i have a 97 f150, 4.6 with about 144xxx on it. With in the last two weeks, it has started leaking oil. i have been nervous about it, and have been trying to park where i can check and look for drips. So far no drips. While driving on the other hand, my buddy was behind me and my truck gladly put a nice coat of oil all over his car. I also notice oil on the tires and rear end and driveshaft...ect. After checking the oil, it was 1 qt low. This was after about 500 miles of driving. Can anyone give me a place to start from???

 

My first guess would be the rear main seal.

 

how sure are you its engine oil? have you crawled under the truck and looked? could be a diff,tranny,transfercase leak...

 

positive... i changed the oil about 2 weeks ago and when i checked it today,it was 1 qt low. Just to eliminate any other possibilities, i did check the tranny, front end, and rear end and t-case.

 

It's NOT engine oil. It can't be by your description. If your engine oil was leaking enough to mist a windshield of a car behind you , your entire undercarriage would be covered in it.

That sounds like a trans line to me or a bad tail shaft seal. I'm surprised you can't find it. Jack up all fours and secure it real well on jack stands and run it in gear if you have to.

Find out what's going on under there when it's in gear.

 

Im pretty positive its engine oil. The transmission fluid, read end, front end, tcase were all good on fluid. Like you said, the undercarriage is covered in oil. Wouldn't a rear main leak even when the vehicle is not running??? Cause the leak seems only t be happening during driving.

 

It is covered in oil ? I thought you said just the around the rear end/drive shaft and rear tires ? If the undercarriage is covered in oil , you should of posted that.

Your oil has "0" pressure when the vehicle is turned off. So sitting wouldn't puddle oil. Now that you mention the under carriage is indeed covered in oil - that's totally different. I think it an oil cooler line or an O-ring is blown between the oil filter and block. It's possible the oil filter gasket itself is bad, but not likely - Although I have seen them leak before when installed improperly.

It doesn't sound like a main bearing leak, I guess it could be.

__________________________________________________ _____________________________

Here's what Ford has under oil leak concern - Engine Oil Leaks

When diagnosing engine oil leaks, the source and location of the leak must be positively identified prior to service.

Clean the engine with a suitable solvent to remove all traces of oil.
Run the engine for 15 minutes.


Highlight -1997 4.6L /EXTERNAL ENGINE OIL LEAK

Leakage Points ---------------

Examine the following areas for oil leakage:


Underhood

Valve cover gaskets (6584).
Intake manifold gaskets (9461).
Cylinder head gaskets (6051).
Oil bypass filter (6714).
Oil filter adapter (6881).
Engine front cover (6019).
Oil pump and filter body (6603) (4.2L engine).
Oil level indicator tube connection.
Oil pressure sensor (9278).
Oil pan gaskets (6710) (4.6L engine).
Oil pan sealer (4.2L engine).
Oil pan rear seal (6723) (4.2L engine).
Engine front cover gasket.
Crankshaft front seal (6700).
Crankshaft rear oil seal (6701).
Crankshaft main bearing cap side bolts.

 

Another possibility is the oil pan gasket. Had one of those do exactly the same thing, spray it all over.

 

Ahaa, there you go - check the oil pan gasket . I haven't heard of them leaking in that way before - Good post kingfish

Whatever it is , you need to fix it ASAP.

I was thinking there was an O-ring that seals the oil filter adapter on that, but all that comes up is regular old gasket for the 4six -



Maybe the O-Rings are on the remote filter set ups.

Also , my 98's dipstick tube rusted a hole in her- just behind the exhaust manifold -drivers side. So that's possible- thing is , I didn't loose any oil when that happened.

So far , I'm not showing an oil cooler on the 97 4six either.. Those might just be on the 5fours with the E4OD's or maybe the 4six's with the trailer/tow - off road package's..?


EDIT: I did find something on the oil cooler - if your have one , it will have two hoses and look something like this -



Check those hoses for leaks as well.

Overall , I think you'll have to clean it up a little bit under there to find out what's going on. It might only leak real bad after the oil is heated keep that in mind as well.

Good luck - BTW, Nice lookin truck - Is that a BMW in the back?

 

Also in the oil filter area, make sure that when you changed the oil last time that the old filter gasket did not stay behind so you have 2 of them on there. That will leak a lot also.

 

Not trying to be a smart *****, But when you changed it did you put 6 quarts in. The mist problem most of the time is antifreeze. Again i'm not trying to be smart, just trying to help

 

5 qts of oil and a qt of lucas oil treatment...lol... Thanks for trying though... On a side note, i did have a friend in high school, really preppy girl, who's dad made her change her own oil in her car one time. She had no idea how to do, so her told tried to explain it to her. To make a long story short, she drained the oil, and went to refill it......through the dip stick tube. She bought a syringe, and squeezed qt after qt of oil down the dip stick tube until it ran out the top of it... lol...needless to say, bad experience for her.

 

thanks for all the help on this!!!! I am hoping to try and get this resolved today! Its a 2006 suziki gsxr 1000. AGAIN thanks for all the help to guys!!!

 

Can we ask you to make your sig smaller? Forum guidelines ask that they be kept to 500x100 pixels. At least only post the sig once per thread. Thanks.

 

The head gaskets on modular Fords are known to leak. I'd find the most oily parts and clean them off with brake cleaner (cold engine). Then try to see where it's coming from. It's almost impossible to find the leak if it's a slimy mess.