Climbed under her to change the oil filter and found a disturbing sight. There is oil all over the place under there. It's all over the place on the driver's side. The filter had some, but it seems to be coming from somewhere below the filter. Any quick hints on what I should be looking for? It's been running fine lately.

 

was the filter just loose and you caught it early??

 

Have you checked your valve cover gasket?The only place I can think of lower than the filter is the front main seal in the timing cover.Do you have an oil cooler on your truck?If you do,maybe a line has come loose or developed a leak.Spray the oiled area down w/ a degreaser like Gunk,let it sit for for a few minutes and carefully rinse it off,be careful not to get the cop's wet,start your truck,the degeraser will dry in a few minutes and see where your oil leak is coming from.Sometimes if the oil filter is not tightened down enough,it will leak.I know,a quarter turn after the gasket contacts the engine,but I snug mine down a little more just in case.I hope this helped,good luck w/ your oil leak,they can be so aggrevating until you locate them.

 

Sounds exactly like you left the old gasket on there last time youe changed the oil. I'll bet if you pull the filter off you'll find two gaskets on there - old and new..I did that once or twice, hell , maybe I should check mine again - in a hurry , glad I caught it though..

 

Filter was on there good n tight, there's a possibility it was loose. I don't use wrenches on them, hand tighten only. It usually takes some time for me to get em back off so I'm confident it was tight. Didn't double gasket it, I learned that one many moons ago and always check the filter coming off along with the mounting area.

Gonna clean it up some and see what I can find. She's giving this beast to her dad as soon as we find a car to replace it, I'd hate to pass the problem off to him. Wouldn't you know the battery light is now flashing too, just found that after letting it idle...

 

Battery light may be caused by an oily belt slipping on the alternator. Give it a good degreasing and check immediatly for oil leaks.

 

oil leaks are a pain to pinpoint sometimes. clean/degease everything good then throw a big piece of cardboard underneath. turn it on follow the drips.

 

Yeah , I thought I had a head gasket leaking. there was oil on the side of the block , it must have been there for awhile.

It hasen't leaked since I degreased the block last week .

Jorgenson degreaser was on sale for $1.29 - cheap head gasket fix ehh..

 

You could have a leak at the point where the dipstick tube seats in the block.
I had oil leaking from there which worked its way down around the top of the oil pan and to the bell housing.
The o-ring for the the tube was gone.

HiO

 

Mine had the same an I found a bad gasket on the oil filter adapter not the oil filter. I have a 97 4.6 I woul assume it is the same on yours. Thier is also an oil pressure switck there that has been known to leak. I cost me $400 to replace the gasket since it was a pain to get to and I did not have the time to do it myself. Airplane first cars second.

 

gasket on oil filter adapter?? you have the remote filter under them bumper right?? 400$ to replace what i dont understand what gasket are u talking about??

 

No remote filter. My filter is screws onto a bracket that bolts to the block. The gasket between the block and the abapter was leaking. I would not have beleived it but I did see it. The sensor also screws into this adapter.

 

o ok i thought all 97 and some 98s had the remote setup.

 

That's the problem right there - How much oil do you blew by until the gasket swelled enough to choke it off.

Follow the instructions , there written right on the filter, filter box and in the manual.

3/4 -1 full turn after snugged by hand..