here's a weird one. 08 Milan 3.0L oil leak

Matt Saunoras · February 5, 2011

now this is one you want to double and triple check. 3.0L 4V leaking oil around the area of the right rear cyl head. pretty good leak, underside is soaked and oil is burning on the exhaust. once the surface was cleaned up and the oil was dyed it only took a minute for a noticable trace to appear in this area. it was clearly not coming from the corner of the head gasket but there is an SSM (20590) that applies. it states that "machining chips" could have gotten stuck between the gasket and head/block surface resulting in an oil leak. i don't think this is the case. the leak is about 1" lower than the gasket surface. so i put a hotline in asking about any galley plugs behind the trans that could be leaking.

hotline suggested applying 3-5psi of air pressure to the oil system and spray soapy water onto the suspected area. i did so and nothing appeared at the gasket corner. so today i pulled the trans and this is what i found

Posted Image

that hole would contain a locating dowel for another trans application. in this vehicle it's covered by the aisin seperator plate. so i replied back to hotline stating what i found

this is what hotline replied back to me,

Matthew,

It would be very rare for oil to be leaking from this hole since there is no oil near this part of the block. Hotline reports support the most likey cause of this concern is the head gasket leaking. It is recommended to remove the cylinder head and inspect the surfaces. If ok replace the head gasket and bolts.

i'm going to TRIPLE check this leak on monday. i didn't get a chance to apply air pressure and make absolute sure this is where it's coming from. if it really is the head gasket it's masked itself perfectly. unreal

Fredsvt · February 5, 2011

Block porosity in that dowel hole? Looks like it goes all the way to or near that oil port, isn't that the pressure feed for the cams just above?

If you could clean it up, rig up a porta power filled with motor oil and pump up the system through the pressure switch port and see what happens I'd bet you'd find it quick.

mchan68 · February 5, 2011

After reading through this thread last night, I had just remembered an '08 Fusion with only about 5,000 kms. (3,000 miles) that I ended up replacing the head gasket on a couple years back. It too, had the 3.0L Duratec V6 (same as Escapes) engine, NOT the 3.5L, and leaking from the exact same location. Replacing the head gasket and bolts fixed the problem. If I recall correctly, the job went relatively smoothly and didn't pay too bad. Of course, I did it by dropping the entire front drivetrain, which also went relatively easily. If this is the repair you end up doing, just make sure you mark the steering coupler and the splines on the rack. There is no master spline, leaving the possibility open to re-install the coupler in multiple locations.

Matt Saunoras · February 8, 2011

i couldn't verify a leak out of that hole so i'm just going to put a headgasket on it. however, just in case i cut a bolt flush and threw it in there with some thread sealant.

i've had the dashes out of these things before so i already found out about the splined steering shaft Posted Image

Mekanik · February 11, 2011

I saw something like this an eternity ago. It was a T-Bird with a 3.8L that had head gaskets replaced. There was a bolt difference, and the guy doing it was given the wrong head bolts. They were too long and must have cracked the block, causing coolant to leak from one of the bellhousing bolt holes.

It really looks like the oil is coming from the belhousing bolt hole.

Matt Saunoras · February 12, 2011

yeah i know. i would have never pulled the tranny if i thought it was the headgasket. at the rate it leaked there should have been no doubt where it was coming from yet i saw nothing in the area of the gasket. i could not get it to leak when it wasn't running though.

i don't know for sure what fixed it but the engine isn't leaking now.