The Oil Leak Game

[tmt502]

Well gents, I've been trying to track down this leak since shortly after buying the truck back in June. I'd purchased a new oil pressure sending unit last weekend with the though that my source was surely coming from there. Nope. The unit in place is dry. No oil around it. I could only feel around that area since visibility is so poor, but came up with nothing. Decided not to go through with changing it yet. Then I though the oil cooler block off plate might be the culprit. I crawled under the truck and started looking around. I could see oil going up the side of the block to a small drip hanging from the number 7 cylinder spark plug ignition coil connector (I think). See picture below:



So any chance this might be related to a leaking valve cover? I don't notice any drips when it's parked. Only oil loss/consumption happens during driving.

Ugh.

 

[tmt502]

I'm going to take a look at the valve cover tomorrow, just to see if there's any other traces of oil higher up. The engine seems to run and start fine. I don't have any CELs either. I plan to also pull the spark plug and look to see if it's coated in oil. Hopefully the oil isn't leaking from the spark plug port...

 

[Geotrash]

Just replaced a valve cover gasket in my ‘07 for a similar leak. Let us know what you find

 

[Big Mama]

Same here. Doing mine soon. The oil from them can leak in the strangest places.

 

[ivin74]

Well gents, I've been trying to track down this leak since shortly after buying the truck back in June. I'd purchased a new oil pressure sending unit last weekend with the though that my source was surely coming from there. Nope. The unit in place is dry. No oil around it. I could only feel around that area since visibility is so poor, but came up with nothing. Decided not to go through with changing it yet. Then I though the oil cooler block off plate might be the culprit. I crawled under the truck and started looking around. I could see oil going up the side of the block to a small drip hanging from the number 7 cylinder spark plug ignition coil connector (I think). See picture below:

View attachment 260297

So any chance this might be related to a leaking valve cover? I don't notice any drips when it's parked. Only oil loss/consumption happens during driving.

Ugh.

How many miles are on your rig? The valve cover and valley pan cover gaskets start leaking around 120k miles. It's not easy to identify a leak on the valley cover, they usually leak from the back by the firewall.

 

[tmt502]

How many miles are on your rig? The valve cover and valley pan cover gaskets start leaking around 120k miles. It's not easy to identify a leak on the valley cover, they usually leak from the back by the firewall.

I’m at 225k miles.

 

[ivin74]

I’m at 225k miles.

I'm willing to bet is the valley pan gasket. It's not a bad job for a DIYer. Let us know your findings

 

[tmt502]

Ok, so I started with removing plug 7. I removed the wire and looked around the plug shield.

Top side:



Bottom side:



Then started removing the plug. It was loose. Like less than hand-tight loose. I was startled by how loose it was. Here’s how it looked.



Didn’t necessarily want to do a plug and wire job today, but hey, why not. I wiped this plug off a bit and replaced it in 7 so I could go get some plugs and wires. Before doing that, I decided to take a look at the valve cover:





Looks like a leak to me. What do you think? I’ve got a new valve cover coming in the next few days.

I’m going to check plug 7 again when I change the valve cover. Couldn’t get a good angle to see any of the valley pan cover except for the front part. Didn’t want to get into a bigger job than I had time for today.

Part of me wants to say the oil on plug 7 is due to it being loose and a leak dripping down onto the plug shield and chasing into the plug well threads. But I know that’s best case scenario. Wouldn’t I be getting a CEL with misfire codes if I had oil getting pumped out of the spark plug well??? I don’t know.

 

[tmt502]

Here’s how my old plugs looked. They’re arranged in order of front to back from left to right. Plug 7 looks the worst. But plugs 3, 5, 4, and 6 didn’t look so great either.

 

[Danny3737]

I bought one of these about a year ago. It’s great for working on the car like finding leaks, checking brake pad wear ( if you don’t want to take the wheel off ), finding that damn bolt you dropped on top of a cross-member or a whole list of crap around the house. Some of them have adjustable LED lights, small hook or magnet. The one I have has a 15’ lead on it. The image shows on your phone and you can choose to take a picture or video.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/352477906922