Found my oil leak. Not what I thought..

Last 2 times I went out, there was oil in the bilge when I pulled the plug. Not sure what I was thinking the 1st time.. Maybe it would go away.

Cranked motor at the house and found oil dripping from the rear of the oil pan. Just like a rear main seal I thought.

I pulled the motor last night. and removed the oil pan to find that I had a Split Rear Main seal. It was really hot. Figured that I would continue in the morning and order parts that I would need from Skidim.

I Decided to clean the oil pan this morning and found that I had a large pin hole in the oil pan just below the bolt lip and right above where I had the dripping oil.

I Had my son weld that hole and the other 3 thin rusted areas. There was melted plastic on the pan (I was told that the plastic was there from the dealer). The plastic had allowed the pan to rust.

Anyway, cleaned the pan, reinstalled the pan and put the motor back in. Went skiing this afternoon with my son and no more oil leak. Just wanted to share that it is not always a rear main seal or oil pan gasket.
I got lucky..

After I took the pan off of the pumpkin, I bumped it into the workbench(just barely), and it knocked the drain fitting right on through! I put a lot of paint on it and will be careful not to scratch it.

Gary S wrote: Pete, our mechanic at work has replaced just about every Ford oil pan in our garage due to rust outs!

I'm sure the overall condition and age of the truck fleet doesn't help ether. The guy I got the Tique from was the regional (based in Indy) fleet manager for Ameritech. I remember him telling me that his latest project was changing out the graphics on all the trucks. He was torn as to this being a good idea or not. On one hand, the new vinyl was going to be tough to put over all the rust on the bodies but on the other hand if he could get it to stick it would hold them together!!