Looked at an 01 HO yesterday, with 113k miles, and noticed a fair amount of oily residue on the front cover, underside of hood/insulation, overflow bottle and w/w reservoir. Is it common for the front seals to leak on the ISB's? Possible vacuum/power steering pump leak? It's not runny, just looks like oil film with a bunch of dirt built up. All fluid levels/colors looked good, and I couldn't see any leaks while it was running. Or any noticable trails of fluid after driving it. The truck seems to be in very good condition, and outside of this grime buildup, is suprising clean. No leaks underneath to speak of. Thanks in advance.

 

Sounds like he fixed the problem? The front seals do commonly leak over 100k miles. Also sounds like he doesn't keep his engine bay clean. It is hard to tell where it's coming from when the whole engine compartment is covered in dirt or oil. But if it slung oil all over and its all covered with dust and you don't see any leaks, it was probably fixed and not cleaned. Did you ask the seller any questions about where it all came from? Hopefully it is the front seal or the timing case cover seal. Those are easy fixes and should only take about 2-4 hours depending on experiance.

 

My guess is the puke bottle is full, or the hose is too short and the crankcase vapours cover everything then the dirt sticks to it, likely if you look inbetween the rad and IC it will be blocked as well with dirt/oil. I had to remove my rad to clean it properly it took 10$ at a carwas to get clean water to run thru it

 

The truck is at a dealership, being wholesaled off. They didn't know much of anything about the truck, I had to tell them after looking at the engine plate it was an HO, 245 hp.

Anyways, it doesn't seem as though anything was repaired, it just looks to be a minor leak or small seepage, that has accumulated over time. None of the grime has been disturbed, so to speak, like something had been removed or put on.

I was leaning towards the seal, as both of my 12 valves have needed one, and had briefly thouhgt about the puke bottle too. Guess I will have to take another look at the truck later this week. Thanks for the insight.