BadBird
June 11th, 2011, 11:37 PM
As some of you know I have been frustrated by a minor oil leak at the back of the engine. Just enough to leave a couple of drops each night. I figured the leak is at the rear main since I could see residue on the aft side of the plate betwen the block and the bell housing. I pulled the tranny and it looked like the oil was coming from the gap between the crank cap and the block. I dried it all off and lowered the oil pan. I cleaned and dried the block, pan and gasket (one piece rubber). Sealed the aft half of the pan only, I can't drop the front half very low to get access to work on it without pulling the engine. So I applied permatex to all sufaces and torqued the pan bolts. I got a whole lot of squeeze out at the area where I thought the oil might be coming from. I also did a search on oil leaks for ford 302's at the oil pan and almost all said to seal that area before installing the pan. I guess I learn everything the hard way. Attached picture shows the squeeze out. Hope that does the trick and also my neighbor is going to come and remove and replace the rear main seal to remove any doubts about that leaking. He was a ford mechanic for years. Larry