I have a 02 escape leaking oil. not much just about a drop a day. I can see that it is either coming from the front main seal, and or the oil pan gasket.
My question is this, are one, or both of these prone to leaking, and how hard is it to replace it? I am a certified mechanic, but this is my daily driver and I need to know if this is a few hour job, or much more indepth that I think it is. I have the proper puller , and all the tools I need. I just need to know if it is a quick job, and which parts are prone to leaking. by the way I have a 2002 Escape xlt 2wd with a 3.o and 97000 miles. any help in this matter would be greatly apreciated.

 

After looking at it more it apears to have a two peice pan. One peice is the actual sump, and the other is a two inch spacer, am I correct in assuming this? also do you have to remove any of the exhaust to remove the pan(s) any help would be apreciated.

 

I'm not trying to be a smart aleck, but if you are a certified mechanic don't you have access to a Chilton's that would tell you how long this repair is supposed to take?

 

i AM A SERVICE MANAGER IN A POWERSPORTS DEALERSHIP. ALTHOUGH i AM TRAINED AND CERTIFIED IN AUTOMOTIVE, WHERE i LIVE THERE IS MORE MONEY IN POWERSPORTS. I have manuals for honda yamaha and sea doo, but no not a ford. I supose that I could go to the library, however being that this it a info sharing web site I thought this to be my first corse of action

 

Understood and obviously you know how to turn a wrench. Someone should turn up soon who can help you out. For a drop of oil per day, I'd probably put a piece of cardboard under my truck. But then, I'm not a mechanic. Good luck.

 

I would venture to guess you checked the tightness of the oil filter? I had a small drip and it turned out the stealership didn't tighten the filter. Coming home from a 2k miles trip scared me. Sorry don't know about the front seal or pain gasket.. doesn't look like a easy fix to me!!

 

No the oil filter was properly tightend. but thanks for the suggestion

 

The first thing I would do is check the torque on the pan bolts, that stopped the leak in my rear diff.

 

I'm in the same boat as you with my wife's 02. I just added some UV dye to start tracing the leak. I imagine yours is on the back side of the engine like mine. I can't determine if it is the pan sump, or the top seam of that 2" spacer piece. The front crank seal is dry as is the rear valve cover. If it's at the sump, looks easy enough to fix in an afternoon. If it's the other piece, it looks like front and bottom half of the engine needs to be torn apart. That will take considerable longer.

I will post back in a day or two with the results when I the UV dye starts a path.

 

I put in a pan gasket and it diddnt stop the leak, and after tearing it apart, it apears that that two inch spacer is actually part of the main bearing journals, and it is designed to be webed like that. I diddnt get two far into it, but to remove anything else it would apear that I would have to remove the crank as well. not positive though, as I diddnt pull it down far enough . let me know what you find, you were right as to the location of the leak though. thanks for your time

 

I really didn't need to hear that.

 

Trust me I diddnt want to know that
and to replace the pan gasket, you hace to remove the exhaust , both front and rear, and the cross member . as well as the rubber mounts that hang the exhaust. it diddnt take all that long, that is unitll I snaped one of the flange bolts. To get to some of the pan bolts have a stubby wrench on hand ( I think that it was a 13mm)
good luck and let me know what you find.

 

So I finally broke down and bought a book to see whats the dealeo. and found that on the 3.0 there is only one main bearing cap, well rather its all just one peice. it works as a conventional main cap, however it is splayed outward and includes the " spacer" that we have our oil leaks at. and furthermore it looks like to remove it you have to remove the engine and remove the front timing cover in order to remove the main cap. oh btw. thanks ford, for using friggin rtv in such a lovely place. I just cant wait ti fix it!

 

my 02 also had a oil pan leak, started as just a drop or two then got worse. changed oil pan gasket ( suggust a oem) done. the pan gasket is really simple to change. the exhaust just had to be unbolted for engine then just worked around. the flex pipe allows enough room

 

Dye test shows that it is coming from main bearing cap assembly on my engine.