5.9 leaking oil please help me!

[txmopargirl]

Hey y'all..
I've got a 98 Ram 1500 with the 5.9. Its from a police auction, it sat for 4 years in one spot until I bought it in April of last year. Started right up, has ran perfectly ever since. One problem, heater never worked. Im a girl, I do all my own work on my truck. This is the second one I've had in the past 10 years. Anyway, I decided to try and get the air bubbles out of my radiator lines bc I thought maybe there were just air bubbles in it. My exact steps were take my funnel, stick it in the radiator, put a little coolant in the funnel, started the truck, turned the heater on and started squeezing the radiator hose. Did this for about 10 min or so. Heater started getting warmer but I had to pick up my friend so I had to quit. Truck drove fine to their house, fine home. Then the boyfriend took it to the store, came back, and oil was leaking out, not horribly but it was leaking for sure. I can't find the leak, but it's not from the top of the motor, it looks like it's further down by the oil pan but not the oil pan itself. I keep telling myself it's not the head gasket, praying to God it's not.
Can anyone tell me what it might be? Did I mess something up by messing with my heater? I can attach a photo in a few if that helps. I checked my oil today and it was low but not all gone, added oil and some mystery marvel and it seems to have stopped leaking. Any advice please!? Thank you!!!

 

[Daw14]

No more mystery oil , clean entire engine ,like gunk or something then it should be easier to find the leak . I would look at valve cover gaskets. Your boyfriend was probably out doing donuts and burnouts , that’s where it went.

 

[Dodge trucker]

check oil sending unit, especially if this started "all of a sudden"
Is it leaving spots on the ground? Those were common for the plenum gasket at the bottom of the intake manifold. You wont see any leaks outside but it will burn oil.

 

[pacofortacos]

Several sources for a leak.
Internal - most likely is the intake manifold itself or in your case also valve seals.

External - oil pan, oil filter (possibly old gasket didn't come off and has 2 gaskets now or bad filter), rear or front main seal, valve cover gaskets, intake manifold gasket, oil sending unit, head gasket but rare.

Did you just change the oil recently?

 

[Dean2]

What you did with the heater has zero to do with oil leaks. Spray the motor with a good enviro friendly de-greaser like Citrus soap. Let it soak for a bit then hose off the motor real well, being careful not to spray electrical components too hard. This is the only way to locate a leak. Once found repair work will be obvious.

I keep my engines very clean as it makes working on them much easier, and you can spot leaks much better. This is the engine bay on a 1992 4Runner, I wash it at the wand wash, first apply bug and grit soak, then rinse with high pressure spray, being careful where I spray. In the 30 years I have owned it, no issues with doing that.

 

[dapepper9]

Most likely culprits for leakage down by oil pan are:
oil pan
rear main
oil filter housing
valve cover
oil pressure sending unit

I agree with the advice to clean everything to get a better idea of where it's coming from. Luckily these aren't too cosmic to work on so fixing the problem is reasonably simple. Oil filter housing/adapter is uncommon for an active leak but they're always greasy, pretty easy job. Valve cover is 10 easily accessible bolts/studs, pretty easy. Sending unit is on the back by the distributor, "requires" a special socket and can be interesting to reach but otherwise not difficult. Oil pan and rear main are pretty simple on a 4x4 but suck on a 2wd.

Sometimes when things sit, seals dry out. By driving and running it this can cause them to leak. You might actually see the leak stop with repeated regular operation and a "high mileage oil" which is supposed to have more seal conditioners in it than regular can make this more effective. No way to confirm that but anecdotally I've had fairly positive results with it in the right application. Not a "hard fix" like a gasket replacement but can certainly be a cheap way to not have problem anymore lol

 

[txmopargirl]

Hey y'all thank you so much for writing me back!! I didn't realize anyone had answered me and now that I know all I can say is THANK YOU!!! I will post back soon as I'm done checking everything y'all mentioned. Thank you guys

 

[turkeybird56]

Like all said above. Clean it up real well 1st so you have an idea and work from there. Vehicle sit a long time seals will dry up. Especially if vehicle sat in TX heat for 4 years, just a saying.

 

[Zoe Saldana]

Hey y'all..
I've got a 98 Ram 1500 with the 5.9. Its from a police auction, it sat for 4 years in one spot until I bought it in April of last year. Started right up, has ran perfectly ever since. One problem, heater never worked. Im a girl, I do all my own work on my truck. This is the second one I've had in the past 10 years. Anyway, I decided to try and get the air bubbles out of my radiator lines bc I thought maybe there were just air bubbles in it. My exact steps were take my funnel, stick it in the radiator, put a little coolant in the funnel, started the truck, turned the heater on and started squeezing the radiator hose. Did this for about 10 min or so. Heater started getting warmer but I had to pick up my friend so I had to quit. Truck drove fine to their house, fine home. Then the boyfriend took it to the store, came back, and oil was leaking out, not horribly but it was leaking for sure. I can't find the leak, but it's not from the top of the motor, it looks like it's further down by the oil pan but not the oil pan itself. I keep telling myself it's not the head gasket, praying to God it's not.
Can anyone tell me what it might be? Did I mess something up by messing with my heater? I can attach a photo in a few if that helps. I checked my oil today and it was low but not all gone, added oil and some mystery marvel and it seems to have stopped leaking. Any advice please!? Thank you!!!

Check the valve covers - tighten them up.

MMO thins out oil - nothing else and you should not leave it in. Only use it before changing the oil.

You could try Lucas Stop Leak for oil.

Get underneath the truck and see you can see dirty greasy areas.

Finally, stop being such a girl!