I am leaking oil. Not on the ground but all over the top of my transmission and the dust plate of the tranny. basically all over that area. i even found some fresh leaked oil on the transfer case. when i did my timing cover, the gasket to the oil pan had a slit in it and was leaking all over my timing chain cover. so ive had a plan to put a new oil pan gasket, oil pump, and rear main seal. Moneys a little tight so im going to go with just the rear main seal and the oil pan gasket. to the best of my knowledge my oil pump is fine. I bought a new oil pan gasket and rear main seal from napa today and plan on doing the work tomorrow since it'll be nice (about 50 degrees out) im going to fallow the pavement sucks link to the DIY rear main seal.
to start it all off, because im sure ill have to start a thread anyways i have a couple questions
First is how would i know if the leak is from the rear main seal or just the oil pan gasket?
second, what are the signs of a failing oil pump?
Thanks in advance...

 

Pop off the inspection cover and shine a nice bright light up there and look for the oil track. Or don't -- with the pan down there's no excuse for not replacing the thing.

If it's just worn, low oil pressure is the big give-away. OTOH, an old tired engine will have such gaping gaps in it that even a new pump can't develop proper oil pressure. But keep in mind that checking the oil pressure properly requires a mechanical gauge -- all of the gauges in the instrument panel are just for looks. (Check out their scales for a big hint that they're just decorative. The oil pressure gauge, for example, has its full scale deflection marked as 110 and half-scale as 40. But half of 110 is 55. The same illogic is evident in the temperature gauge and voltmeter.)

 

didnt get to my truck today worked on the wife's grand caravan actually got it to start....
ive been researching through this site and google to figure out the bennifits of getting an after market oil pump high pressure/high volume or just a stock one. the price at napa for a stk is bout 30 bucks for the aftermarket its 75. thats kind of a big difference. anyways not sure what to do yet, any remarks or suggestions to help me make up my mind?
also, i still have a blown plenum gasket (havent gotten that far) after i replace the oil pump rear main seal and oil pan gasket (tomorrow) i want to do a compression test. How will the blown plenum effect the compression test???
i dont believe i have any abnormal noise from my engine besides what should be there at 135k. (i just dont know how long the plenum has been blown)

 

Stick to the stock oil pump no need for a high volume. The blown plenum gasket will not effect your comp test readings. Remember to set the loud pedal at WOT when doing your test.

 

Thank you

 

If you have oil on TOP of the transmission, it is not likely form the oil pan or rear seal. So you may have more than one issue. I would think oil on top of tranny would be the rear seal on intake manifold.

Failing oil pum symptom would be low oil pressure. I would suggest checking pressure witha mechanical gauge to be absolutely sure. If this fails, the engine is toast. If you are going to drop pan and change rear main seal, I would also just replace pump as well while you are there!

 

just one more seal to have to replace jeesh! im going to search that seal your talking about because i have no clue where it is or what it looks like.

as for the oil pump i came in to a couple extra bucks today so im going to get the oil pump after all however not too sure if i want to get a high pressure/volume pump or a reg. stk one. i think im going to go with just stk

 

Seal at rear of intake is between intake and block. Have to get intake set. Do it when you do the plenum gasket.

 

i will do all gaskets i can when doing the plenum.
so you dont think tha a bad oil pan gasket and/or a bad rear main seal will cause engine oil on top of my tranny? best way to describe this mess... you know where the band is on the outside of tranny and where the throttle cable goes. well all that is caked with oil.

 

also where the dust plate and the tranmission meet oil leaks out inbetween them