The 6.0 PSD in the Excursion tow-vehicle/wife's modern station wagon had sprung a minor oil leak in June, then a new major oil leak the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. The leak before Thanksgiving was about a quart in 10 min of running, and was four streams of oil draining (not dripping, draining, steady stream to the floor. Not individual drops... would empty the truck in about four hours draining) from the bellhousing.
But dye in the oil showed EVERYTHING under the truck was wet with dyed oil.
And it dripped while parked, engine off. Some, you'd think, was oil from the leaks-while-running dripping off whatever it got onto. But it kept dripping at the 'minor-oil-leak-since-June' rate while not running. WTF, right?
Inspection (with a borescope because the top of the motor is so damned congested) of the galley under the intake manifold shows oil. First I pull the turbo and turbo drain/oil-return tube. That plopped right out on it's own weight, meaning the o-ring had been shot. But the truck leaked oil again immediately upon restart after the new tube was installed.
Then, I bit the bullet, and pulled everything off the top of the motor and replaced the HPOP cover gaskets, the IPR screen, the STC (Snap-to-connect) HPOP oil-rail fitting (notorious for failing and shutting the motor off while driving, no restart); I pull the EGR cooler and intake manifold, and (the really expensive part) pull the oil filter housing, fuel system (fuel filter housing is integral with the oil filter housing), and oil cooler cover. The oil cooler is $270, and it was fine, as was the EGR cooler, but I replaced the oil cooler anyway as insurance (like the IPR screen and STC). Since I don't run Ford Gold coolant (the HOAT stuff with the silicates that cause the major 6.0 PSD oil-cooler/EGR issues), all is well, and the engine is now 'Bulletproof'.
On general principles, I change the RHS valve cover gasket, because I became convinced it was leaking - a quick crank with fresh dye in new oil ($$ for the oil) gave me a real bright hit in the last bolthole at the back of the engine.
Two weeks ago, then I cranked it up, and we're back to the original minor-oil-leak-since June (I think there were three leaks I fixed - two under the oil cooler cover, where the gasket looks to have failed as there was brown weepage marks and no 'line' of the gasket, and one on the valve cover). "Wife," I said, "Drive it."
There's fresh oil at the front of the oil pan, dripping at the crossmembers and suspension bones (fresh dye, remember?). I cannot see SHIT in the front of the motor due to Ford's fan/stator/shroud/ducting. The borescope's useless after a certain distance. Everything looks wet. A quick call to the dealer and ask, "What on the front end of the motor do you sell the most of, from the front-cover outward to the radiator?"
They tell me "Oil pump cover and seal". So, I do some quick internet research, and I have a choice: simply replace the seal, and have it fail nearly immediately (no one has good luck with the direct seal replacement), or replace the oil pump cover (the oil pump is like a planetary gear/Roots blower arrangement on the front of the crankshaft between the timing/front cover and the harmonic balancer). If you replace the cover, the new style seal in it gets a wear-ring (steel ring that slips over the crankshaft end) and a slightly different seal that rides on the wear-ring. The new seal is infinitely better in that it doesn't leak within weeks/months of install.
Okay, but... there's a catch. There's always a catch... there exists a Ford tool (actually made by Rotunda tool, and it's not the Shell Rotella oil you're thinking of) to press on the wear ring and install the seal and ring to the correct depth, but it's $240. So, I find a place called Freedom Racing that makes this tool. You can rent it for $50 and pay shipping both ways, or buy it for $120. I bought it.
That arrived last Friday. Today I pulled the radiator... was able to save the coolant and filter it into a bucket. I suspected I'd need to replace the ATF fluid, when I separated the trans lines from the radiator, I found it's brown and stinks, so tomorrow I change the inline filter and drop the pan and change the pickup filter in the transmission, too. $$ for both filters and 8 quarts of Mercon SP.
Back to the saga... got the fan clutch nut off with a pipe wrench and a BIG-ASSED cheater bar (and a screwdriver through the fan pulley. The fan shroud bolts at the bottom broke out of the fan shroud instead of letting go, because they have adjustable-length studs behind them to space them from the block. Nothing on the Internet warned me this could happen
Glued the eyes back onto the shroud and clamped them (this means it's not going back in until the urethane glue cures tomorrow).
There's a SHITLOAD of room in the engine with the radiator and fan stator/shroud out... got the impact in, and 'brrrip! Brrrrrwhurrrriiiiip!' the harmonic balancer bolts come right out, and a moment or two later, I'm holding 40lbs of steel balancer over my head, doing my old-guy leprechaun dance of happy joy.
Only... the oil seal wasn't leaking.
I replaced the pressure spring bolt and pressure regulator, and I think that WAS leaking the drip-drip-drip of the parked truck (the engine-off leak).
I replaced the oil-pump cover and the seal there (hey, I don't EVER want to take the truck apart this far again), and replaced the balancer and installed a new serpentine belt. Dunno why people say serpentine belts are a bitch, it was super-easy with the front of the truck exploded...
This is a great stopping point. Tomorrow I'll return the excess parts I got, not knowing what I'd find, to the dealer. I've got the LHS valve cover gasket so I'll replace it - the dye suggests the frontmost-lower bolt area is leaking, too, but not 'fast'. I'll replace the transmission filters and swap the 8qts of fluid I can get to without pulling the trans apart to get to the torque converter, and I'll button the truck back up.
If it leaks oil after this, I will trade it in in a few months. Double car payments means no racing, btw. It's also still unclear if I will be moving, as I'm still looking to get the hell out of my current job, though I have apparently survived all the layoffs as they're now trying to hire people (new graduates for cheap...).
Read it all? Thanks.
