Need help with oil leak. Very small leak has been going on for 6 months and has gotten worse in last few month. Its coming from up high. Have cleaned but cannot detemine leak area. Dealer looked at it and said it is the intake hoses leaking and causing the oil. Is this possible and where are they located. Is it the intercooler hoses or the hoses on the y tube going into the intake.

2003 Ford crew cab
Dp Tuner
4' mbrp exhaust

 

I don't think the intake hoses can leak that much. What about the motor valley? Is it clean? Could it be coming from the turbo pedestal?

 

Welcome to FTE. There is oil in those hoses coming from the (CCV) Crank Case Vent. This is normal however there are solutions to this problem if that is where you oil is comming from. This residual oil causes the boots on the hot side if the intercooler to leak and pop off but Ford says it is normal. Most of us at FTE think otherwise and there is lots of different mods on this site to fix this if you search CCV mod. I used the Raycor CCV filter to solve it. Some run the breather hose to the exhaust or a catch can. I hope this is what you where refering to.

 

Would the hoses cause enough to make a drop or two like he is describing? I would think not since the oil is on the hose and then it gathers dust and sticks there.

 

Yes there is some oil in the valley. I'm not no diesel mechanic but that didn,t make sense to me. I was thinking it may be turbo pedestill o-rings myself. Its a very minor leak but it has been getting worse. Prefer to fix before problem get worse.

 

hi, I am a mechanic at a ford truck dealership. we see those intake tubes leak all the time. the tubes they are refering to are the orange intake tubes up top. another spot you might want to look is at all the cac tube ends(blue) that connect to the intercooler. best of luck.

 

I'm with you man. I vote for there isn't a CAC tube, cold, hot, Orange, Blue... that will mist, seep, or leak enough oil to build up in the valley and then drip onto the ground. I think either a Turbo Pedistal (like mentioned above) o-ring or a High Pressure Oil sytem leak.

Question: If you get under your truck, does it appear to be comming from the weap hole in the dust cover of the trans?

 

I pulled the inspection cover and it was faily dry higher up and flywheel is clean. I ran the engine at 2000 rpm and checked for leaks around high pressure lines and pump but unable to find anything. Orange intake tubes are oily feeling and if you feel them with your hand it comes back with oil that is fresh and clean looking.

 

im tellin ya, just replace those orange intake tubes and your oil leak will be gone.

 

I've got to take a look at that, too. Mine's got some oil on the back side of the engine. I've got an '02 F250 XLT 2WD CC SB with 63k on it. Is this "normal" mileage for this to show up??

 

the pipes on the Y are called the CAC tubes, and over time, if they are loose, can leak to a wet mess, i thought i had a big leak somewhere, so i took it to the stealer ship, tech said the only oil lead is from the CAC, he verified that the pedistal was not leaking, nor the high preassure oil plugs on the back sides of the heads.
so i took it home, disasembled the Y and CAC, cleaned everything really good, sopped up the oil in the valley and put it all back together, then degreased the valley and run my preassure washer nozzle through it a couple time, i did all this 3 weeks ago, and it hasnt leaked since, i checked it every day for a week after that, and then once a week, no more leaky, leaky, i wouldnt have thought the CAC leak could build up that much oil. but it does over time.

 

also, im not sure of this next statement, but i think it was the tech. guy that said,
--if you look in the valley, you will see a deep indention between the CAC tubes,
at that point, there is a small hole that runs to the rear of the block and drains down both sides of the block and looks like a larger leak than what you actualy have. (thats what he said)

 

Thanks Bigt. From the description, it sounds like what I'm looking at. I was quite surprised to see all that oil when I was under the truck the other night. I just got the truck a month ago and did my first oil change on it. With 60k on the clock, the oil back there bothered me. My last truck (3.0 Ranger) had just barely started showing some oil out of the rear main at 90k. Hopefully it's not the turbo pedistal...

BTW, are those tubes a "dealer-only" part?

 

Sorry don't mean to threadjack here but I just noticed a small leak on mine the other day when I was under my truck that seem to be comming from that spot you mentioned. What could this be comming from?

 

the fist few spots to check,
CAC tubes,
turbo pedistal,
EPPV actuator,
HPOP lines,
inspect the HPOP lines first where they exit the HPOP and enter the heads, if no oil is found, look back too the CAC. or Y, if the CAC boots are covered in oily dirt, pull the Y off, pull the tubes off and clean ,clean the valley, inspect around pedistal
and EBPV while your there, if no visible leaks between trubo and pedistal, reassemble and tighten all boots, then in a couple days, retighten boots again.
its a start.