I've owned my 1995 Ram 1500 5.2 4x4 for about 2 years now and since I have had it, there has been a slight oil leak...I have to add almost a qt every 3k miles. I do alot of highway miles to and from school. It is noticable at the back of the pan near the rear main. Has anyone else experienced this problem?? I am hoping it is the pan gasket and not the mainnn...It's not dripping, its just wet with oil.

Thanks,

Sully

 

If its leaking at the pan, replace the gasket. My gasket is original and is tight as a...

Yeah I wont say that.

 

Well the thing is, I don't really know where it is leaking from. It is wet in that general area, I was wondering if anyone went through this and what the problem was for them??

 

This really isn't something you can diagnose over the internet..

 

One quart every 3k or every oil change is perfectly normal for an older v8. Some trucks use that much brand new! An engine SHOULD use some oil. I'd say, if it runs good, the plenum checks out solid and there's no mess on the ground, just keep an eye on the level. Mine was using some oil at about 80k and I figured it was the plenum. Well, it wasn't. But it was replaced anyway. So I switched to thicker oil and it hardly uses any now.

 

Check the valve cover gaskets. I have a 95 as well and the valve cover gaskets have started seeping a bit, which gets on everything below that. I used to have a Jeep with a 258 which dripped oil from the back of the engine. I replaced the oil pan gasket, which didn't help. I looked a little more carefully and saw that the entire back end of the block was covered in oil, which was coming from the valve cover gasket. Replaced that, problem solved.

 

Thanks for your input guys.

 

its probably the rear main.
its actually not that hard to change. its a 2 piece unit that wraps around the crank. my 01 had that annoying drip at 120k. i changed it and no more leak.
here's a real good how to.
http://www.pavementsucks.com/tech/rearmain.php

on my 01 i did not have to raise the engine nor drop the exhaust.
i did have to remove the braces, the stupid starter, dust cover, oil pan, oil pump, rear main, and loose all the other mains.

so that makes it a good time to just replace the oil pump.

 

I have a small leak that leaves a penny size dot every couple days on the garage floor... found it was coming from the back of the intake manifold (check for plenum leak, all good )... after a good cleaning it took over 2 weeks for the drop to show up on the floor again so I don't worry and check my oil regularly and it never lost enough yet for me to see the difference on the stick yet...