leakage of the oil

CUTiger · #1 04-30-2010, 04:20 PM

First off how common is it for the rear main seal to blow out, fail, leak, whatever you wanna call it on these 3.0s?

ALright heres my story, went to check my oil today just like I have always done around 5,000 miles. I've always ran Mobil ! full sythetic since I got the truck, 5w20(winter) and 5w30(summer) and have regularly gone past 5,000 miles no problems. I've even been a nerd and taken samples into the lab and analyzed them with a hemocytometer to get a ppm of contaminants to confirm that the oil was still good. Well when I checked it today it was relatively DRY

. So I took the lady's 4runner and ran to advance to get 5 quarts of the runny stuff and a filter then went to work. Once I took the old stuff out and put the new stuff in I poured the old stuff from the catch pan into the empties. There was only 2 quarts of oil in the entire engine (pan and filter)! Its not burning any oil so it has to be leaking from somewhere and the best I can tell its the rear main seal...I haven't really checked anything but plan on keeping an eye on the oil level and I'm going to start parking in a different spot to see if another black spot appears.

I'm really looking for any thoughts, suggestions, words of wisdom, BS, or someone to tell me to drop a 5.OH in it.

BTW its a flex fuel 3.0L with just over 90,000 miles on it.

STL · #2 04-30-2010, 04:24 PM

Not uncommon for a rear main seal to leak with 90K miles.

Our VW beetle blew one out with less than 50K miles

CUTiger · #3 04-30-2010, 04:30 PM

Thats what I figured, is it possible on these to just drop the pan, pull the rear main bearing cap and replace the seal. I've done that on a friends Jeep and it would be great if it were that easy on this engine.

EDIT* wait a minute, ain't it a pain in the ass to drop the oil pans in these truck? As in you have to lift the engine up to get it past the cross brace?

I think I answered my own question...looks like hte rear main seal is 1 piece not 2 like on some engines which means the tranny has to come out doh><

Shep · #4 04-30-2010, 06:02 PM

I am not sure how common they are for leaking but mine started around 100,000 miles. But it wasnt to hard to change just dropped the tranny like you said. While i was there I replaced the clutch and turned the flywheel if you have a manual you might just want to do that while you are in there.

But if you wanna do a 5.0L swap you can save repair money and just swap it out if you have the down time without havin your truck.

CUTiger · #5 05-02-2010, 06:22 PM

Alright well I'm still keeping an eye on the oil issue, I've wiped the tranny and surrounding areas down with degreaser so I can see if anything leaks again. I checked the oil pressure sending unit because I've seen those puke a metric shit ton of oil before, it was dry, and checked the valve covers and they didn't appear to be leaking but not 100% sure on that at the moment...

now I have a new problem, I pulled the spark plugs just to make sure it wasn't leaking into any of the cylinders. None of the were fouled or had any oil or deposits on them. Reinstalled them and truck was running fine. I then unhooked the battery to do some rewiring on the driving lights, rehooked the battery and went inside to get some movies to take back to blockbuster. Came back out and the truck was idling fine, put it in drive and it ran like shit! Put it back in park it idled a little rough so I shut it down, cranked back up idled fine but same thing when I put it in gear. So I shut it down and checked the plug wires and made sure they were all tightened and hooked up correctly. Everything looks good so I can't figure this out. HELP!

I did pull the PCV valve to check it, could this be a vacuum problem? I bet the hose is loose...

CUTiger · #6 05-03-2010, 12:38 PM

OK guys I can't figure this out...I'm pretty sure its a vacuum leak but can't figure out where it is. Its gotten a little worse but still idles fine in park but like crap in gear. Any help would be appreciated so that I can get to work in the am. Thanks!

Shep · #7 05-03-2010, 03:09 PM

PM tom the mannager of theis site he has vacuum line charts so you can chase the issue i also believe it a vaccuum issue but kind of weired it happened as soon as you messed with your plugs and wires.

Tom · #8 05-03-2010, 03:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shep

PM tom the mannager of theis site he has vacuum line charts so you can chase the issue i also believe it a vaccuum issue but kind of weired it happened as soon as you messed with your plugs and wires.

I don't have any vacuum line charts...

Shep · #9 05-03-2010, 04:19 PM

I was under the impresson that you did I am sorry to say somthing that was not true. But as for the vaccum line charts I was readin in another tread and I thought it was Tom that had them but it was some body else if you do so searchin the the forms you will find it.

Magnus · #10 05-03-2010, 04:30 PM

I would pull the spark plugs out and boroscope the cylinder walls I had a topaz that used oil was not leaking it or burning it but it turned out one cylinder wall was cracked and oil was leaking in their.

CUTiger · #11 05-03-2010, 04:59 PM

If the oil leak continues to be a problem I'll look into scoping the cylinder walls, thanks for the idea Magnus!

As for this vacuum leak...begining to be a PITA, it really only does it when I first start going then it'll go away. I'm gonna get to walmart tomorrow and get some carb cleaner and something to make smoke with so I can try and find where it might be sucking air in. Besides vaccum lines what are some other areas that air can leak into?

rcalzadilla · #12 05-06-2010, 12:53 PM

Have a Mazda B3000, 155,491 miles. Bought it new and done about 90% of repairs myself. Have used synthetic oil most of these years.
Rear main seal just started leaking and the oil pan's front area is very damp and almost ready to leak.

I am 66 yrs old and cannot afford the main seal replacement nor can I do the job myself. Of course, I'll have the rear main seal replaced as soon as possible.
So did the next best thing, for now, one can of Bar's Leak Rear Main Seal Repair. and regular (not synthetic) 10/40 oil.

Nothing leaks now and I'm a happy camper.

CUTiger · #13 05-07-2010, 07:28 PM

I plan on trying some of that Bar's Leak repair if I need to but right now it seems to be holding. I'm thinking that it may have just dried out because the truck sat for a few days the other week.

As far as the misfire goes, I ain't found any vacuum leaks anywhere, but my dad was in town today and asked if i had changed the fuel filter because it might be clogging up. So I'm gonna try that as soon as I can and hopefully that'll help. It certainly can't hurt and they ain't that expensive plus it could be causing the mix to lean out like it is.

zatticus · #14 05-10-2010, 06:48 AM

My truck has ran like yours is
It could be crappy gas, if you got any recently
I changed my fuel filter and it started running fine,
I think my rear main seal is leaking too,
So it might be a common problem on the 3.0's

CUTiger · #15 05-10-2010, 06:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zatticus

My truck has ran like yours is
It could be crappy gas, if you got any recently
I changed my fuel filter and it started running fine,
I think my rear main seal is leaking too,
So it might be a common problem on the 3.0's

I was down near a quarter of a tank when it started so don't think its the gas. Good to here that changing the filter solved the problem. Gonna change that out Wednesday and see what happens. Thanks for the post!