its the gasket or ether the oil sending unit which are like $20 bucks. I might tackle this myself and buy a deep oil pain as well

 

Which gasket??? IIRC, the oil pressure sending unit is located by the power steering pump on the V8 engine. That should be pretty easy to diagnose. A leaking valve cover gasket can cause a drip that goes all the way to the bottom of the engine and looks like it is coming from somewhere else. These trucks have issues with loosening valve cover bolts.

 

The oil pressure sending unit is next to the dizzy on the back/top of the engine.

 

its a pretty dam fast leak, all they said it was a rear main gasket and that my oil sending unit looks cracked, thats all i really know so far

 

you mean a rear main seal??

 

My 2001 manual shows the sender by the pump, but it doesn't say if that is for the V8 or diesel. It also shows it back by the PCM on the V8. On my V10 it is over by the oil filter block. Unless it is completely broken I don't see how it could be the cause of a major leak. If your mechanic is referring to a rear main seal as a gasket then he's an idiot. I would find another mechanic to work on your truck.

 

You do NOT have to lower the tranny to replace the rear main seal. http://www.pavementsucks.com/tech/rearmain.php

 

The oil sending unit I think is up by the dissy. There's another thread here that has a pic of it showing exactly where it is. One thing I hate about the Haynes manual is how the flip flop back & forth between the engines. They should have just done a descent write up on each engine separately having separate sections for each platform. Specially since they give very little write up to the 318/360 and I'd bet those are the majority of engines in these trucks.

 

well today i went out and looked at my oil sending unit which is behind the keggar, but that looked loose and was drenched in oil so i popped that back in place, but i still drip oil so i hope that is from the earlier drip

 

the rear main seal procedure says to take the transmission loose but with a little sweet talking and keeping a close eye on the oil pickup tube you can get the oil pan off without doing that.

an alternator and brake line shouldn't cost more than 250$ and installing them is pretty easy, that mechanic ought to get a good old fashioned a$$ whippin for charging you 700$.

like ram15002ndgen said, a backup vehicle is nice to have. 2000$ at one of those small time dealers and you can get a pretty good car, then you'll be able to save the miles on your truck by using the car to get back and forth to work.