Ok on top of all the other things that I'm fighting with right now (house got sold, moving into an apartment, sudden oil leak, funky idle, rear end making noise, etc....) I now have low oil pressure. The guage used to sit just under the first mark at idle and just a hair under halfway up at 2800-3000 rpms. Now it hardly moves up at idle and sits almost right on the first mark at 2800-3000 rpms.

So is my leaking rear main causing the lower oil pressure? I'm going to have to drop the rig off somewhere to get the main done since I'm working this weekend and the next weekend is my last one to move out of the house. The aprtment folks don't let you work on a rig in the parking lot.

Thank you.

 

oh no...your not gonna be able to work on ur rig in the parking lot!!! that REALLY sucks, but unless its like shooting oil out i dont think so??but i could be wrong

 

no a leaking rear main is not going to cause low oil pressure, unless enough oil leaks out and the level gets too low

the rear main is just an exteral seal; there's no oil pressure behind it. crank case pressure maybe, but that's eleviated with a properly working PCV system, which at the same rate has nothing to do with the oil pressure...


switched to a different oil weight recently? what weight are you using? how many miles on the motor?

 

I've had this weird low oil pressure thing since I bought my 22re 2 months ago. Its within spec at idle AFAIK, but once I cruise around for more than 30 minutes, it 96% of the time sits right at the handle of the "oil lamp" picture in the gauge. I know thats not in spec. Do you have any knocking at start-up? Mine knocks some, but it sounds more from the top of the engine so I dont think its main/rod bearings. Hows your oil pump, do you know? I'm also leaking oil, pretty quickly. I found one, front main seal. but idk if im burning some or not. Deff need to watch this thread.

 

junkers- what weight oil are you using? Considering you're in NM, I'd be using at least a 15w40 but probably a 20w50. A 5w30 like they want to use at Jiffy Lube and such is a bit too thin for the current ambient temps and tolerances our 'yotas have.

 

x2 on the heavier weight oil in warm weather. Try running a 20W50 in the summer months, switch over to a 10W30 in the colder months.

Here in coastal Cali, there is really no such thing as colder months. I only see snow when I want to drive to go look at it.

 

Switched to 10w40 Royal Purple full synthetic on the last oil change. 223,414 miles on the motor.

I have about 2 seconds of "slap" in the bottom end when I fire it up cold but that has always been there and the oil pressure was great up until I got the leak.

10w40 full synthetic RP. This leak just arrived out of nowhere and now I don't really have a place to work on it.


I can pull and spec the oil pump in just a few minutes and replace it pretty easy if it's out of specs. Right now though I'm concerned with being able to drive it like this.

 

Man that sucks...wheres the leak? Or is it just the rear main?

 

I think you found the cause of the leak right there....

 

x2...I saw synthetic and kinda grimaced...


oh, btw, sweet avatar! lol!

 

It took a second for it to register in my head but once it did... 212,414 miles on it and a switch to synth oil? yup. leeks... and oil pressure will read lower.


thanks.

 

Damn. Well it's just under 5000 miles since I changed it I guess I'll go back to dino oil and hope it stops.

Will the seal continue to leak after I go back to dino juice or is this something that just needs to be fixed? I hate to sound like a slacker but I really don't have the time or place to replace the rear main myself.

 

Well, again, it's not like it's holding back oil pressure. How's the pcv valve holding up? How bad is this leak? Is there like a "puddle" there when you go out to the truck? My only concern would be if there is a chance that oil could get into your clutch.

 

Another thing is once it starts leaking it may not stop...hopefully going back to reg oil (something a lil heaver) should help you out. Ok don't flame me here but maybe a little of that FTP oil leak stopper. It seemed to help out the crown vic with the same issue. still leaks but not as much.

 

The PCV valve is new. I actually replaced it thinking that it was plugged and had contributed to the leak. There are 5 or six drops of oil under the truck everytime I park it, my usual parking spot has a basketball sized puddle on it from the last month or so.

I'll try the FTP stuff and some 10w-40 dino just to get me by until I can either save some money to get this done or find a place that I can work on it.


Thanks again folks!

 

Sorry, computer geek got confused here...STP not FTP oops...

 

I was wondering what FTP was.

 

File Transfer Protocol

 

You could always put a bullet in it?

 

i would first change the oil filter if that hasnt been ruled out. a collapsed filter will definitely affect that problem ive had that happen to my small block malibu