Well, my '90 F250 lost oil pressure the other day. I immediately shut it off and crawled under the truck. It was dripping oil pretty badly, but quit leaking as soon as I shut the engine off. Buddy towed me home.

Fast foward to today. Decided to fix the problem, but after sitting for a few days, I couldn't tell where the leak had been coming from. I started the truck and crawled underneath...nothing. Let it idle for 5 minutes...nothing. Decided to cruise it up and down the road a few times. After about 10 minutes I lost oil pressure according to the dummy guage. I shut it off and coasted into a gas station. It was dripping quite a bit of oil, but I couldn't see where it's coming from...it was all just gathering on the bellhousing of the tranny (E4od). To top it off I could see coolant leaking too. Towed it to the shop and won't get any word on it for 3 or 4 days.

Anyone have any ideas what would cause a severe enough oil (and possibly) coolant leak that the truck lost oil pressure? The only things I can think of are a severely blown head gasket (didn't see any oil in the resevoir or bubbles on the dipstick), or a crack in the block that only opens up when the engine gets hot. I hope it's not the latter.

Thanks,
Hunter

 

A cheap trick to find leaks is to to thoroughly clean the suspect area and buy a can of that white foot powder spray. Spray the stuff all over the area and wait. The leak is instantly pinpointed.

As for the leak, I'd think it very unlikely to be a crack in the block. Engine blocks just don't crack for the hell of it. And even if that was the issue, the crack would probably swell shut from the heat, rather than open up. Since the leak stops as soon as the motor is off, it's pressure fed, which means you can at least rule out the pan area. I know, big help.

Since you don't have the truck now there isn't much you can do for self-diagnosis. Anyway, hope for the best.

 

Thanks, I'll post up the findings when the mechanic calls.

 

The oil leak could be the rear main seal. The coolant leak could be anything.

 

Yep, the oil and coolant leaks were unrelated. Coolant leak is now fixed. It appears that the oil leak is coming from the rear main seal. I'll start another thread on that.

Thanks,
Hunter