97 Powerstroke

[pluto]

I'm leaking a little bit of oil, I thought that it was a rear main or oil pan gasket but some shop told me that it was a injector pump, he said it is very common on this Ford, but I don't see a injector pump in that area. He also said he could put in a new one for $1600. what do you think--

[CSP]

High pressure oil pump maybe? There is no injector pump on a '97 PSD. The odd thing is the HPOP is on the front of the engine, not the rear and they aren't prone to leaking. There are oil galleys in the heads which have plugs on the ends which are known to have bad o-rings though. It sure isn't a $1600 fix though. More like $15 for a new plug with an updated o-ring.

Can you tell where the leak is coming from?

[pluto]

It sure looks like the oil pan gasket, it seems to leak after I drive it, then it doesn't look like it leaks after an hour or so, it isn't a huge leak either, after three months you still cant tell on the dip stick. but if it sits for a week or so it doest leak the entire time.

[kjhephner]

hpop is up front and they do leak, oil runs back through intake gally and down behind bell houseing will look like rear main. open hood and look down under fuel filter and you should be able to see oil in gally there if it is hpop. those plugs do leak on the head also but is usually pretty significant. call me if you have any other ? kevin 719-648-3175

[pluto]

Is the hpop difficult to install, is it something I can upgrade to a better one? Thanks

[CSP]

Where do the HPOP's leak Kevin? I've never heard of one and frequent PSD forums quite a bit. I can't think of where they would begin to leak. :shrug:

The upgrade is 99.5 and newer HPOP. People replace theirs as this one puts out more pressure for upgraded injectors.

Edit: After doing some searching, it seems that the leaky HPOP is really applicable to the '99 and up PSD, not '94-97. The only place that the '94-97 will have a leak is at the seal, which does not require a new pump, just a new seal.

There are Ford Technical Service Bulletins for the HPOP leak which goes down the lifter valley on the '99 and up PSDs.

Pluto there's a ton of info on your PSD at www.thedieselstop.com

[dmeis]

The SD's leak due to the quick disconnect fittings. The OBS trucks have JIC fittings... I've heard of the HPOP gasket leaking all of a sudden.

A reman HPOP from Ford is about $512.

My pedestal was leaking and appeared to me to be the rear main seal or possibly the back of the valve covers. There are two holes in the back of the valley that allows any fluid in the valley to run off. Usually onto the tranny and down the pan.

[kjhephner]

the ones ive worked on were the 99 and up and usually the seal on back of pump. we normally just replace the pump if it is leaking. but if you do find it leaking they are not that hard to replace. should be able to do without much trouble. i was just trying to help find the problem and possibly save 1600 bucks.

[pluto]

Thanks for all the info I will look on the manifold to see if there is an oil

[BIG.XJ.FLAMES]

I'm leaking a little bit of oil, I thought that it was a rear main or oil pan gasket but some shop told me that it was a injector pump, he said it is very common on this Ford, but I don't see a injector pump in that area. He also said he could put in a new one for $1600. what do you think--

I can almost tell ya for sure that it is an oil galley plug on the back side of one of the heads. I had a 97' powerstroke and it had a bad oil leak which continued to get worse over time. I thought it was for sure the oil pan or the rear main but turned out to just be one of the plugs on the back side. Fixed the leak completely! If you take it to a dealer make sure you tell them that. Formby Ford screwed me around alot with mine and I finally took it somewhere else after it was in their shop 4 times for the leak that they never found.

[yoda0395]

X2 on the oil galley plug.
I did it my self, and it was a pretty huge pain in the butt due to lack of room between the head and the firewall.

[ironpiggie]

is it on the driver's side, kind of by the oil filter? could be oil cooler. that's what mine was. kind of a bitch, but cheap.

[CGuava]

Had issues with a leaky plug on my HPOP. It's the plug where a check valve sits so when you crank on the motor it's able to build pressure. No idea why there's a check ball there, but the ball fell out on reinstall and it didn't start. Put it back in and voila....oil pressure. This leak happened twice.

But as every has said previous, scares you the first time you see oil dripping out of the weep hole on the bell housing, but it typically is coming from the top. Definately check the valley of death up top.

FWIW: 1600 to swap an HPOP is a little on the high side. Pretty simple to do yourself, just have a few quick connects that require SSTs.

And search for dual HPOPs if you're looking into modding it, unfortunately you'll need two working HPOPs to do that mod, so you'd be required to buy another one anyways (that mod is for 99+ 7.3s, I'm assuming it's the same for yours)