LUVTruck.com

Look closely, the oil pan may not come completely off with the engine still in the vehicle. If it doesn't it may be extremely difficult to get the surfaces cleaned of the old gasket material and a new gasket fished into place. On the other hand who knows what damage to the existing gasket might occur when the pan seal is dropped, it could literally come loose in pieces. I would have all the parts on hand & be prepared to replace the pan gasket, then decide after the pan drops if it looks good enough to leave alone. If the pan will come completely off then go ahead and replace the gasket, but do it right. A major cause of pan leaks is over-tightening the bolts & distorting the mating surface.
The first thing to do is isolate the source of the leak, it may be something other than the rear main seal. Clean off all the old oil you can, use some engine cleaner on a warm engine, then hose it off. Do it more than once. Use the dye. Report back the results. From your description it's not a critical leak, so you don't necessarily have to fix it immediately.

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'78 Chevy LUV,1.9,4sp,headers,31's,SAS Dana 30,Dana 20,SOA rear w/Aussie Locker, rough body, bought new 12/4/78.
'87 Trooper,2.3,5sp,headers,31's,ball joint flip & spacer,Aussie Locker rear,Superwinch hubs,brush guard w/5.5K winch,more to come.

Wow, that seems odd. I can't imagine why, but I guess it's possible. How about it, oldestisuzuist--is that true? It's certainly not necessary on my diesel.

If it's true, then disregard everything I said.

Jack

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'83 Isuzu P'up Diesel LS - Original Owner
JoeIsuzu@IsuzuPup.com
IsuzuPup.com

I don't believe the pan needs to drop to replace the rear main seal. But it is a lot of work to replace it so if it is not leaking that bad I would wait until it's time to replace the clutch, then you can pull the flywheel and have it resurfaced then replace the rear seal.

4x4 or 2 wheel drive?

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If you think no one cares, try missing a couple of payments...



FIAA!

SFPP!

I'd recommend you take the truck to a do it yourself carwash and hose off the engine, especially the bottom. I actually just take my truck ramps with me and run it up on the ramps. The hot soapy water spray will get a huge amount of the old oil and grease off and should help make it easier to spot the source of the leaks. It will also help eliminate the old leak as the source. Could just be old oil coming out of the dirt/grease it collected in when the truck is warm. It also helps keep crud from getting in the engine while you're working on it if you've blasted it clean first.

There are two things to worry about getting water into. The intake for the air filter and/or the carb, and the distributor. A plastic bag rubber banded over the air cleaner snout should take care of that, and a bag over the distributor will help there. I have had the distributor still get wet though, so I either bring a spare cap, or plenty of paper towels and even canned air to dry it with.

I've tried those cans of spray on degreaser cleaners and nothing really seems to work as well and just hot soapy high pressure water blasting the crud off. I try to keep my engine, trans, and suspension parts fairly clean despite some minor oil leaks. Sure pays off when you have to work on them if something breaks. Less greasy grime to fight with.

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95 Isuzu Trooper Daily Driver
86 Isuzu Trooper reliable backup
77 LUV 2wd stock beltway blaster (resting)
79 4x4 LUV project: 2.6L, 5spd, 31s (eventually)

MEPR: Man, my 4x4 makes all other LUVs look good

Thanks so much for the feedback.

Mytmouz, it's a 2 wheel drive.

I will take it up and give it a good washing. There is still a lot of old oil because I can still see the old tracer dye around the engine. Hopefully it is just old oil, which would make sense because the drip gets less and less with each day. One thing that's clear is the old leak has stopped. I cleaned that area off and it remains clear.

I'll keep everyone posted.

Thanks again.

800xl, great tip on old oil collecting in the sludge and grease. I took the truck up to the car wash last night and blasted the engine with hot soap, as you suggested. There was a lot of old oil, sludge and grease on the back part of the engine, just above where it was dripping. I left the truck in the garage overnight and checked it this morning, and for the first time there was not a drop of oil on the ground.

Hopefully replacing the head gasket was all I needed to do. We will see. Great tip, though, I'm glad I didn't start taking the truck apart again without at least giving it a good scrubbing first. Thanks again.

It makes working on even little things on the truck so much nicer if it is clean. I'd probably steam clean my engine compartment monthly if I could.

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95 Isuzu Trooper Daily Driver
86 Isuzu Trooper reliable backup
77 LUV 2wd stock beltway blaster (resting)
79 4x4 LUV project: 2.6L, 5spd, 31s (eventually)

MEPR: Man, my 4x4 makes all other LUVs look good

I can't find a local car wash that has hot water. I tried.

Jack

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'83 Isuzu P'up Diesel LS - Original Owner
JoeIsuzu@IsuzuPup.com
IsuzuPup.com

You might have to go when they aren't busy. Late at night or early morning. If they are busy at the local place around here the hot water can be all used up.

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95 Isuzu Trooper Daily Driver
86 Isuzu Trooper reliable backup
77 LUV 2wd stock beltway blaster (resting)
79 4x4 LUV project: 2.6L, 5spd, 31s (eventually)

MEPR: Man, my 4x4 makes all other LUVs look good

No, I can't find one that has hot water. One operator told me it was just too expensive.

Jack

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'83 Isuzu P'up Diesel LS - Original Owner
JoeIsuzu@IsuzuPup.com
IsuzuPup.com

I suppose it would cost a fair bit. The last time I was at the local place they were busy and it was running cold, but maybe they shut their heaters off too. Might also be a winter thing.

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95 Isuzu Trooper Daily Driver
86 Isuzu Trooper reliable backup
77 LUV 2wd stock beltway blaster (resting)
79 4x4 LUV project: 2.6L, 5spd, 31s (eventually)

MEPR: Man, my 4x4 makes all other LUVs look good

Simple Green sprayed on and let sit for 5 minuets works great with cold high pressure.

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Certified pilots, looking down on people since 1903.

This is what I hope is my final update on this project. I've driven about 150 miles after cleaning the old oil off the engine, including a few miles going 70 mph on the highway, and haven't seen any more oil. It seems the head gasket was the only source of the leak.

Thanks to everyone for their advice and ideas, without it the job would have been much tougher and I probably would have done a bunch of unnecessary work. I was pretty close to having a garage do the work for an estimate of $1000 to $1500 (I paid $1500 for the truck). Instead the repair cost me about $100 ($15 head gasket, $8 head bolt, $5 hex socket, $14 bolt stud extractor, $15 cobalt drill bit, and maybe $50 or so in oil, coolant, filter, and cleaners) and a few hours of my time. Pretty good deal.

This board is a great resource. Thanks again to everyone.

PJ

Don't you just love it when a plan comes together! Thanks for posting back with the results as it helps us all on here.
Now you can help someone else with that problem because you know how it's done. Take care.

Always nice when things work out. I honestly didn't think you'd have such a bad oil leak from a head gasket problem. Usually they leak water and compression WAY worse than they ever leak oil. Glad you got it fixed.

Be aware you will need to revisit the head bolts after you get a few miles on it. A quick retorque of them and readjusting the valves is a good idea, after about 1000 miles.

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95 Isuzu Trooper Daily Driver
86 Isuzu Trooper reliable backup
77 LUV 2wd stock beltway blaster (resting)
79 4x4 LUV project: 2.6L, 5spd, 31s (eventually)

MEPR: Man, my 4x4 makes all other LUVs look good