Okay, so about four weeks ago now, my truck started leaking oil. It runs just fine without spilling a drop, but as soon as the ignition is off, it begins to drip from the back right corner of the engine somewhere under the intake manifold.

I have replaced the valve cover gasket and PCV valve recently, doing the VC with RTV and ensuring its properly sealed. There is no oil leaking from the gasket.

I can't locate the darn leak, so I took pictures. Hope some of you guys can help a little better with pictures this time.

Here are the BEFORE pictures.

The first picture is looking down from above the engine at the two cooling pipes that get dripped and sprayed on after the engine is shut down.

The second is backed off a little so you can get your bearings. The red circles show roughly where the oil is coming from, but where I can't get my eyes on it.

the third is from below the engine, looking up through the removed starter motor access panel at the bottom of the same pipe.

 

These three are after the leak. The oil sprays out in a few drops on the last shudder from the engine as it dies and the spray lands on the two cooling pipes under the intake and drip down to the elbow above the starter.

When driving, the fan blows the oil all over the right side of the engine bay making it impossible to track.

Is there anyone who can tell me what openings are above these cooling pipes that will spray oil as soon as the engine is shut off?

The red circles are showing the general area of where the leak originates, but where I can't see it.

 

Would help to identify the motor you have.

 

Its a 22RE. Says it in the thread title.

 

Thought that would have been information enough yeah.

Its a fuel-injected 22RE.

 

my guess would be the little half-moon gasket/plug on the back of the head

EDIT: adding a pic form my build.

although it doesn't show the half-moon plug, it goes back here as a mirror image as the one on the front. I honestly do NOT know what that black plate is for on the back, but I do know I had a gasket for it included in my gasket pack.

 

Sorry about not noting the engine model earlier

The black plate 92TOY shows is the EGR cooler, no oil goes through it, though there is a gasket.

My money is also on the half moon. It's part of the valve cover fel pro gasket kit.

 

That picture of the back side of the head

Think he ruled out the valve cover seals already in the other thread?

Sounds and looks like it's going to be spitting out of one of the EGR orifices. Oily plugs, excessive oil consumption, liberally wet EGR tube(Top right corner of 92 toys' pic, pull that and see if it's wet).

When the engine shuts off the EGR has a bit of pressure, the intake is all shut off and it is finding a way out. So something might be loose in the EGR pipes, and there might be a bit of a clog in the exhaust system.

Grab a new set of exhaust nuts for the down pipe, disconnect it and see what happens. If you don't get the spray something is plugd up and needs replaced along with the EGR gasket.

 

I do have to replace some dry rotted hoses on the EGRV, so I'll be getting to that shortly. Had a buddy suggest the intake gasket. Its leaking from around that area, could that be a potential culprit?

 

Don't think there are any oil passages in the lower intake manifold, just the coolant ones.

yeah no oil by passes or anything, here are a couple pics.

http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...67gB-qQBDaXNoA
http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/4...onspics066.jpg

Just in case it's not obvious, there shouldn't be oil in your exhaust or EGR. If it doesn't make a mess all over the floor with the exhaust downpipe disconnected it's going to be coming from somewhere else like a crack in the head. Don't think there is anywhere it would have a "venturi" like suction going on to be sucking it in from say a valve cover leak.

 

The half-moon does sound reasonable. Did you use rtv on the loop of where the half-moon meets the cylinder head

 

Yes I did. Those pieces were my first worry. They were RTV'd and allowed to set before I bolted the VC back on and gave it all ample time to dry. I checked all around the gasket seal/semi circles after 24 hours and minimal driving and it doesn't leak from there.

 

+1 on the intake manifold not having oil passages..I am in the middle of a HG/Head replacement and took all that apart...it's just coolant and air passages on the intake.

 

Did you ever find a solution to this? Mine seems to me leaking from the same spot and it is NOT the half moon or VC gasket

 

A solution would be nice. I hate dead end threads, people ask for help get answers and then disappear. Even if it was never figured out at least post up.

 

I found the solution for my situation. I took out each bolt one at a time from the EGR valve and coated them with RTV, back on and no more oil leak. 1 or 2 of these go through the head into the oil ports and I could see where there was dried and cracked factory sealant on the threads.

 

Solution was a small bolt at the bottom of the EGR valve mount that had fallen out.

I found it in a pocket of mud on top of my UCA where the pressure washer missed it. Pulled the bolt out, put two and two together and put a little loc-tite on the threads and cranked it back in. Oil leak VANQUISHED.