Hi all, I'm a complete newbie when it comes to anything beyond doing an oil and filter change on my Ranger, I'm hoping I can at least get an idea of what's going on. I've got an oil drip that's been slowly getting worse, and I can't pinpoint the source. I've got some photos to help, marked up with the awesome power of MS Paint.

This is a shot from the underside, front of the truck is the right side of the photo, back of the truck is the left side of the photo, driver side is at the bottom of the photo, passenger side is the top of the photo. Landmarks are indicated with colored arrows and text.


This is a shot of the thin metal plate from the first photo at a different angle. In this shot the passenger side is the left edge of the photo, the driver side is the right side of the photo, the pavement is at the bottom of the photo, and moving into the photo is the back of the truck. Here I've unscrewed two bolts and removed a cover plate to reveal... whatever that thing is (I have no idea). The plate had a thin layer of fresh oil on the underside when I took it off.


Basically, what am I looking at in these photos? Whatever is in that hole there in the 2nd picture I can't really access (the hole is too small), but it looks like I can't get the entire metal plate off without unbolting the starter and one other really huge bolt that is further to the upper left from what is shown in the 2nd picture. I don't want to bother with this if whatever is under that plate isn't going to be something I can fix...

Just to note, I've checked the area around the oil filter (as best I could anyway, the filter is a pain in the butt to reach!) and nothing seems to be problematic there, at least nothing so big as to cause the dripping at the bottom of the metal plate. I also looked around the bolts of the oil pan and there doesn't seem to be anything there either.

Thanks for any help!

 

how many miles are there on your truck?

If you're lucky the valve covers are leaking and the oil is traveling down the joint between the engine and the transmission.

It might be the rear main leaking, which is not good but not bad if there's not a great loss of oil.

How often do you need to fill the oil?

 

I am with G-k50 might be the rear main seal.. what oil do you use? how bad is the drip. if you are having a hard time finding the leak you should clean the are well with a brush and simple green. then you will be able to see if the valve covers are leaking etc.. you might be able to run some dino high mileage and buy some time.

 

That trans looks pretty clean. What's it got? about 3000 miles?

 

I just looked up his profile it says he has less than 25k on the truck. A rear main seal leak would be odd for the age and mileage!

its definitely oil right.........is it an auto or manual

 

Grasp the oil filter and turn it to make sure it is tight. I had the same problem and it was just a loose filter.

 

Thanks for the responses so far.

The truck has about 13k miles on it, it's an automatic transmission, and the leak is enough that everytime I drive for a while and then park there's a wet area on the pavement about 1.5 inches in diameter. While driving I'm pretty sure the leak is ongoing as the exhaust gets drips on it that are visibly smoking off of it if I park the car and look under it right away. Right now the oil in it is Castrol full synthetic 5w-20, which I just put in a few days ago when I also changed the oil filter just to eliminate those both as potential causes (it was a little overdue for the oil change anyway). The leak was happening before I changed the oil/filter as well. The oil in it before was a synthetic blend, I forget the exact brand but it wasn't a no-name.

I'm fairly certain the leak is oil because when I changed the oil to the full synthetic the drip has become lighter and lighter colored over time (it was a much darker color initially because of the synthetic blend).

@g_k50, you mentioned it might be the valve covers, can you provide some more info about this as to how I would identify it? Is this something I could repair without risking total meltdown of my truck?

I know the rear main seal is going to be out of my league to fix. I flipped through my Haynes book to the first step for replacing the rear main seal and it says "1. Remove the transmission (see Chapter 7)". After reading that I basically gave up haha. I don't have the equipment or the know how to tackle something like that, probably would end up bodily crushed under my engine block...

Thanks again everyone!

 

@19704X4F250 - I've been carefully monitoring the oil filter having just replaced it, it's hand tightened down as snug as I could manage, and doesn't seem to be leaking from what I can see. I was sure to smear oil on the filter gasket before installing it, and made sure the old filter didn't leave any mess behind, so hopefully I can eliminate the oil filter as a possibility.

 

A 2005 with 13k on it. Did the truck sit for a long time without being used?

 

Yes, it was mainly used for transporting all my crap to college and back home once a year, and then only intermittently driven (the campus was pretty bike friendly so I would bike around). A one way trip from home to campus was about 700 miles. During summers I'd get a summer job and then it would be used almost daily to drive back and forth about 10 miles round trip.

 

Not sure if you answered this already. Is it an auto or astandard?

 

Yeah it was probably easy to miss in my incoherent wall of text up there. It's an automatic transmission.

 

I like all of the ideas so far & agree, it looks like motor oil, as auto tranny fluid is dyed red.

The oil filter is toward the front of the engine & if it were leaking the filter & the area around it & rearward would likely be wet with drips & blow back.

As has been suggested, it could be the engine rear main crank shaft seal.
Or valve cover/s gasket, back close to the fire wall. So have a good look at the top end of the engine, between the firewall & where the valve covers bolt to the head & see if you can determine if the valve cover gaskts are leaking in that area.

If so, the head & block between the engine & firewall should look wet with oil.

If thats what you find, maybe try retorquing the valve cover bolts to spec. Don't over tighten them & warp the valve cover gasket land, use a torque wrench.

If that checks out, maybe check the PCV valve hoses & pull & check, or replace the PCV valve, in case it's acting out & causing too much pressure in the crankcase.

If all that checks out, then as has been suggested, suspect the rear main seal & maybe try a "high mileage" oil recipe, as they have more seal softening & swell addiives, that may be able to slow, or stop a rear main seal leak, IF the seal has gotten hard & shrunk some.
Folks on the board have reported positive results with the Valvoline High Mileage recipe oil stopping leaks.

I too sure hope it's a valve cover gasket, as having a rear main seal leak on an engine with such low mileage is a bummer, but fixable, just takes more gold to do, if it has to be replaced!!!!

More thoughts for consideration, let us know what you find.

 

While I'm waiting to borrow a 13 mm wrench (gonna unbolt the starter and that cheapo plastic funnel thingy under the oil filter so I can get a clear view of that side, although I still don't think that's the source I want to make double sure) I've been poking my head all over trying to find the PCV valve. I'm still not certain if I have the right spot or not so time for another pic!



If the PCV is in there, follow up question - how in the hell do you get that metal ring thing undone? It seems like I would end up bending it pretty badly just trying to straight pry it off...

If the PCV is not in there, does anyone have a pic of where it is, or can describe it's location based off of engine landmarks that are easily identified visually? I don't know the names of a lot of parts so when Haynes says "near the coolant bypass hose" I say

 

The 3.0L PCV valve is located in the rear portion of the drivers side valve cover, back close to the fire wall, in a rubber hose, that rune over & attaches to the intake manafold. It's kinda hidden under some plumbing,so you'll have t move some things to easily get to it. The rubber elbo that connects to the valve cover often dryrots & leaks oil vapors & was one of the reasons I suggested checking the valve cover gaskts & PCV valve plumbing in that area, as your oil drip seems to be toward the rear of the engine.

Look in the "Tech Info" thread atop this forum & scroll down to & click on the 3.0L Tech Info link, for all kinds of helpful things on the 3.0L.