Oil Leak/ smoke from the rear drivers side of the motor(need Help!!)

[BlinkyXLT]

i just bought my explorer last week and when i got her home i noticed that there was a oil leak that was smoking from what looked like the valve cover gasket to me and my mechanic. i finally replaced the valve cover gasket and gave it a tune up and the motor is running awsome but the leak is there stroger than ever. does anyone know where this leak could be from and could it be the rear main seal??


Thanks,

-Newman-

 

[Creager]

The valve covers are notorious for leaking. Did he use the cork felpro-gaskets? The Cork stuff is known to keep leaking even with new gaskets. Use the Ford replacements, or the felpro Perma-Dry gaskets.

I just had the same probem today. I had my valve covers off last week, and ive noticed some oil (about a tablespoon) everywhere i park. I narrowed it down to the valve covers.

10mm socket and 3/8, problem solved. Although, be VERY careful on the top row of bolts. Ford specs those to be like 3ftlbs for a reason, the lower intake is ALUMINUM! Ive had to heli-coil two bolt holes for the valve covers on that stupid intake already. The lower side (heads) will give you a little more room for error, as some heads came cast iron. If the leaking is comming from the lower-side of the valve cover, i would just tighten them down until it feels good. that should solve it.

To single out the rear main, look behind the engine. If oil trails down the tranny and has lines spotted on the Exhaust Y-pipe, you can nix the rear main. If the oil is comming out of the small hole on the bottom of the tranny, where the tranny meets the oil pan, then good chance its comming from that rear main.

 

[BlinkyXLT]

The valve covers are notorious for leaking. Did he use the cork felpro-gaskets? The Cork stuff is known to keep leaking even with new gaskets. Use the Ford replacements, or the felpro Perma-Dry gaskets.

I just had the same probem today. I had my valve covers off last week, and ive noticed some oil (about a tablespoon) everywhere i park. I narrowed it down to the valve covers.

10mm socket and 3/8, problem solved. Although, be VERY careful on the top row of bolts. Ford specs those to be like 3ftlbs for a reason, the lower intake is ALUMINUM! Ive had to heli-coil two bolt holes for the valve covers on that stupid intake already. The lower side (heads) will give you a little more room for error, as some heads came cast iron. If the leaking is comming from the lower-side of the valve cover, i would just tighten them down until it feels good. that should solve it.

To single out the rear main, look behind the engine. If oil trails down the tranny and has lines spotted on the Exhaust Y-pipe, you can nix the rear main. If the oil is comming out of the small hole on the bottom of the tranny, where the tranny meets the oil pan, then good chance its comming from that rear main.

If the rear main is infact leaking would it smoke alot from the back of the block?? i also did replace the valve cover gaskets with the metal ford ones thats why i am kinda leaning twards the rear main being the cause of the oil smoking.

 

[Creager]

Ususally when i think of smoke from an oil leak, i think of oil dropping onto exhaust parts, which makes a ton of smoke.

The main question is, do you see oil leaking down the side of the bell housing (and spots on the exhaust)? If so, im pretty sure the rear main is not the culprit.

Was just the valve covers removed? Those plastic ones from ford and felpro make it easy to see where the oil is leaking, the leaking area of the gasket will be shinny. Was the lower intake removed also?

Best thing to do would be to start off by retorquing those valve cover bolts. You shouldnt have to remove anything to get to them, you will just have to get creative with ratchets and extentions.

You can remove the upper-intake quite easily in like 15 minutes. Its like 6 13mm nuts. Retorque to 15ftlbs. Removing this will give you some good room to see around the back of the motor.

 

[BlinkyXLT]

Ususally when i think of smoke from an oil leak, i think of oil dropping onto exhaust parts, which makes a ton of smoke.

The main question is, do you see oil leaking down the side of the bell housing (and spots on the exhaust)? If so, im pretty sure the rear main is not the culprit.

Was just the valve covers removed? Those plastic ones from ford and felpro make it easy to see where the oil is leaking, the leaking area of the gasket will be shinny. Was the lower intake removed also?

Best thing to do would be to start off by retorquing those valve cover bolts. You shouldnt have to remove anything to get to them, you will just have to get creative with ratchets and extentions.

You can remove the upper-intake quite easily in like 15 minutes. Its like 6 13mm nuts. Retorque to 15ftlbs. Removing this will give you some good room to see around the back of the motor.

i went through the notor with a fine tooth comb today. the good news is that the rearmain seal is fine as well as the valvecovergasket that was leaking. the bad news is the person that had it before never tended to the leak from the valve cover gasket and there was an ungodly amount of oil and crap all over the exhaust manifold from it so that was the cause of all the smoke. i ended up spraying the manifold down with brake clean and got most of it off then i let teh truck run for about an hour or so and it burned off all the crap that was left. it was such a releaf that thats all that it was and i can now fix the small rust spots on the rockers then start modding!!!. thankyou so much for all your help man!!!!!

 

[Creager]

Yr welcome... infact my valve covers are still leaking a lil bit! Down from a tablespoon amount to teaspoon amount now. Those things are known to leak like a beyotch.

Yep, any oil (even from your hands) will make an ungodly amount of smoke on those manifolds when they get hot.