Having a vehicle is vital, we often need it to get to work and for many of our daily trips. This important part of our annual budget regularly causes us surprises, being aware of oil leaking on your car is one of them… In actual fact, an oil leak is rarely benign and can quickly lead to the breakage of your engine if you don’t discern it. If you are aware of oil leaking on your Ford F 550, you have come to the right place, we will first assist you to discover the origin of the oil leak and, additionally, we will help you to fix it, whenever possible.
Identifying the origin of the oil leaking on your Ford F 550
If you see fluid leaking from under your Ford F 550, the first thing to do is to verify all of your levels (power steering, engine oil, brake fluid, coolant) to find out if any of them can quickly be defined as the origin of the leak. To limit the risks, it is really vital to verify your levels every 2 weeks to prevent any risk of engine breakage.
In our circumstance we will only be interested in circumstance you detect oil leaking from your Ford F 550, as far as engine oil is concerned, the liquid will be quite viscous and in shades of brown to black and if it is gearbox oil, it will be rather in amber tones and will have a strong annoying smell.
It’s not constantly easy to discover the origin of the oil that leaks on a Ford F 550 because of the accessibility of the engine block, however here are the simple steps to follow to discover the source of the oil:
- Find the point where the oil falls, the area from which it spills onto the ground…
- Go back up the route of the dripping oil to its source, if the blot is too important, don’t be reluctant to clean the engine block and drive to be capable to locate it more easily.
- That will help, here is a list of the parts that in most cases trigger oil to leak from a car: the drain plug and its seal; one of your crankcase gaskets; the oil pressure switch; the oil filter; the transmission drain plug; the transmission sealing rings.
When possible, repair the part that made the oil to leak on your Ford F 550.
Now that you’ve discovered the origin of the oil leaking, it’s time to get down to business. Naturally, for a while, you’ll be able to add more oil to top up the level, according to its intensity, but you should know that this is not a durable answer and that the leak could become worse at any moment. We are gonna reveal you the repairs that we think you can carry out all alone with some knowledge, tools and according to the accessibility that you are going to have on your engine. Whatever the case, you should know that after repairing an oil leak on a Ford F 550, you will have to swap your engine or gearbox oil.
Oil leakage from the drain plug and its seal on Ford F 550
In this circumstance, the solution is quite simple, you just have to lift your Ford F 550, if possible perfectly horizontal, remove your drain plug, drain your engine oil, swap your drain gasket, tighten the plug to the appropriate torque and verify the hot engine to make sure the leak has been fixed.
Oil leaking over from the oil filter of my Ford F 550
In case that your oil leak comes from your oil filter, you will just need to change it. To do this, take a filter wrench, remove the old filter, ensuring that that the gasket does not stick to the engine, set the new filter and tighten it moderately. Same test, hot check if oil is leaking from your Ford F 550.
Oil leaking from the pressure switch of my Ford F 550
To finish , if it is your pressure switch that is the cause of your leak on your Ford F 550, you can, dependant upon its ease of access, reach it and swap it quickly. To do this, set a drain tray under the part, disconnect the electrical wire, remove the part, quickly reposition the replacement pressure switch, clean the whole thing and do a hot test to confirm that you no longer have any oil leaking from your Ford F 550.
For any other type of leak, we encourage you to go to your auto mechanic because the repair needs too much knowledge and tools to be conducted serenely alone.
If you wish more tutorials on the Ford F 550, go to our Ford F 550 category.
