Identify The Origin Of The Leak

Kodiak450 · November 9, 2009

Was out shopping today for baby furniture and noticed what i though was a light smoke coming from my truck when accelerating on the highway (almost looked like a very fine mist of dust) and noticed this twice, then kept looking in the sideviews and it went away.So went to a baby r us store, was in then for like 20-30 minutes then when i got back to the truck saw a considerable amount of oil under my truck. Crawled under and saw a progressive leak occuring, wasn't coming from filter or drain bolt it was coming from front of the engine on ds. So went into Walmart and picked up some syn 5w 30 cause computer flashed check engine oil. So I am wondering about the oil cooler, there are a couple of lines that appear are coming out from that area in the front ds under the alternator and was wondering maybe they rotted out cause the road salt has done a number over the years in that area. Is this where this oil cooler would have lines coming out? Or maybe something down there has now have a bad gasket and causing oil to leak out. I'm kinda hoping it is not because of a rotted line there, cause warranty will most likely not cover it. Blown head gasket, need a new engine, thats all fine and great with me, warranty covers all that. I'm just hoping it's something major and will be covered by warranty. I will know more tomorrow as I dropped off the truck at the shop tonight so they can get on it first thing in the morning. Glad this happened before a snow storm or I would be cursing left and right.

So if anyone knows what exactly this part is in the lower front of the ds of my truck, feel free to chime in. I', thinking the oil cooler part?

JoJoJim · November 9, 2009

Was out shopping today for baby furniture and noticed what i though was a light smoke coming from my truck when accelerating on the highway (almost looked like a very fine mist of dust) and noticed this twice, then kept looking in the sideviews and it went away.So went to a baby r us store, was in then for like 20-30 minutes then when i got back to the truck saw a considerable amount of oil under my truck. Crawled under and saw a progressive leak occuring, wasn't coming from filter or drain bolt it was coming from front of the engine on ds. So went into Walmart and picked up some syn 5w 30 cause computer flashed check engine oil. So I am wondering about the oil cooler, there are a couple of lines that appear are coming out from that area in the front ds under the alternator and was wondering maybe they rotted out cause the road salt has done a number over the years in that area. Is this where this oil cooler would have lines coming out? Or maybe something down there has now have a bad gasket and causing oil to leak out. I'm kinda hoping it is not because of a rotted line there, cause warranty will most likely not cover it. Blown head gasket, need a new engine, thats all fine and great with me, warranty covers all that. I'm just hoping it's something major and will be covered by warranty. I will know more tomorrow as I dropped off the truck at the shop tonight so they can get on it first thing in the morning. Glad this happened before a snow storm or I would be cursing left and right.

So if anyone knows what exactly this part is in the lower front of the ds of my truck, feel free to chime in. I', thinking the oil cooler part?

JoJoJim · November 9, 2009

Was out shopping today for baby furniture and noticed what i though was a light smoke coming from my truck when accelerating on the highway (almost looked like a very fine mist of dust) and noticed this twice, then kept looking in the sideviews and it went away.So went to a baby r us store, was in then for like 20-30 minutes then when i got back to the truck saw a considerable amount of oil under my truck. Crawled under and saw a progressive leak occuring, wasn't coming from filter or drain bolt it was coming from front of the engine on ds. So went into Walmart and picked up some syn 5w 30 cause computer flashed check engine oil. So I am wondering about the oil cooler, there are a couple of lines that appear are coming out from that area in the front ds under the alternator and was wondering maybe they rotted out cause the road salt has done a number over the years in that area. Is this where this oil cooler would have lines coming out? Or maybe something down there has now have a bad gasket and causing oil to leak out. I'm kinda hoping it is not because of a rotted line there, cause warranty will most likely not cover it. Blown head gasket, need a new engine, thats all fine and great with me, warranty covers all that. I'm just hoping it's something major and will be covered by warranty. I will know more tomorrow as I dropped off the truck at the shop tonight so they can get on it first thing in the morning. Glad this happened before a snow storm or I would be cursing left and right.

So if anyone knows what exactly this part is in the lower front of the ds of my truck, feel free to chime in. I', thinking the oil cooler part?

JoJoJim · November 9, 2009

You didn't say if the smoke is coming out of the exhaust pipes or the engine compartment. The two lines are cooling lines and do tend to leak. On mine the oil ended up mostly on the skid plate and then on the drive way. I replaced them myself as dealer wanted $400.00 and the hoses were about $75.00 for both. It is not pleasant as the little wire clips on the engine have to be installed basically by feel and is a pain. But I am obviously not sure that is what is causing the smoke. Have you checked the front timing cover?

Kodiak450 · November 9, 2009

You didn't say if the smoke is coming out of the exhaust pipes or the engine compartment. The two lines are cooling lines and do tend to leak. On mine the oil ended up mostly on the skid plate and then on the drive way. I replaced them myself as dealer wanted $400.00 and the hoses were about $75.00 for both. It is not pleasant as the little wire clips on the engine have to be installed basically by feel and is a pain. But I am obviously not sure that is what is causing the smoke. Have you checked the front timing cover?

Smoke was coming from under the engine, there was oil all over the bottom area where the sheild is. also was some oil on the under part of the pan (but am thinking it got back there from force as I was driving highway speeds for a few miles). When I shined the flashlight down in front of engine under the alt, i could see fresh clean looking oil all over this oval looking part where it has a black gasket in the center, which was directly above the oil lines for the cooler? That part was located right in back of what looks like some kind of shock cylinder that is black in color mounted right behind the radiator. "This part looks like what you would see on a storm door that works to close the door". Don't know exactly what it does for my truck.

Kodiak450 · November 9, 2009

It's the oil cooler lines as I suspected. They ordered the lines ($145) x's two hours labor @ $85 an hr. Gonna be $306 before taxes. The lines are steal and rubber and because of it having rubber parts the warranty doesn't cover it. Damn road salt!