Front cover oil leak, specialty tools needed? qsx15

[Rawze]

I have seen many ISX engines leak between the front cover and the front of the engine block on the intake side of the engine. the leaking oil gets the outside of the engine very wet on the front corner of the engine block, and down behind the air compressor. if it gets bad enough, it will soak the entire front of the engine on that side. I don't know about dirt between the cover and the block, that is a new one on me, but every time I have seen this, it is the injector cam front seal leaking, and not the cover so much. The primary cause of this is excess cam bearing wear that allows it to move and vibrate enough for it to start leaking. Most of the time, when this starts happening, the head is worn enough that it is at high risk for spinning a bearing as well. Combine what you are describing with the fact that the oil fill tube is leaking (and likely the engine brake harness plug too), those are definite signs of excess crank case pressure.

Excess crank case pressure can cause a lot of harm, especially to the turbocharger. It will also lower the overall difference in oil pressure between the positive pressure of the pump, and the now excess pressure of the crank case. this has the same effect as the oil pressure being low by the amount of the excess crank case pressure.

What you describe so far is all the signs in place for the engine needing an overhaul soon. Removing the crank case filter element and drilling holes in its sides, then re-installing it may help to lower crank case pressure, stopping the one problem, but it sounds like to me it may be getting ready to need a new head as well, considering your leak if it is in fact one of the cam face seals that are located behind the gear cover.