Slight oil leak. Someone help a newby?

[CCMH]

Hi all, hopefully someone can help me with this one. I am so new to this and a little embarrased that I don't know which part of the engine this is, but hopefully I will soon!

We arrived home last night from a trip to seattle, and after checking my engine upon return I found the following leak coming from what looks like a seal from a part that sticks out of the back, right side lower, of the engine. I posted two pictures, one of the part, and the othr of the slight seal leak.

Hopefully someone can tell me which part this is, and what is entailed to repair.

I love this group and all your knowledge, (especially Jon's). Thanks for your help!

Curtis

[JIM CHALOUPKA]

Curtis that gizmo you wonder about is your power steering pump.

Jumping right in for a long range guess at Stump The Chump, my guess is you have a crankshaft seal leak and not from the power steering pump at all. Why, well because from the pictures I see that there is dried oil and dirt to the left of the casting numbers and also to the right of them and not on the numbers themselves because they are on a plane parallel to the oil spray coming from the viscous damper and will not catch the oil as will the surfaces perpendicular to that spray path. (the wet oil collects road dust and dirt and accumulates until you see it)

It seems you have had some longer trips thus more of a wet oil/dirt accumulation or the leak is getting worse and you noticed it. Don't remember where you are in your coach ownership, ie time of ownership, if yours is a recent purchase the seller might have degreased the engine prior to sale and you are just now seeing a leak that has been there for some time.

Clean it off with rags and then brake cleaner or similar and inspect the area right after your next use, to determine how bad things are.

JIM :rolleyes:

[CCMH]

Thanks Jim. We bought the coach at the beginning of August, and drove it from NC to California. Just finished a trip to and from Seattle. We have put on about 7000 miles since ownership.

The previous owner took very good care of the coach, and did NOT have the engine degreased, as to show me that there were no material leaks. Everything seems to be operating fine. I have to say after looking at the area where you are talking about, it doesnt seem that there is any new or or visible wet spots on the crank shaft seal. The top portion of the steering pump where it connects to the block is wet however. Not too wet mind you, but is new oil nevertheless. I will follow your advise on the cleaning portion to see if anything rears its head.

If it IS the steering pump.... any advice? Looks like it wont be too much labor involved, as the pump seems easy to get on and off. If it is the crank shaft.... any advice there????

Thanks

[Jon Wehrenberg]

The front crankshaft seal is behind the harmonic balancer, so my guess is the seal behind the power steering pump is leaking.

If a seal isn't available from Detroit Diesel it seems like it would be easy to cut a new one. Some leaks are not worth the effort if they are modest, and sometimes a squirt of brake cleaner at every oil change takes care of the small ones. When they start to drip or get bigger then they are worth fixing.

[truk4u]

Welcome aboard Curtis... I assume the mounting bolts didn't loosen up on the pump?

[CCMH]

Havent tried to tighten them yet, but will do that first thing in the morning. Thanks Tom!

Great advice Jon, will keep you posted on this.

[Will Garner]

Curtis,

Get the torque specs for the bolts and use a torque wrench. If you just go out and put some muscle on it you might have a bigger problem than a small oil leak. That's my two cents worth.

On a trip back in 1972, with my 1968 Road Runner, I went from Raleigh NC (Home), to Boston MA (Sister in Law's Wedding), to Daytona Beach (Firecracker 400 race in July) and on the way back to Raleigh my thermostat failed and I began overheating. I pulled over, got the tools out, took off the thermostat housing, threw away the thermostat, and then hammered a new gasket from the side of a pretzel box. I put it all back together, topped off the radiator with some SC drainage ditch black swamp water filtered through a tee shirt, cranked it up and drove the rest of the way back to Raleigh. It was a couple of weeks before I put a new thermostat in and I did not experience a leak during that time.