Just did body lift...now leaking oil?!

[robcarync]

just did an oil change about 6 weeks ago (took it to mobile station, mobile 1 sythetic) and had no problems...just did the body lift 3 days ago and now it looks like I have oil leaking somewhere... anything in the body lift could have caused this? Or is this more of an unfortunate coincidence? I notice the wet oil on the underside of a cross member:

Any ideas as to the source? Obviously....look up and try to see but its dark and figured I'd put a post out to see if anyone knows of any common oil leaks. The cross member is kinda around the back of the LCA area, you can see the torsion bar in the first pic on the left side of the pic...passenger side for reference

Thanks guys!

[muddy]

is it oil or coolant? the things I can think of are either rear main seal or really badly leaking valve cover gaskets...
or when you lifted it you broke the heater core connection which i hear is common thing to break.

[robcarync]

I wiped it with a white paper towel it was black and gritty....so I am pretty sure it is oil...but the other things from a Body Lift I could think of would be coolant like you said or power steering fluid...I crawled around and couldn't tell where it was coming from but as you can see in the pic seems to be leaving a fairly sizable spot on the ground...the spot is actually forming in two puddles...almost a symmetrical shape...one on passenger side one on driver side. Heater core hoses looked good...car has not overheated at all so I am thinking coolant is in good shape. Power steering I know I am low on but I couldn't tell how PS fluid could get by that cross member

[Xterror04]

Hmm check the lines for the tranny cooler coming out the bottom of the rad, do all your fluid levels check out fine?

[robcarync]

well my PS fluid is always low....my engine oil is all the way full on the dip stick. Not sure where to check any other fluids, but my car hasn't overheated one bit so I assume it isn't coolant. All hoses looked good coming from radiator and heater core but Im not sure exactly which ones are the tranny cooler lines, I will check tomorow

PS I do know for a fact my power steering resevoir is leaking, it always has been. Inside the passenger front wheel well, the bottom of the PS hose is covered in oily stuff...but its not in the same area as that cross member...

[Xterror04]

The tranny cooler lines are the small maybe 1/2" round lines going into the bottom resivoir of the radiator, the transmission dipstick is near the firewall on the passenger side

[Xterror04]

I'd take it to the car wash and clean it all real well and watch it again, I have seen these sometimes burp up oil out the overflow if there filled to much, the overflow videos at the rear

[robcarync]

Ok, UPDATE...I watched my car parking carefully and parked in different spots etc to see if it continues to do it...there is only a few small spots leaking to the ground...BUT i also caught a glimpse of it leaking after I had been driving it, and the drips coming off the cross member had a greenish tint...sounds like coolant. Heater core hoses are kind of in that area...any other coolant related leaks that could be from a body lift? My truck hasn't overheated at all, so it must be a somewhat slow leak. It is leaking and leaving puddles on both passenger and driver side though...is there anything on the driver side that could be leaking....or perhaps the leak is hitting the cross member, running down the edges and dripping on the other side.

Also, anyone know what color power steering fluid is? Like i said, I know my PS gear has been leaking very slowly, and my reservoir is nearly empty....but its not greenish is it? The hose that runs down from the PS reservoir is covered in grimey nastiness so I will probably replace that hose (with one 2 inches longer ) and get it cleaned up and re filled while I am at it.

[emmdock]

I use ATF in my power steering system; it's red. If it's old, it could be blackish. I suppose someone could have put regular gear oil in there before, too, like what you put in a diff or manual transmission, looks like engine oil but turns black if dirty.
The body lift will stretch the hoses from the body-mounted PS reservoir to the frame-mounted tubes. Pull the passenger front tire and the fender liner and you will have a good look at it.
A few coolant lines get stretched. The heater core hoses going through the firewall (passenger side) - unclipping them might be sufficient to get them to route more freely. The radiator is body mounted, the engine is frame mounted, so the two large hoses between them get shifted, too. Check both ends of both of those.

On the driver's side, you have A/C lines. Sometimes, the cans you get to refill your a/c have green UV dye in the R134 to help trace leaks.

[intender]

Also if you didnt loosen up your brake lines running down the passenger side of the vehicle they can bend and break. Not the most likely thing to happen from a body lift but I have read about it being a problem. But if you had a broken brake line you would know it by now.

Only thing I had trouble with after the body lift was my upper radiator hose was stretched and caused the connector on the radiator to snap off. I was about 10 miles from the house and tooless at the time so it was fun trying to fix it enough to get home.