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I recently saw a leak on the front driver's side of my 08 350. It's not coming from the top and running down since the camshaft magnets have been replaced and are dry. I replaced the oil cooler gasket about 10k miles ago but cleaned everything up afterwards. Valve covers are also not leaking. It's strange how the AC compressor is mostly covered in fresh oil. Could it be the power steering pump leaking slowly? I am attaching a couple of photos below. Any ideas of what to check?
Thorough cleaning with brakleen, test drive, use mirror and flashlight to see where the leakage is coming from. Pretty much the only way to be sure. Everything else is just a guess work.
In the 2nd photo the leak appears to originate from the center of the pulley on the lower right. Notice how the color goes from dark black originating there, to grey as the oil is sprayed outwards.
I'll clean it up and see what's going on. The pulley @Overheated is talking about is the AC compressor pulley. I haven't noticed any issues with the AC system but I'll test it and run computer diagnostics before checking pressures.
I've not worked on AC, but it strikes me the unit has no fluids in it. All I see is black liquid dripping from there onto the sway bar then down. Could it be that the engine was cleaned during the recent work and the fluid is residual cleaner that's dripped?
Is the oil filter housing separate from the engine block? If so, replace the gasket fitted between the housing and the engine block. I've had to do it on both of my M113 engines. IIRC, it is a 47mm nut holding the housing to the engine block.
@Overheated The AC system has oil in it, about 30ml or so. It gets mixed with the refrigerant when the system is operating but the goal is to lubricate the compressor and O-rings in the system. Technically it could be leaking, but I'd be losing refrigerant and oil at the same time and my compressor would soon seize.
@bbirdwell I just checked and yes, there is a part number for that gasket. I've read that the oil filter gasket is a common leak on the M112/3 engines but I don't know if it is a common thing on the M272/3. The oil cooler gasket was leaking when I first got the car and it was quite squished and hard when I took it out. You can be absolutely right and it could be the oil filter housing gasket, given the state of the oil cooler one. I'll clean up the engine and drive around and observe.
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