should kick my self in butt for not going ahead and doing it. now next question. do i have to take the whole entire oil cooler system back off or could i just pull that one piece back far enough to get the old gasket out and the new one in?

 

Not sure how you could get the surfaces good and clean, all the old gasket off, without taking it all out. Last thing I would want to do is the whole thing over cause I dind't get it cleaned well and had ANOTHER leak. At least you won't have to take the cooler apart.

 

ok well then can i reuse the oil fliter housing gasket since its still new due to me just putting it on there yesterday. becuase its a metal gasket with like orings made on it where the holes are at