Oil Leak
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Cargo Master
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 2,690
Likes: 6
Oil Leak
I have a 92 F150 4x4 with I6 300. On the drivers side of the engine block there's a steel panel of some sort bolted on. It's about 4 inches tall and almost as long as the block. On my truck there's oil all around it so I'm assuming its an oil leak. I have two questions:
1. What is this panel? I've never seen one on a V8.
2. How do I fix the leaking oil?
1. What is this panel? I've never seen one on a V8.
2. How do I fix the leaking oil?
Junior User
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 84
Likes: 0
From: Houston
Pushrod Cover Gasket Leak
You're looking at the pushrod cover. It's also called the "side cover". The pushrod cover gasket and/or the grommets that the six bolts holding the pushrod cover on go through must be leaking. I just went through replacing the gasket and grommets on my '94, so I'll tell you what I learned.
I had the leak and made the mistake of trying to snug down the bolts. They were actually only finger tight, so I figured snugging them down made sense. Big mistake. It made the leak worse. The problem was that the grommets and gasket were rock hard and tightening it down didn't work. I had to replace the gasket. The gasket and grommets came as a kit (Felpro) at the local auto parts store for $9.90. You should also probably use some gasket sealer (blue Permatex Silicon II or the like?).
Getting to the pushrod cover is the hard part. I had to remove my airbox cover (to get the two ducts going to the throttle body valve out of the way), loosen the dipstick up so it could swivel out of the way (it has a bracket that attaches to the pushrod cover with a speed nut on top of the bolt), remove the ignition wires, distributor, breather tube from the top of the valve cover over to the airbox, mounting bracket for the throttle cable (you can just swivel it up on top of the intake and don't have to remove the cable), coil and its mounting bracket, and the left side wiring harness (it's attached to the pushrod cover, too, on my truck; just unplug it at the back of the engine and temporarily pull it out to the left and tie it off) to get adequate exposure to reach the pushrod cover. I could have gotten it out without all that, but I couldn't have gotten it back in without messing up the gasket sealer unless I had all that other stuff out.
You won't need any special tools other than a good clicker-type torque wrench that can handle 18-36 inch-pounds. I was glad I had a torque wrench to torque the six fasteners that hold the cover on because you're compressing the grommets, and I didn't have a good idea of how tight was tight enough without the torque wrench. I didn't want to do this again anytime soon.
The other tip: make sure you clean your engine thoroughly before you start the job. It will make it a lot easier when you get to the point of cleaning the gasket surface to install the new gasket. You won't have to worry about all kinds of grunge falling in there.
I had the leak and made the mistake of trying to snug down the bolts. They were actually only finger tight, so I figured snugging them down made sense. Big mistake. It made the leak worse. The problem was that the grommets and gasket were rock hard and tightening it down didn't work. I had to replace the gasket. The gasket and grommets came as a kit (Felpro) at the local auto parts store for $9.90. You should also probably use some gasket sealer (blue Permatex Silicon II or the like?).
Getting to the pushrod cover is the hard part. I had to remove my airbox cover (to get the two ducts going to the throttle body valve out of the way), loosen the dipstick up so it could swivel out of the way (it has a bracket that attaches to the pushrod cover with a speed nut on top of the bolt), remove the ignition wires, distributor, breather tube from the top of the valve cover over to the airbox, mounting bracket for the throttle cable (you can just swivel it up on top of the intake and don't have to remove the cable), coil and its mounting bracket, and the left side wiring harness (it's attached to the pushrod cover, too, on my truck; just unplug it at the back of the engine and temporarily pull it out to the left and tie it off) to get adequate exposure to reach the pushrod cover. I could have gotten it out without all that, but I couldn't have gotten it back in without messing up the gasket sealer unless I had all that other stuff out.
You won't need any special tools other than a good clicker-type torque wrench that can handle 18-36 inch-pounds. I was glad I had a torque wrench to torque the six fasteners that hold the cover on because you're compressing the grommets, and I didn't have a good idea of how tight was tight enough without the torque wrench. I didn't want to do this again anytime soon.
The other tip: make sure you clean your engine thoroughly before you start the job. It will make it a lot easier when you get to the point of cleaning the gasket surface to install the new gasket. You won't have to worry about all kinds of grunge falling in there.
