Really bad oil leak

[fr7]

Hello guys, my 98 ranger 3.0, 4wd manual transmission has always leaked oil out of the pan gasket since I bought it a little over 2 years ago. At first it wasn't too bad but it has gotten worse. For the past 6 months or so I had to add about 1qt of oil or so every week. 2 weeks ago I checked it and it was barely touching the dipstick, I didn't have any oil so I used some of my buddy's oil out of his shop, which was a synthetic blend but that's all I could get at the moment. I put about 3qts in it, well next day my oil needle starting acting funny so I pulled over, checked the oil and it was empty. I drove it 1 mile, by the time I got to his shop the lifters were making noise. I put 1qt of Lucas leak stop and 3 of conventional oil and drove back home. Since then I'm losing 1qt a day and I don't like that, it seems to leak more when I'm driving at highway speeds, when it's parked it doesn't leak as bad.
Could the synthetic blend oil cause the leak to get worse? It's really hard to see where the leak/leaks are coming from because everything underneath it's covered with oil and dripping from everywhere. I was gonna replace just the pan gasket but I found out how much of a pain it can be and I have a feeling it might be leaking from somewhere else too.
I'm seriously thinking about driving a Ford minivan I bought for a spare and park the ranger, pull the motor out and replace every seal and gasket in it.
It's a great little truck besides the crazy oil leaks but i don't know if it's worth doing. Any suggestions, ideas, recommendations are welcome, I just don't want to keep spending more money on oil. Thanks everyone..

 

[sgtsandman]

Synthetic oil or synthetic blends can cause a leak to be worse because they clean everything in the engine better by removing build up conventional oil won't. Instead of replacing every seal all at once, it might be better to clean the engine real good and address each leak one at a time. Location dependent of course. A clean engine will greatly help you fix the actual problem(s) instead of just throwing unneeded parts and money at it. Plus it will run cooler and be more pleasurable to work on. Working on a greasy, nasty vehicle is miserable work.

 

[ericbphoto]

My first recommendation would be to get under there and clean everything off. Then drive it a bit. Then go under and see if you can pinpoint the leak. That's pretty big. There are a lot of "could be's". Could be pan gasket. Could be main seal. Could be pressure sender. Could be valve covers. Etc.

My pan gasket is actually coming out of place significantly in the front where it curves under the front crank seal. But I barely lose any oil at all. There's little to no pressure to push it out. A big leak is more likely to come from a place where the oil is under pressure. If you don't see much dripping on your driveway, then the leak may be more pronounced when the engine is running and under load. That is more likely main seals and possibly worn bearings.

 

[cbxer55]

Mine's had a small drip for years, assume it's from the oil pressure sensor since that is a known issue. I use Valvoline 20W-50 Max Life in it, been using that for the 18 years I've owned it. Never been a problem. Mine drips worse when shut off than it does when running though. Odd for sure. I can park it somewhere running, nothing. Shut the motor off, and it drips a little, then stops when the oil cools off. So, I just live with it. Don't even have to add oil in 3000 miles. Changed it in the summer last year, still at the top of the hash marks some 2000 miles later.

 

[91stranger]

I agree with above, get some degreaser and clean it to find out where exactly it is leaking. If you have to add oil to your truck then use high mileage oil. This is designed to help seals and stop leaks by making the seals more ply-able and expands the seals a little. I would use the high mileage over the synthetic.

 

[cbxer55]

Yeah, the Valvoline Max Life. When I first put it in after an oil change, the small leak I have actually goes away for about 1000 miles, before coming back as a small drip again.

 

[fr7]

Thanks everyone for the quick response. Today it was nice out here, around 40° or so. I took a closer look and it seems like it's not leaking out of the valve covers or the front seal, it looks to me like it's soaking oil wet from where the starter is all the way back. Someone mentioned his pan gasket is coming out of place, I looked and I think mine is doing the same thing, around a couple bolts looks like the gasket is split and pushing out. When I bought it the guy said he recently had someone put a new clutch in it and supposedly replace the pan gasket, I know they did the clutch because I know the guy and he gave me the invoices but I'm starting to doubt they replaced the gasket since it looks like an old cork/stiff type and looks to me like they just tightened the bolts a little to stop the leak, hence the split gasket around the bolts squeezing out.
It's gonna get cold again so I might wait for a better day to take it to a car wash and spray most of the oil off the bottom then wipe it down and try to track the leak. In the meantime I'll use heavier oil like you guys suggest. Thanks a lot, I will post back..

 

[91stranger]

You can easily over tighten the bolts on the pan which can cause more leaks than a bad gasket. I would suggest removing the pan, lay it on a flat workbench and lightly tap the bolt holes to where they are flat. I bet the were over tightened. Then I would either get a new gasket or a tube of blue RTV and seal it that way. I've never had any issues with the blue RTV on a oil gaskets. ive used it on a mustang gt v8 and on ranger pans, and rear end diffs. Works good if you use it properly. When you put the pan back on I would get the torque specs and torque them to specs. I'm sure you can find the specs on here or on google.

 

[fr7]

I noticed something weird today when I was driving. When I put it in neutral or being in gear with the clutch down the rpms will keep dropping slowly all the way down to the point to where if I won't keep my foot on the gas to maintain idle it will die, it didn't matter if i was coasting or stopped, obviously the oil needle will freak out if the idle was too low. So it did this for a few miles then it quit and hasn't happened since then.
I don't believe it has anything to do with leaking oil but I'm not sure anymore, I checked the oil after I parked for a while and it was still half way full, I don't know why it did that but it might be an unrelated problem..