i pulled my motor out bout a week ago. oil everywhere. clutch is fryed. the rear main seal doesnt look like it was leaking. inside bell housing fully covered in old grimy oil. the block however is covered as well and oil pan. now i know wherever its leaking it usually sprays toward the rear of the truck. but the oil is all the way out front of the pan. i dont think it is the front main oil pump seal either. what im asking is can the oil pan leak badly and be drawn to the weeping hole and fill the bellhousing? is this a dumb question?

 

To answer your question, anything is possible... If the oil leaked from pan area and got behing the dust shield... But.... I would lean more towards possibly rear main seal housing? Not sure if that's the technical name for it, but it has a gasket also. Or valve cover leaking down? Valve cover half moon gaskets? Front crank seal? Head gasket possibly?

Just throwing out things to look at

 

With the engine out, you've lost your most important diagnostic tool. For me, the ONLY way to find an oil leak is to get the engine sparkling clean and then run it. Gravity is not your friend; you could have nothing more serious than a leak in the valve cover gasket, and it would head downhill and coat everything.

If I was in your spot (engine out), I would replace the rear main seal for no other reason than it will be really hard to replace once you button it all back up.

 

valve covers were leaking for sure. sorry, i forgot to mention that. going to change those. but would that coat the inside of the bellhousing?

 

I bent my oil pan trying to take it off, and when I put it back on a little bent, it made it look like oil was around the back off the block by the rear main seal, but nothing got on th clutch.

 

I can't speak from experience, but the bell housing is not "sealed" to the engine. What is to keep oil, running down the back of the engine, from just slipping under the bellhousing where it touches the engine?

You could clean up the engine really well, put it back in, then run it to find all the leaks. Fix them one at a time until it stops leaking. If you do have a leak in the rear main, you'll have to pull the engine out again. Compare that with just fixing the rear main "on spec" now that it's easy to do.

Maybe not "easy," but if you do it now you'll be good for another 100,000mi.

 

If a 22r valve cover is leaking bad enough it can find its way into the bellhousing.... however have you considered the possible input shaft seal on the front of the transmission behind the throw-out(release) bearing to be seeping trans axle gear oil?

Oil pan leaking on a 22r should not find its way into the bell housing... unless its a pretty large leak... then i could see some of it blowing by into the trans axle...

x2 on reaplceing rear main seal while servicing clutch.

 

i have thought of this but i dont believe it is gear oil. just seeing all the oil over the block and on the pan, im figuring thats what it is

i am by the way changing all of this before it goes in along with alot of other things. after this post i am actually starting my build thread.