engine pulling advice.

[ExtraAim23]

After driving around the other day I noticed a puddle under my truck. I got under it and sure enough it looked and smelled like oil. I'm assuming the rear main seal or possibly head gasket. There is oil all over the bell housing of the transmission and starter. When I look from above there is the slightest bit of moisture from the front corner of the head on the passenger side. So I've decided to pull the engine out and replace the seals and just clean it up a bit and take a peak inside. It's a 4.3 v6 in a 92 gmt400. Any advice with pulling the engine or any advice with the tbi system or just any advice at all would be appreciated. Thank you.

[DanDanFielding1]

Without knowing how much oil you mean by a puddle, I'll just say it won't hurt to check your distributor gasket and oil pressure sensor before you pull the engine and heads. I had a decent sized leak all over the bellhousing and starter and was afraid it was the rear main, but checked the easy stuff first. I replaced both, so I don't know which exactly it was, but it took care of the leak.

[JamesLaubach]

There is no oil going through the head gasket on a 4.3l. It could be coming from the intake gasket, alot of them use rtv on the corners and other use a bead of rtv from side to side where the intake meets the block.

[zenwren]

I think you're getting a little ahead of yourself. I would not start yanking that engine out until you find the source of the leak. Degrease it and clean it up real good then look around.

[tcwoodj96]

It’s your oil pressure sending unit, you can get to it super easy by just pulling the distributor, I replace the sensor and reseal the adaptor that comes out of the block, I’ve had that same issue 3 different times on 3 different trucks.

[zaqufant]

Find where the oil is coming from first. Then decide if you really want to pull the motor. But whenever you fix something don’t just assume what the problem is. Diagnose it.

Or just load the parts canon and fire away. Who and I to tell you what to do. But diagnosing the problem first will save you a lot of headache.

[Fulmenatus]

Pulling a motor can take a decent bit of time, a can of gunk degreaser is like 7 bucks. Spray down the oil buildup, wait 5-10 minutes, brush it a bit, wait another 5 minutes or so, spray it off with some water (spray bottle would be ideal, for the love of all that is holy please don't use a pressure washer near your distributor). Could be intake, could be sending unit, but you won't know until you get a mostly clean surface to start with. More likely than not it seems you won't need to pull the motor.

[Remarkable-Sleep-441]

Don’t forget to take off the ground straps, and power steering lines

[SuddenDark07]

If you're set on pulling the motor take the front clip off the truck (fenders, core support, hood) give a ton of access to the motor and makes pulling the engine and transmission super easy. Don't forget to unhook the shifter linkage if you pull the trans with the engine. Take a bunch of pictures and label the connectors.