ok so my truck, 99 ram 4wd 5.9 engine with around 85k on it, has been leaking oil for a few days now... that I know of. the oil is coming from the front of the truck... looks almost like it is leaking from where the oil pan meets the engine. Anyway I had the truck at my mechanic for state inspection and had him take a look at it... long story short my stepdad grabs the truck an talks to the mechanic cause I was help up at work, the third party info I got was: it is the oil seal and will costabout 250 for him to do cause its about 5 hours of labor (awesome mechanic... he hooks us up cause we give him so much work) and he has to take a bunch of parts off... obviously my stepdad wasnt paying too much attention and isnt very mechanically inclined. I know thats a cloudy description but any insight is appreciated as I havent been able to get in touch with the mechanic since.

 

I could be wrong about this but it seems like 5 hours of work and 250 for an oil seal is a little much. Someone correct me if im wrong

 

Ya the Front seal is leaking

you have to remove the radiator and fan shroud, pull the dampener/pulley off, and replace the seal

It would take about 3 hours if you have any idea how to work on trucks, fairly easy, you just need a puller, a seal puller, and some basic tools

 

There is a good diy at www.pavementsucks.com/tech that helped me out (timing chain diy)

If I were to pay someone who was an ASE mechanic, yes $250 is a good price. If you figure a brake job costs almost that much nowdays and is way easier.

You have to take off the timing chain cover so I would order a chain set and have your mechanic throw that in and since the waterpump has to come off too that may be a good thing to throw on.

If you have the original timing chain, and you don't do your own work it would be foolhardy not to change the other parts. Because they cost alot to have a mechanic replace. He shouldn't charge you much more to do the other stuff.

I would recomend diy, you appreciate your truck more when you get your hands in it.

 

if its not leaking really bad, its something you can ignore for a long time. just keep it full of oil. you don't really have to pull the radiator, but you do have to strip the front of the engine, including removing water pump and timing cover. like said above, perfect time to replace timing chain, water pump, wp bypass hose, t-stat.