Oil somehow leaking into the cab?

[Fords4Us]

I have a new issue with my '83 Ranger. We've had a moderate oil leak for awhile now, mostly around the intake manifold and valve cover gaskets. It is messy but hasn't affected performance very much, and we just haven't gotten around to fixing it yet. But when I went to get into the cab today, I noticed what looked like motor oil had dripped down from behind the dashboard, between the instrument cluster and the radio. The drip landed on the driver side of the hump where the shift lever is, and then ran down to the floor boards. It was not a huge amount of oil; not enough to form a puddle of any kind. But how in the world would I be getting oil past the firewall to begin with, such that it would be dripping down through the dashboard and into the cab? As best I can figure, it started leaking after I last drove. I'll be taking the dashboard cover off this weekend and starting to trace out the leak as best I can, but if anyone has any ideas I'd love to hear them. Thanks.

 

[MikeG]

Are you sure it isn't anti-freeze?

 

[Fords4Us]

It was thick and black, and felt/smelled like motor oil. But that does bring up the possibility that oil is getting into the coolant. I'll check the coolant again tomorrow and see if it's the normal lime green color in the radiator. I'll also check the oil and see if that looks milky, or off in terms of color, thickness or texture. Hate to think that I've got a leak now where oil and coolant are mixing; none of those possibilities are happy to think about. Here's hoping it's something else.

 

[Uncle Gump]

Do you have an aftermarket mechanical oil pressure gauge?

 

[Fords4Us]

As far as we know it's the stock electrical gauge. I know that mechanical oil gauges have a small tube of oil coming off the engine and going to the gauge itself, such that the pressure can be measured directly. Our '74 Chevy truck was built that way. To the best of my knowledge, the Ranger's original electrical gauge has never been swapped out for something else. I suppose just to be safe I need to pull the instrument cluster out and visually verify that we have a wire going to that gauge, rather than a tube filled with oil.

 

[Uncle Gump]

If it is in the cluster... it's certainly an electric gauge.

Have you check the blinker fluid?


Sorry... that was bad... I will go back to my corner now.

 

[Fords4Us]

Humor is OK at this stage of the game. We don't have a garage or even a roof over that truck; it sleeps outside and we have imminent rain tonight with temps just a bit above the snow threshold. Otherwise I'd be out there right now tearing the dashboard apart to find the source. Instead I'm inside fretting about whether this is mild or severe or somewhere in between. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get some answers. Not exactly what I had in mind for ringing in the new year, but duty calls....

 

[Uncle Gump]

Well to me... it just doesn't make sense. There isn't a single thing under your dash that will leak motor onto the transmission tunnel. If you aren't overheating... blown head gasket and oil into the water jacket is a slim possibility.

A heater core leak would most likely fog your windshield when you turn the defroster on. and those typically leak down the floor boards behind the glove box.

I would take a deep breath and approach it with a clear mind and not thinking the worse.

 

[Roert42]

My first thought would be I spilled it there somehow. If you already have a moderate oil leak is it safe to say you carry around a quart of oil behind the seat?

Wipe it up, and see if it comes back. My 2c

 

[Fords4Us]

Thanks for the ideas and the deep breath. Agreed it doesn't help to start thinking of the worst case scenario. There are just so few possible sources. One of the oddities of this situation is that I've barely driven it this year; with the covid lockdowns I just didn't have reason to go anywhere. If we did have driving to do, we usually took the newer truck. So it's been 2 months since I drove it anywhere. I was getting in the cab today simply to start the engine and verify the battery was still good and strong. I know I didn't spill anything there when I last drove it. I was just shuttling it from one parking area to another as we moved some heavy equipment through the driveway. I didn't top off the oil that particular trip either. And I know the drip streaks weren't there when I parked it. So it occurred immediately after the last time I drove it. Hopefully tomorrow I'll have more info.

 

[Shran]

Is it coming up through the speedometer cable and somehow getting sprayed around?

 

[Fords4Us]

Good afternoon all, Happy New Year, and we have a tentative explanation for what was leaking into the cab. And it's a relatively easy thing to fix.

First, it wasn't the big baddie possibility: a crack or leak somewhere which was allowing the oil and coolant to mingle. Whew! The oil looked normal, the coolant looked normal, the truck fired up just fine, ran smoothly, and the leak didn't accelerate at all while the truck was running. In fact we figured out that the leak is very, very slow - maybe a drip or two a day. When I checked the oil, I suddenly remembered that we'd changed the oil right before the covid lockdown in March, and I haven't driven it even 20 miles since then. The oil on the dipstick looked absolutely fresh, that golden hue as it comes out of the bottle. No milky appearance at all. The coolant also looked a normal shade of watery lime green, no dark discoloration in that either. Compare that to what we are (still) getting in the cab - thick, black, stinky stuff.

Then my husband pointed out that the cab itself seemed damp. We do live in the PNW, it's the middle of the wet season, we haven't driven the truck in months and it lives outside. All that is a recipe for condensation. And then finally, the last piece of the puzzle became obvious when I saw a dark little furry shape scurry across the floormats as I was checking other things. I sniffed the leaking gunk, and much to my disgust, picked up a whiff of .............. rodent urine.

So what we think is happening, is the truck has been sitting closed up long enough, that rodents moved in at some point. And the truck is sitting on a slight incline towards the driver's side, such that rain will occasionally seep into the passenger side door frame, and possibly around the windshield. That water sometimes ends up on the floorboards but I wouldn't be surprised if some gets behind the dash too. Combine that with the occasional rodent taking a leak wherever he/she happens to be standing, and 38 years' worth of dust and grime and dirt building up behind the dashboard cover, and voila. Thick wet black liquid that pools against any given barrier behind the dashboard cover, then drips along the edge. Yum.

So we're going to pull off the dashboard covers, clean as much as we can, put mothballs in the cab to drive out the rodents, and figure out how to store the truck under cover. Or maybe just buy a cover for it. And get on the ball to finally get our known leaks dealt with once and for all. But thankfully, the truck seems to be mechanically sound. Just watch out for those <expletive inserted here> rodents.

 

[duffy]

Costco sells those tent type enclosures for parking vehicles in......I lived in Burlington, WA for many years and I had one along side the house for working on whatever vehicle needed it at the time. The tent material lasted almost 10 years and then I recovered the frame with used steel roofing material. That lasted another 5-6 years before a monster wind came up and twisted it all to hell. Went to recycling from there, but I sure got my money's worth.

 

[adsm08]

That heater duct work and box are easy to remove once the dash is out. I'd get them out and clean them well while you are in there.

I mean, dash removal only takes about 20 minutes, but still, while you are there.