I just discovered 2 decent sized oil puddles under my truck. One appears to be at the rear of the engine just under the bellhousing; the other at the driver's front of the engine. There doesn't appear to be any oil on the timing case. I believe that I had the KDP hit me over 2 years ago; at least that's the way it sounded when the dealer explained the cause of that leak. Anyway I don't think that the KDP is the issue this time.

Does anybody have any ideas as to what could be causing these 2 leaks? It looks like oil on the parking lot, but when you get it on your fingers it looks like oil fresh out of the jug and I have about 4500 miles since the last oil change. Could it be something with the power steering system or vacuum pump? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

check your power steering fluid ,the steering boxis are bad for leeking ,could be blowing back on the bellhousing

 

Get a really bright light and inspect the valve lifter gallery cover. It is located on the driver's side of the engine block, and covered by a noise guard. If it is leaking you will see oil traces down the side of the block from that cover. It is a common thing for this to work loose, and it is fairly easy to fix. Sometimes all it takes is tightening all six of the bolts that are located from front to back in the center of the cover. They only take 18 lbs of torque, so just past snug is where you want them.

Other real common leak locations are the front gearcase, it will work loose if the bolts were not LocTited when it was installed; the valve covers, especially if they were removed and reinstalled with old seals and O-rings; and the rear or front main seals, keep in mind that both of those are designed to just barely leak enough oil to lube the teflon on those two seals, so they will be wet or look like cat poop and as long as they are not dripping they are fine.

 

Thanks for the replies.

As an update, the truck is now in the shop but I was able to get a better look at my parking spot and the "rear leak" appears to be antifreeze and the "front one" I believe may be PS fluid. The truck never runs hot, just has the typical 140 to 190 degree "swing" as the t-stat opens and closes. There is no evidence of foaming or anything like that on the dipstick so I don't know if there's a head gasket issue or heater core or what. Like I said it never runs hot and has good power so I guess I'll have to wait and see what my mechanic comes back with.

Any further thoughts based on the above would be appreciated. Thanks

 

Update:
The main leak was from the vacuum pump. I bought the repair kit from www.fixinrams.com but now I have a new problem. How do you get the vacuum pump/power steering pump off of the engine? I know there's (2) 15mm bolts that hold the vac pump to the timing case; but i can't get the oil line off of the vac pump and also there doesn't seem to be enough room to get this thing off.

Does anybody have any tips on how to remove the vacuum pump? Thanks

 

The oil line unthreads from the vac pump with a 9/16" wrench. Remove the 90 degree bracket from the underside of the p/s pump-to-block. Then I remove the pumps from the engine as an assembly. When the 2 pumps are no longer attached to the engine, I remove the vacuum pump and leave the p/s pump in the engine compartment with its lines still attached.

I have done many of these, and that's the way I find quickest. You may prefer to drain the p/s, and remove the hoses from the pump so you can separate the 2 pumps on the workbench. That's easier, but slower.

 

check the weep hole on the water pump for the anti freeze leak,mine was leaking and then running down the engine to the oil pan then running along the pan to the rear of engine then to the ground,the water pump is an easy fix...