oil leak help

[StangLou]

Ok guys here is the situation. I hop in the 5.0 to run to the store to get some new Silverstar bulbs for my '03. I need gas first so I pull in and fill her up. As I start it back up, my check oil light came on. My house is only a few blocks down so I pulled into the driveway and jacked it up.
Underneath it appears to be leaking from everywhere The K member has oil on it, the front main has oil droplets falling from it, and the rear main had an oil drop on it, but it never fell the 20-30 minutes I was under the car. The weird thing is that there is no signs when looking into the engine bay of oil leaking. Another weird thing is that on the drivers side of the rack and pinion, there is a lot of oil leaking from it 2 big quarter size drops fell while I was under it. I saw no signs of anything from up top leaking down on it.
Last time I had this problem was when I bought the car. Front main seal had to be replaced and the moron who had it before me took the heads off and when he put them back on, he ran an oil line so the head would not seal correctly. Needless to say it poured oil, but was an easy fix. It ran fine and I didnt have any trouble with it from '98-02 which is when I bought my 03. It has been in storage though from 02 until about 4 months ago.
Any ideas on what exactly could be leaking to coat from the K member back to the cats in oil? Could the seals just be shot from sitting for 2 years? Any help is appreciated guys

 

[v8only]

since the car is so new, my guess would be a leak from the oil filter or drain plug. hose all the grease off with engine cleaner, then observe

 

[Marks5.0!]

im confused in your post you say you hopped in your 5.0 yet your sig only shows a 03 mustang.

i had a similar situation the oil pressure sending unit developed a crack and would spray oil everywhere but only when it was running. i fired up the car went to the store about a mile away and when i came back out the check oil light was on, went home and put her up on stands and oil was everywhere but couldnt really see where it was coming from. Oil level never changed while it was on stands so i grabbed a couple quarts and topped it off and fired it back up and oil was just spraying from that sending unit. When i pulled it off there was a very fine hairline crack in it.

 

[StangLou]

I was afraid I might confuse people . My sig just shows the '03 since thats primarily what I work on now, but I also have a '90 LX 5.0 hatch that was my first Stang. Its the 5.0 thats got the oil problem, not the '03.

Hey Mark, thanks for the reply. Where is this sending unit at? It sounds like a very similar situation. The entire bottom from Rack and Pinion back to the cats has a coating of oil on it, but I have no visible leaks from anywhere that I can see. Only difference is that my oil level is changing on the dipstick. Oil was changed 1600 miles ago. I got my first check oil light last week. It was showing about 1/2 full. I put over half a quart in it and it seemed to go back to the full line which I thought was odd. It was on pretty level ground so I trusted it. Ive driven it about 5 times since then and the check oil light came on again this am. Again same situation on the dipstick, it said its only about half way full.

Im going to degrease the entire underside tomorrow am. Ill fire it up when its on the stands and see if I can spot it blowing out from anywhere.

 

[Marks5.0!]

sending unit is right in front of the oil filter.
You might have a tube coming outta the block then the sending unit screws into that (most common) or you could have an odd ball one like me where the sending unit is threaded right into the block

 

[StangLou]

Thanks again
Im hoping this will be the culprit!!! I can stand a few drops here and there from the front main or the rear main, but its not a pleasant feeling to crawl under your car and see it dripping from almost everywhere!

My worry is that something might be causing a pressure build up which is making it spray out when its driven. Im going to have to start it up and let it sit for a few tomorrow am and see if any pressure builds up, lets hope not

 

[2002BLGT]

hey stanglou , 5.0s are famous also for the intake leaking oil at the front and especially the back where the factory cork piece sealed the intake to the block between the heads , might wanna pull the upper and lower intake and put some intake gaskets on , also wipe the pan clean around the front timing seal behind the balancer they have a tendency to leak here to if you have some miles or the balancer has a slight wobble to it , it will cause a leak there too .... just some things to check , sending unit is first to check though , back of intake is next get up on something with a flashlight and look over the engine ontop of the bellhousing you will be able to tell right away .....

 

[StangLou]

Yeah I had a bad pressure build up in the car my senior year at college that was causing some oil to blow out. A buddy of mine said there is a screen behind and kinda wedged under the upper intake. I hunted for it and found it, pulled out the screen and it was almost a solid chunk. I replaced the screen, but forgot all about it until now. That fixed my first pressure/oil problem, maybe its blocked again Ill check all these things that I can in the am before I head in to work. Nothing like coming into work all greasy and having them look at me funny .
If all else fails I only work Mon next week and have off the rest of the week just to relax with the g/f. Ill definately tear into the car during all the down time from work.
Thanks for the help guys Keep it coming!

 

[StangLou]

Ok, I cleaned the underneath and engine compartment as well as I could this am. It looks amazing better, but I am more confused now that I ever was about this leak. After everything was cleaned off and I whipped some areas dry that I thought would be suspect, I started it up. I let it run for about 30 minutes. I saw nothing running down the bell housing, or coming from anywhere in the engine compartment. Crank pulley is fine, and the oil sending unit appears ok. I looked underneath and saw a drop of fresh oil fall. I crawled under and found 2 culprits. One is the rack and pinion , the other is a line that runs into the engine from the oil pan. The rack and pinion is the main problem though. Within 20 minutes I had a softball size puddle formed and you can watch it drip from the sleeve on the drivers side. There is no where above it leaking. It was dry as can be on top. My only thought is maybe its attached to the front of the engine somehow and a seal has gone bad causing oil to leak into the rack??? Any ideas about this guys??? Any of you heard of this? I took some pics with the digital camera. Ill try and post them tonight to let you see the actual problems Im talking about.

 

[StangLou]

Here are some pics from this am...

The blueish line is the one with the oil coming from it. Its going into the oil pan from the side.

Different angle

top view of rack & pinion... nothing that i saw leaking onto it

side view, you can actually see a drop of fresh oil

any ideas???

 

[whtpny]

Did you check your power steering fluid? Maybe I am all wrong but dirty power steering fluid can look like oil too. Also find out what the line going into the pan is and see if that is the problem too.

 

[2002BLGT]

might be wrong but that looks like the oil level sensor , it can leak just like the sending unit