2003 4.2 liter V6 leak - front cover? Pictures.
 

20013 4.2 liter V6 with 85,000 miles. Thought I had a crankshaft seal leak but some Googling makes the front cover seem more likely. Not sure.

Any tricks for an easy fix? Can I just squeeze some sealant in to the gap like I'm packing a wheel bearing? Seems like a lot of bolts for a small leak.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.f15...ca2562b018.png
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.f15...1713227935.png

Can't really tell... how high up does it go? Looks like your oil pan to front cover seal is leaking from the pic on the bottom.

That's about as high as it goes, it seems to be just coming over that center edge, not from the sides. I think that I can see the area around the crank seal through the CAS wheel teeth and it looks dry. But I'm not sure I'm looking in the right spot. Apparently for this engine, the oil pan is installed first and a bead of sealant is laid down on its edge before installing the front cover.

Hoping that somebody has seen the oil trail before and recognizes it.

I have the oil trail on my 5.0 - and I replaced both the front seal and the pan lip - still leaks, LOL.

So it's Ford normal.... Bummer.

It's small enough to only drip occasionally. Probably just create more problems trying to fix it at this time. Maybe I'll zip tie a sponge there.

I used the original style gasket for mine.... the newly designed FelPro Permadry stuff is far superior.

@BareBonesXL try snugging the bolts up on the oil pan, over time the gasket relaxes and then the bolts become loose.

^^^ That could work. It's worth a shot. Don't get too adventurous though, over-tightening could make it worse. Should be around 15 ft. lbs.