how bad of an oi leak, before you change your engines rear main seal?

I am probably going to change the rear main seal on my wifes truck today. Ford Ranger 2.3l.

How long do you wait before you change yours? I am guessing its losing a quart every 2-3k miles. Its not bad, but you can smell it on the exhaust. And it leaves a nice little drip on the driveway.

Personally, I would rather just wait a while to do it, as I am too busy to mess with it. Especially if something goes wrong. But, if I wait I will be doing it when the weather is bad, gargage is cold, and the trucks under carriage is harder to powerwash clean.

Same issue with my Cavalier.

As far as when to do anything, it really depends on the individual. Some folks would fix it as soon as it started leaving spots on their driveway or garage floor. Some people could care less and as long as the darn things doesn't run completely out of oil once or twice a week they will not even bother fixing it.

If you are going to fix it, I say do it really soon before the cold weather moves in and makes it a miserable task like you mentioned or put it off until spring time.

Also, I am not all that familiar with anything Ford builds. But are you certain it's the rear main seal and not an oil pan gasket or something?

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Originally Posted by ray1970

As far as when to do anything, it really depends on the individual. Some folks would fix it as soon as it started leaving spots on their driveway or garage floor. Some people could care less and as long as the darn things doesn't run completely out of oil once or twice a week they will not even bother fixing it.

If you are going to fix it, I say do it really soon before the cold weather moves in and makes it a miserable task like you mentioned or put it off until spring time.

Also, I am not all that familiar with anything Ford builds. But are you certain it's the rear main seal and not an oil pan gasket or something?

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On his truck, it's the rear seal. Might as well do the water pump, thermostat, , new hoses etc while it's out.

You need to borrow my hoist?

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Originally Posted by Great-Kazoo

On his truck, it's the rear seal. Might as well do the water pump, thermostat, , new hoses etc while it's out.

You need to borrow my hoist?

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He's not seriously planning on pulling the engine, is he? It's way less work to pull the transmission.

It really depends on the mileage of the vehicle and if you see using it in the future. Being it is 2.3 liter it is an older truck so it is a personal decision. If it where mine high mileage due to the age I wouldn't fix not know how long the rest of the truck has to live.

I'm debating doing the clutch on my Cavalier. It doesn't need a clutch, it needs a release (slave) cylinder, which is located inside the transmission, so I might as well do the clutch while I'm at it. I'm worried this job is over my head, and I KNOW it's not worth the money on parts since we only paid $900 for this car a few years ago. I told someone I would sell it to them after I fixed it. I half want to do this just to prove to myself that I can. Also, to relate this to the thread, I'm pretty sure the rear main seal is leaking, so I may address that as well. I will probably start my own thread though. Especially since I took most of next week off to do this.

Want to do my 7.3l rear main? It let loose last week and is loosing a half qt a day parked.

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Originally Posted by Wulf202

Want to do my 7.3l rear main? It let loose last week and is loosing a half qt a day parked.

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You sure it's the main seal? Anything that leaks in the valley will drain down the back of the block too on the PS's.

valley has no new oil, rear seal was weeping before