oil leak?

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My 01 5.4 expedition looks to have a small oil leak but its coming out of a part I'm not familiar with. What is directly behind the oil pan with the drain plug? It looks like a separate unit and has what looks to be a silver dollar sized rubber plug in the bottom which looks to have the leak? Is this plug an easy replacement? Is this oil? It has the same look/odorous/color as the motor oil and don't know if ill end up having to drain and change the oil to do this part. Thanks for any insight.

 

[FordandPolaris]

Well more than likely that is your transmission fluid pan you are referring to. Is the plug on the bell housing or the pan itself?

 

[syntaxerror]

I would say its the pan as its a flat rectangular piece. Its maybe 6" gap back from the oil pan drain.

 

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Actually just took another look and its prov the bell housing as its curved up on the sides. I also see another oil pan with a bolt style drain plug further behind it. Trying to see if I can get a pic uploaded.

 

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[jbanks]

Looks like it could be the "Rear Main Seal" of the engine leaking into the bellhousing...

Probably not a cheap repair.

I'm also asuming that IS oil by the black color. It could be really dirty transmission fluid?

 

[syntaxerror]

Seems to be oil to me by the color and odor. Thanks for the feedbabk :/

 

[Mediamonkey11]

You'll have to determine if that's oil or trans fluid. Should be pretty easy to tell either way. Oil is blackish brown, trans fluid should be red, just check your transmission dipstick and compare color and smell, there's a difference. Regardless, to repair either, the transmission has to come off. It's going to be either the rear main oil seal on the engine, or the torque converter leaking, whether at the converter itself, or the seal where it enters the transmission pump.

 

[FordandPolaris]

If it is oil you should be losing it pretty quick. That looks like a bad leak so I would get it looked at sooner than later. Like Media said, check the transmission fluid (Make sure the truck is running for this test). If you are a quart low there it is probably a tranny leak. Though like was said, the picture looks like oil.

 

[jbanks]

It doesn't look like a bad leak to me....It hasn't coated the transmission pan like I would expect...

 

[syntaxerror]

Its definitely oil. My trans fluid is bright red. The leak isn't fast as its just been leaving a small spot on my driveway. I thought it was from when I just changed the oil and didn't tighten the drain plug enough. It looks "worse" in the pic because I wiped the area down to see where it was coming from thus everything is nice and shiny now. Thanks for the feedback. Looks to be a bit beyond my comfort level as ive never dropped a trans. Ill have to get it checked out and repaired.