Engine seals.

[DNewell]

Hey guys, I've got a buddy that was having some oil leaks on his 03 CTD. He took it into a local dealer and they told him it was the oil pan gasket, valve cover seal, and the crank case seal. I'm just curious to find out if anyone else thinks that with this many seals all of the sudden starting to leak, would this potentially be indicative of a head gasket starting to puke? I know the oiling system is under pressure when the motor is running, but I would think that the gaskets and seals would be designed to run a little longer than what they have. Luckily his engine is still under warranty, so it's getting fixed for just his deductible, but it just seems strange.

 

[rashwor]

Sounds strange. Dealer may be milking the warranty doing unnecessary work.

 

[Partyat33]

You have to find and fix oil leaks one at a time (generally). Trace it up to the highest point. Find it fix it. Then see if there is another. I think the dealer is full of it. I don't know that much about the 03 buts thats too many seals to fix in one job.

 

[DNewell]

Yeah, I just think that my buddy is getting the run around.

 

[DPKetchum]

Oil pan leaks on these motors(any of them,12 or 24 valve) is just about unheard of. I can imagine the rocker box leaking and MAYBE just MAYBE a front or rear main. Rocker box has been fairly common. I think I'd clean it really good,add some oil leak dye and black light in after a few days of normal driving.

 

[MickeyMiller]

I had a slight accumulation of oil on the driver's side rear of the oil pan at about 50K miles. Brought it to the attention of the Service Manager while in for an oil change. They wanted to schedule an appointment to fix! I tightened the oil pan bolts slightly... 35K miles later, still no more leak. Cummins pans can leak but it doesn't take much to fix.

 

[Prairie Dog]

On my 03 the eng breather gadget under the plastic valve cover was leaking and made it look like oil was coming from all the places you describe. They replaced the whole assembly twice and on the third occurance, DC updated the part by adding a clamp (or clamps).

It hasn't leaked since.



Scotty

 

[cclark746]

same thing on my crank case oil pan and head all leaking 03 same on one of my friends 03 not enough to leave a spot on the concrete but enought to notice