i bought this bronco back in december.its a 96. well i have a half dollar size spot on the driveway everyday.its either coming from the rear seal or oil pan.i cant really tell. the oil pan is covered on one side.now heres the odd thing. none of the levels are low or seem to be dropping ? iam confused on this one.

 

Are you sure it isnt the transmission fluid on the ground then? If your tranny fluid is burnt it will look just like oil. You may want to check its levels. As far as your leak goes, it could be from anywhere, but if the pan is covered, I would take a peek at the front seal and pan gasket.

-Matt

 

i dont think its tranny fluid. the fluid in the tranny is a nice red.pluss like i said, all levels seem in the rite levels.

 

just a guess- rear of the valve cover gasket. The 6 bolt covers are hard to seal and leak often.

 

yea ill give it a closer look. thanks.

 

It could be the oil, and that the previous owner overfilled it and that's why you are not seeing any levels drop. If so, then it may even stop after the extra oil leaks out and it comes down to the proper level. That's sort of a wild guess, though.

If you have a decent drip, and none of the levels seem to drop, it may be the transfer case. You have to go under the truck and open the plug to see if it is low on fluid.

If that is not the problem, chances are that it is the transmission. The trans holds the most fluid and takes the longest to leak down to where the dipstick would read low. Also, it is fairly common for people to overfill the transmission and it will continue to leak until the fluid is at the proper level. Check your transmission fluid dipstick again, and make sure you do it just like the manual says. If it is overfilled then that is probably your leak and is why none of the fluid levels seem to drop.

 

Put a piece of white paper underneath the car -- that might help you figure out what kind of oil is leaking.

 

thanks for the help guys.ill give everything you mentioned a try.

 

I have basically the same issue with my 95 5.8L. I only drive it one the weekends, and I have noticed small spots on my driveway where it is parked. All of the fluid levels look fine, so I have just figured it was a leaky rear main seal and left it at that since it wasn't big enough to run me low on oil. I only get to drive it about 500 miles a month, so I only change the oil about twice a year, so it it doesn't leak enough to get low over 6 months I'm not going to worry about it!

 

well i got under the truck with a flashlight and to me it looks like it is coming from the oilpan.all around the edge of the deep part of the oil pan is wet with oil.its dripping down the front of it and colecting on the tranny.

looks like the previous owner over filled the truck too.the dip stick reads about 1/8 over the full mark.

 

You might want to check the oil pressure sending unit before you replace the oilpan gasket. I had the same problem with my 93. The oil leak looked like it was coming from the pan right underneath the oil filter, so i replaced the oilpan gasket. The leak was still there though, then i noticed a clean spot on the block where the oil had been running down from the oilpressure sending unit. I took off the powersteering and ac compressor bracket to get a good view and replaced it. There is only three bolts holding the bracket on then you fold it back and replace the sending unit. That is my 2 cents. Let me know what you find out.

 

If it is the oil pan gasket, often times you can fix that simply by re-torquing the bolts. Try that and also run some "oil stop leak" stuff in the oil and use the oils that are made now for high mleage vehicles (over 75,000 miles). It will help the gasket by lubricating it if it is dried out and also will swell it up to fill those gaps. It's not 100 percent by any means, but the stuff does work on minor gasket or seal leaks.

I say this because dropping the pan on these Broncos is a PITA.

 

yea i heard you have to jack or lift the engine out.not a job for me.lol. ill see if torquing the bolts down will help. whats the torque specs on them ?

 

Hey guys, I hope you don't mind me resurrecting this thread. I have the same problem. Leak SEEMS to be coming from the area around the oil filter blowback is vaporizing on the exhaust crossover and smoking like crazy. I cchecked the bolts around the pan and sure enough some were loose, re-torqued those and it helped some but not all. Already had the sending unit replaced at my mechanic so I doubt that is it. Can I just remove the three bolts and roll the compressor and PS pump back without disconnecting anything to double check that? Seems too easy. Barring that are there any cheats to replacing the gasket on the Oil pan? I'm working on a 93 and I fear that the exhaust manifold and motor mounts might not just "unbolt" so easily. Wondering if I just remove the bolts, looks like I get 1-2" of drop, any way, maybe some monofilament as a fish line or something, to slide the new gasket in place in that gap?

Thanks guys.