My Ram 2500 has a terrible oil leak, I was told by a dealership it was the vacuum pump and they used a tracer to verify it was power steering fluid. since they wanted $ 900 just for the part I elected to do the job myself and just replace the pump with a new Cardone pump I purchased for $ 200 instead of rebuilding the old one. I did read that these vacuum pumps when they go can make a mess. After installing the new pump the truck is still leaking. I had originally suspected it was the front main seal. I find it difficult to believe if they used a black light tracer they could not get it right. in any case I had heard that there was in fact a problem with a cover on these engines. Has anyone heard about this? I went to advanced auto to pick up some black light dye for the motor oil only to find out they don't carry it. I still have to put some dye in but am sure it is motor oil and not anything else. I have been adding oil at a rate of a quart every 400 miles and the truck does not smoke.

 

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Here is a decent kit to help you find the leak:

Tracerline TP 1121 8621 Leak Finder Kit | eBay

 

If they told you it was your vacuum pump they should have found motor oil, not power steering fluid, when a vacuum pump goes out it make a big mess of motor oil. where does your oil leak start all the way to the front of the engine? the cover you could be talking about might be the tappet cover located on the driver side of the engine it runs from the front to back, they do tend to leak also. when I look for leaks on an engine I start from the back of the engine and work my way up. usually if the oil continues to be from the front thats where it started, think of it this way, when your driving down the road with a leak the oil is going to be running from front to back because of the air that is blowing on it comes from the front. I think you might be right about the front main seal. that would be my guess, because it is common.

 

If you see oil at front of engine sometimes the front cover bolts work loose over time and cause a leak.Try tightening the 10mm cover bolts.

 

i did order the tracer just to find out exactly what is leaking , I did hear some mention of the front cover bolts backing out so I will check that out as well , I would think it has to be the front cover of main seal the undercarriage is a mess from front to back and when parked it is dripping from front while running when I shut engine off it stops another reason I suspect front seal. After fixing all the other problems on this truck I finally have it running well and just ant to finish up this last annoying problem.

 

Take it to a car wash, and wash the engine bay really carefully with low pressure. Find a wash close to home, a garage, or a buddies shop. Pull the fan belt off, then run the engine. Now oil will leak down from where the source is. The air the fan is blowing won't move it around. I thought I had a front crank seal leak until I did this. Turned out to be my vacuum pump gasket.

 

Like ryan said,get some gunk & clean the oil& grease off. run the engine a litte at a time to find the origin

 

leak was finally found in the push rod cover gasket side engine cover

 

Did the kit help you out?