My truck has developed an oil leak. The bottom of the AC compressor has oil on it; I had noticed a few drops on the floor of the garage. Had a mechanic at the dealership look at it Saturday. He said it was engine oil but couldn't see where the leak is. Dealership sold me a bottle of oil dye to put in the truck. I'm supposed to run it a couple of days or so and take it back in. They will use a black light to try and find the leak. Does anyone have any ideas what this could be.?

 

Black Truck:

Unfortunately I cannot help you with an answer to your question. However, I have developed the same symptoms with my '97 F-150.

It appears to me that the oil leak may be coming from near the front of the passenger side head, although I cannot confirm this. I first noticed the oil leak shortly after I switched over from conventional oil to synthetic oil, at around 90,000 miles. I had also tightened down the accessible valve cover bolts around the same time.

What were the circumstances leading up to your trucks oil leak?

Hopefully someone with a similar experience will share their wisdom.

Good Luck.

Wilk

 

Unfortunately I don't really have any circumstances. I use Valvoline Dura-Blend oil; didn't go with full synthetic. Dealer didn't have any problems/objections to using it.

 

How much oil are we talking here? A/C unit seems like an odd spot to get oil. Couldnt be pan, i wouldnt think head, aside from those i cant think of any place off hand where it would be coming from.

 

Have a look at the oil filler neck. Follow from there to the compressor to check if it is spilled oil from a recent oil change or top up. Oil travels down and back so it should be above the compressor and in front of it.

Regards

Jean Marc Chartier

 

Yeah i was gonna mention this, because i had something similar, but i thought i was the only person that couldnt use a funnel.

 

grinomyte,

Funnel? What's a funnel. I have learned to pour only when the oil bottle is directly above the oil fill tube. Only time I miss is when the truck moves!

JMC

 

I used to do this on occasion when i didnt wanna clean the funnel or didnt have it handy. I stopped now after i had 4 oil fouled plugs from all my drippings. If theres one thing i can't do its definatly pouring stuff, unless it means pouring it all over the engine.

 

It's not a lot of oil that hits the floor; just enough to get me under the truck. It tends to stay as a fresh coat of oil on the outside of the compressor. I'm going in to the dealer tomorrow to have them blacklight the engine and see what the dye shows. It's been a while since the last oil change; next change was planned in about 1-2 months.

 

It's the AC compressor. Dealership blacklighted the engine and it came up fine. Been praying hard that it was the compressor and not the engine.

 

Good deal! Glad you found it. I was thinking something more expensive, like mine was. The timing cover gasket leaked on me just before my warranty was up (3/36). I tend to forget about it, since it was early on, and done in less than a day when repaired.,,,,98

 

Mine is leaking there also but not bad enough to drip on garage floor. So what is the fix? A new compressor or can that one be fixed?

 

Will have to be a new compressor. Not cheap (about $465 for unit, labor, etc.) but preferable to a leaking engine. Of course this also explains why the AC didn't feel like it was cooling me off very well lately.