Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Oil Leak, collecting on underside-pan gasket or ?

After doing 30 minutes of searching on oil leaks, I still am not compelled I have found my leak.
After the last wreck with my wife in a parking lot, I notice my '99 se is dripping/leaking oil.
Nothing major compared to the blown rear main seal of my explorer, but it's dripping.
Dealer didn't even say anything when I took it in for an oil change this last weekend.
Assuming it is just a pan gasket, are these a nightmare to do?
I was looking, and I just am like what in the heck were they thinking? You can't get directly at all the bolts?!?
I noticed oil driping down onto the exhaust manifold / y pipe, and I am praying it's not anything higher up, like in the valley pan.
I was looking through the other posting about oil everywhere, and no such issue on my SE, just drip, drip, drip. The oil has been collecting on the 2 studs on the pan rail towards the passenger side.
My car is not loosing oil, just want to take preventative car if it needs something.
Any advice on the proper method would be great.
Bad enough a buddy hit a chunk of a road kill deer , and I have to swap the pan on his car now this weekend.Thanks in advanced for the info.
Andrew

I have a dumb leak that sneaks down the front of the engine and drips on the exhaust. It is coming from the engine valley area? I gave up looking for the source. It is just enough to be annoying and stinky.

On my Zetec I had to lift the motor 4" to get the pan past the sub-frame. Brutal job and took lots of time.
The pan is in a tough spot. Clean the mating surfaces very well so you don't end up doing it 2x.

I just did mine a month ago. It's a V6 and was not that tough at all. Most people complain about removivng the Y-pipe, mine came right off after I let it soak with good old liquid wrench for a couple of days. Of course since mine is a left Coast car it doesn't have nearly the corosion of the East Coast cars. Anyway, this is one job where the factory CD is worth following, you should get one if you don't have it. There's a sequence to the bolt tightening that needs to be followed. You won't be able to use a torque wrench on one bolt but that doesn't seem to cause anyone a problem. You also need to put some RTV in two small spots, where the engine cover on the serpentine belt side mates with the bottom of the block. That part is confusing until you see it, then it's obvious. Autozone has a nice Feltpro gasket for $34 that works great.

I should also mention I wasn't exactly sure mine was the pan gasket either. What appears to happen is that any drips fall into the airflow and get blown all over the place making it difficult to identify the exact source. From reading the archives though, I'd say the oil pan is the most common culprit. It certainly took care of my leak.

I didn't see if your 'Tour is a V6 or not. I did the oil pan gasket on my V6, and it wasn't too hard. I hadn't done anything like that before, so it took my ALL day (I did have a tool issue as well which killed some time). You do have to take the Y pipe off (3 spots), then drop the pan, remove the old gasket, clean (I did anyway) out the panand the pick-up, re-RTV, new gasket, RTV, then put it back up. While I had the Y pipe off, I replaced the nuts with stainless ones from the hardware store. Should slow down the corrosion...

Good luck. It's not too hard, but was time consuming for me. DEFINITELY use a lot of PB Blaster (let soak a day or two, and reapply) for the Y pipe nuts.

It worked for me. No leaks now! If I can do it, pretty much anyone should be able to, and I'm SURE it would take less time!

Thanks for the info...it is a V6 car, automatic.
I was debating if I was going to have to drag out my engine hoist and lift the engine up a couple inches...I hate to say it, but it's been in the single digits, and it has not been been a major concern, just a pet-peave of mine.
My driveway looks like the exxon valdez thing in alaska from my explorer, planning on power cleaning it this spring.
if I am going to have to unbolt the Y pipe, I think I might as well replace it, as the flexible coupler is unraveling badly {let the cussing begin, about exhaust work}.
LOL, just got a feeling, this one will snowball, and I'll end up replacing some other stuff that I should just leave alone.
Sorry for the rambling, thanks for the help
Andrew

I have a '99 'tour SE as well. I see oil coming out from the crank shaft seal as well as the oil pan. Both can be had mail order from www.rockauto.com for MUCH less then autozone. if you are planning the install and don't need them this weekend, I would go with them. I have used them a few times now and they are really good. I would take a look at your crankshaft area and see if there is buildup around the area as well.