#-----Original Message-----
#From: owner-dakota-truck@bent.twistedbits.net [mailto:owner-dakota-
#truck@bent.twistedbits.net] On Behalf Of Don Rey
#Sent: Wednesday, March 02, 2005 6:37 PM
#To: dakota-truck@dakota-truck.net
#Subject: DML: Oil leak solved: unlikely culprit
#
#
#So I've had a slow leak (by slow I mean 4 quarts over 3000 miles) ever
#since I bought my 89 Dak. I could never figure out where it was coming
#from, but it didn't bother me terribly. I replaced the valve cover
#gaskets... no improvement... I feared it was the rear main seal. Well,
#Friday the leak decided to let loose on me. I lost at least three
#quarts in the 50 miles I drove that day (I re-filled once). I parked
#and watched it drip from the back of the engine consistently. So I
#took out the FSM & Haynes to see how hard it would be to change the
#rear main... although the leak seemed too high for that. Looking from
#the top instead, I found lots of oil around the oil pressure sending
#unit... so I pulled the electrical connector. Oil poured out! I
#replaced the sending unit and my long-time leak is now gone. Has
#anyone seen the sending unit lose an internal seal before? I expected
#to find the unit losely screwed in, but it was torqued tight with a
#good seal at the threads.
#Don
#89 Dakota Convertible 4x4
#74 Dart Sport 340
#CT
I had one go bad as well on my '89 2.5. The diaphragm blew chunks and
it leaked around the crimp. I carefully dissected the sender post-op
and found the pin-hole, so I was pretty sure I found the problem. It was
slow enough that it looked like a bad rear main to me as well. I was
just going to leave it alone unless it got to the "Valdez". Leaks aren't
all bad. As some old timers with airplanes and Harleys may say: "If it
ain't leakin', it's outta oil."
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Apr 01 2005 - 00:13:21 EST