Oil splashing out

[swynx]

Few weekends ago I went up to the mountains to pull a buddy out. Hooked onto him from the front row hook and gave it a few good pulls.

Everytime I hit the end of the recovery strap oil would splash out onto the exhaust and leave a puddle under the pickup. Probably made 8 pulls and lost a quart of oil.

When I had the trans out last time I changed the oil pump and rear main seal, but I just lifted the engine enough to get the pan off. So I didn't have very good access to put rtv on the pan edges.

I'm assuming the back of the pan is what's leaking, but I would think it would leak real bad when it was running, but it doesn't.

I didn't put rtv around the rear main, some people do some people don't.

Any ideas?

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[91stranger]

i'd say if you had the pan off then that may be the cause. If the pan bolts were over tightened then it will warp the edge of the pan causing spots that dont make a good seal (even with RTV). i would remove the pan and tap it straight with a correctly sized hammer and a good flat spot. And it wont leak while the truck is running or driving because the fluid is relatively settled and shouldnt be filled higher than the pan gasket. When you are jerking on a stuck truck then that momentum is sloshing the fluid around causing it to rise above the pan.

 

[adsm08]

Warping the aluminum oil pan on a 4.0 is unlikely, but I agree with the rest of the assessment. The oil pan gasket is about the only thing that makes sense.

 

[91stranger]

Warping the aluminum oil pan on a 4.0 is unlikely, but I agree with the rest of the assessment. The oil pan gasket is about the only thing that makes sense.

torque specs are there for a reason. you can easily warp aluminum pans just by over torqueing bolts. I'd say about 90 percent of men don't read torque specs when doing motor/tranny/drive train work. Could be the fact he used RTV sealant as well. if you don't use it properly then it will not cure properly.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

torque specs are there for a reason. you can easily warp aluminum pans just by over torqueing bolts. I'd say about 90 percent of men don't read torque specs when doing motor/tranny/drive train work. Could be the fact he used RTV sealant as well. if you don't use it properly then it will not cure properly.

Cast aluminum doesn't generally bend like a steel oil pan, it just breaks.

 

[adsm08]

Cast aluminum doesn't generally bend like a steel oil pan, it just breaks.

^That^

torque specs are there for a reason. you can easily warp aluminum pans just by over torqueing bolts. I'd say about 90 percent of men don't read torque specs when doing motor/tranny/drive train work. Could be the fact he used RTV sealant as well. if you don't use it properly then it will not cure properly.

Automotive grade aluminum is very low grade. It isn't refined very well because it doesn't have to be, and so it is very brittle. It will not bend or warp, it will just break. The fact that it doesn't have any give to bend with is what makes it so attractive as a material to make oil pans from It is very light weight and very rigid, so it won't do exactly what you are saying it does.


Aircraft aluminum, and the stuff they make radiators and siding out of are higher grade with a different production process than the cast. It makes it much more flexible.

 

[91stranger]

haha, I've been thinking of the trans pan the whole time lol