Advice on this oil leak guys.. I fixed the valley pan leak and now I have this leak to deal with, just not sure of where/ what it might be .. Im saying rear main but behind the inspection cover the ring gear / converter is quite dry. The leak seems about half way up the block [both sides as you can see] and between the trans. the oil pump seems dry too.. all runs down and wet at the bottom , the leak is quite bad, will start dripping on the ground after a short run.



"Came too close to dying to stop living now!"

Do you have any pictures of the top of the engine?



Suggestions; Valve cover(s), distributor, missing bolts in spare bolt holes in heads (intake surface), cam plug (behind flexplate) oil galley plugs (behind flexplate), rear main... you already mentioned the valley pan. Could it be blowing back from the oil filter area? Probably others, can't think. Haven't had my coffee yet.

"The Master Cylinder"

Enjoying life at the beach in SOCAL

You can pretty much rule out the valley pan, it would not produce a steady drip while running, there just isn't that much liquid oil in that area.  This suggest a pressure leak, in the areas mentioned by Master Cylinder.  Now for an unfunny thought.  I have seen leakage of the head gaskets that oiled the sides of the block.  Improperly torqued heads, or mixed up head bolts can allow this, especially with shim gaskets.  The only oil to the heads are the rocker passages, and pinching off the overflow tubes increases the pressure in those passages.  With the shim gaskets, paths are available to allow this oil to migrate to the bottom edges of the heads.  Hope I'm wrong with this diagnosis.

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

If all else fails to locate your oil leak you can buy a " blacklight" and put a fluorescent yellow/green dye in the oil and pin point the source of your leak. Pete

Is the block, behind the heads dry? Take a look on the engine from above, to see if the distributor area is dry.

Túlio Lazzaroni "FORD", Florianópolis SC Brasil.

'74 Ford Galaxie 500 292 V8

'82 Ford Galaxie Landau 302 V8

'98 Chevrolet S10 4.3 V6

'01 Ford Focus 1.8 Zetec

 Valley pan , bolt holes, dissy gasket, all the top stuff is sealed now, nothing fresh from the head or back of head area, or spin on filter.  If you look at the pics this happened after a light run in traffic about half hour - 40 mins running, I degreased before I went so its as you see it, just above the oil pump level and on both sides is where is starts. Only a week ago I had the inspection plate[s] off there was oil at the bottom [as you can imagine] but the "drive/ flex plate" was not wet, I tighten the bolts on it as some where loose. AGHhh!! The oil pump doesn't have a seal that sits up in the block ??



"Came too close to dying to stop living now!"

Do you have the gasket between the block and the oil pump?

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

Dissy gasket? No seal or gasket is used.Dist is installed metal to metal. 

  

My distributor has a rubber o ring that seals it, but I never had a leak there. By the simptoms looks like the oil is comming from behing the flexplate.

Túlio Lazzaroni "FORD", Florianópolis SC Brasil.

'74 Ford Galaxie 500 292 V8

'82 Ford Galaxie Landau 302 V8

'98 Chevrolet S10 4.3 V6

'01 Ford Focus 1.8 Zetec

Its only a fine gasket, And even when I had the other dissy with the O ring there was one on it . The new [Cardone re-co] came with it, thought they all had one.. Im sure there was one in my rebuild gasket kit too..?   I have had my fingers all round that area and with a mirror too, not leaking around there and more.



"Came too close to dying to stop living now!"