03 ford taurus Oil leak

[gabriel9766]

Well when i bought my taurus last week i knew it had some oil leaks, And need some tlc. I changed the oil last week and have put 100 miles on it. I used pennzoil gold, and now i think i made the oil leak worse. Lol. I should have waited to find some maxlife 5w30. So i know the VCG is still seeping a bit, but now i got the oil pan leaking. It looks like it leaking from the oil pan to on top of the starter. Im getting a few drops on the ground now.

Should I try an additive, HM oil or just get the pan gasket replaced?

 

[HangFire]

Thought I had an oil leak on the '99 taurus piece-of-junk. Turned out to the be power steering fluid leaking all over the engine. Got that fixed, and then the engine died. (Hundreds of other costly Taurus failures omitted in this story).

 

[umungus1122]

If the oil pan is reasonably easy to access, then I'd just change it. If not, I'd just put some Liqui-moly Oil Saver in your PZ Gold. $8 a can shipped on Amazon yesterday; just bought one.

 

[jacky]

you can use hm oil after fixing the leak, my car leaks oil and liquid moly did nothing for me,i would never use it again.

 

[Nick1994]

I don't think there's a magic in a bottle that'll fix it.

If it's reasonable to change the gaskets, then do it. Otherwise, I'd park it where drips don't matter.

 

[gabriel9766]

I get a few drips of oil on the exhaust... the oil pan calls 4 2.7hrs of labor. I have 2 drop the y-pipe and do this on my back n the driveway and the hardest part is lining the rear exhaust back up afterwards. I dont want to do this at home

 

[fdcg27]

Good luck getting the pipe loose without heat, since the nuts won't simply turn easily off the studs.
Try torqueing all of the oil pan bolts to spec. This may fix or greatly reduce your leaks. Loosen each one slightly then run it in to the speced torque. Do not overtighten them, since these are typically small fasteners and are easy to break.
The valve cover gasket should be pretty easy, although you could try the same loosen and retorque thing with it.
An HM oil might help and I'd recommend either Maxlife red bottle or M1 HM based upon my personal experience.
Finally, if the leaks are manageable with adds and not absurd, you can simply live with them. The transaxle of this Taurus will die long before the 3.0 Vulcan does.
150K is nothing for a Vulcan. We had one in our '97 Aerostar and in the thirteen years and 175K we used it, the engine never leaked nor burned oil while delivering its limited power without issue.

 

[gabriel9766]

Ima do the VCG when it warms up a bit. Im thinking i mite dran the Pennzoil gold and go with Pennzoil HM or maxlife, but keep the st filter on.

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted By: gabriel9766
I get a few drips of oil on the exhaust... the oil pan calls 4 2.7hrs of labor. I have 2 drop the y-pipe and do this on my back n the driveway and the hardest part is lining the rear exhaust back up afterwards. I dont want to do this at home


Do you have the Duratec? Mine always leaked, I normally used 5w20, but I noticed that it leaked less with 5w30. Never fixed it, went up to over 200k before I replaced it. Couldn't get anyone to try tightening it, they were all afraid that it would make it worse. But yes, the oil pan leak was well known on both Duratec's and Vulcans.

 

[Alex_V]

If you undertake the oil pan, soaking the exhaust nuts/studs (assuming that's the setup) with Seafoam deep creep daily for a week or so before trying to loosen them may make a world of difference. I've had good luck with that on several rigs I had the time on which to do so. Looking at Chilton's it doesn't look like a ton of other stuff has to come apart to get the pan off on either engine - unlike the '05 Chevy Uplander I did this week, which required unbolting all the motor mounts and the right side of the subframe, dropping that side of the subframe as far as it'd go without completely detaching it, lifting that side of the engine as far as it'd go, as well as removing the engine-trans. brace, fan belt, A/C compressor, starter, and some other goodies. S%#$ that was a job!

 

[tbm3fan]

Soaking the back exhaust flange nuts is easy enough but that is not going to be the problem. Those nuts are essentially in your blind spot when under the car. They also require a long group of extensions to be able to get at them. Done it three times and of course have it down now.

 

[2002 Maxima SE]

I have a 2000 Ford Taurus with the DOHC. The oil pan leak is a "feature".

You can try tightening the oil pan bolts, but more than likely the leak will not stop much. I had mine replaced a few years after I bought it....three years later it started leaking again.

 

[ford46guy]

Lincoln Conti is very similar and leaks a bit. Going to a 5W30 HM next. I'm thinking it may be a feature because everything the oil touches is rust free. The trans pan don't leak and has corrosion.

 

[gabriel9766]

This week I'll prob switch the oil out for a HM oil and see if it slows. What oil do u guys think I should choose?

 

[gabriel9766]

Grabbed some pennzoil HM 5w30 tonight. Hopefully this helps.

 

[2002 Maxima SE]

Originally Posted By: ford46guy
Lincoln Conti is very similar and leaks a bit. Going to a 5W30 HM next. I'm thinking it may be a feature because everything the oil touches is rust free. The trans pan don't leak and has corrosion.


I switched from PP to Pennzoil HM...no difference and I actually seem to smell the burning oil a bit more.