7.3 oil leak

[john112deere]

A good friend of mine has a '95 F-350 PSD with about 335k on the engine.

It recently developed a severe oil leak, to where it is not driveable.

He writes:

The truck oil hemmorhage is in the front part of the engine, on the driver's side. When the engine is running it runs out very steadily.

He's pretty good with a wrench, but doesn't have anywhere to work on the truck except outside. He can't find where it's leaking from- any suggestions on common oil leaks from these engines?

Thanks!

 

[blacksnapon]

Is it coming from up high? The hpop, reservoir, and some lines on top could be leaking, causing that concern. Have him look at the top of the motor, in the "valley" and see if theres a lot of oil up there.

 

[john112deere]

I'll have him check that, thanks.

He's in Colorado, or I'd be helping... I can climb around/under trucks a little better than he can these days.

 

[john112deere]

No oil in the valley.

He's going to take a closer look at the HPOP in the morning.

 

[d-kuzmen]

There are oil galley plugs screwed into the front and rear of the heads, there pretty large so you won't miss it, have seen them leak at times check that it's probably hidded behing the p/s pump bracket (I think).

 

[john112deere]

He had a mechanic look at it today; he thought it was the front crankshaft seal; I guess he's going to have this mechanic try to fix it next week for him.

My friend is probably better with a wrench than many professional mechanics, but nowhere to work on the truck makes this a job he doesn't want to try to take on in the middle of winter.

I'll keep you posted on what the mechanic finds.

 

[PSDfreak]

Make sure they check the oil cooler...its more toward the rear but I would rule it out first...o-ring kit from powerstokeshop.com is priced quite reasonably.

Good Luck

 

[john112deere]

Latest news, now that it's back from the mechanic:

the leak was the main crankshaft seal and the housing seal. There are also two high pressure lines that are going into the front of the engine which are leaking a little bit - but very expensive to replace so we didn't do that right now.

 

[PSDfreak]

Sounds like he got most of it worked out. I would be interested to hear more about the "two high pressure lines going into the front of the engine"

There are two high pressure oil lines but I wouldn't describe them as going into the front of the engine. Two lines are located on the top driver side of the high pressure oil pump. They come off the pump and go to each head (one per). They deliver high pressure oil into the rails to actuate the HEUI fuel injectors. If these are the lines that are leaking they shouldn't be too bad to repair. The o-ring kit can be had for a reasonable cost from Ford. If its not an oring and actually a bad line he can get replacement lines from ford or just have a hydraulic shop make up new lines.

 

[Level2]

There are oil galley plugs screwed into the front and rear of the heads, there pretty large so you won't miss it, have seen them leak at times check that it's probably hidded behing the p/s pump bracket (I think).

Friend of mine had a 97 F350 CC that blew the seals on both plugs on the back of the head. Eventually it drained out enough oil that the injectors quit firing. It was pretty sudden. From the time it started leaking to the time the injectors quit was probably less than 20 miles. Replaced both plugs with big brass bolts of some sort.

 

[d-kuzmen]

Doesn't take long, once it looses enough it'll quit.