help! 96 oil leak

[PowerstrokinIt F250]

so heres my question. i got a 96 7.3 and its leaking oil. i can tell its coming out of where the dipstick goes into the oilpan. i checked with the local ford dealer and they said it was probably the o-ring inside the oil pan and that you have to drop the oil pan to get to it. anyone know of a better way around this? or even if u can do it without dropping the pan? i cant imagine theyd have it set up so you have to drop the oil pan to put in a 3 dollar o-ring. especially just where the dipstick meets the oil pan.
any help is appreciated thanks.

[Patrick Feeley]

You can do it without dropping the pan (which requires removing the engine). There have been posts in other forums on how-to (I'll look for them). Cheers!

Added in edit: Here's some info from another site:

Originally Posted by zpilgeram
When mine started leaking I just got a new o-ring from ford and did it the rite way. You don't have to pull the pan. Take the dipstick tube loose up at the valve cover unscrew the big 2" nut down at the oil pan and slide the nut up the tube and take it off. Slide the o-ring down the tube,work it through the hole in the oil pan and work it onto the threaded section of the dipstick where the big nut goes. Put the big nut back on and reattach the dipstick tube at the valve cover and your good to go. The whole job took about 30 minutes to do.

x2 -
Take the starter off for better access.

I used a small pair of needle nose vice grips to hold the inner portion while I cleaned everything. I slid the new O-ring over the vice grips needle-nose before grabbing the inner piece (so I didn't have to stretch the O-ring over the vice grips). I didn't bother with any sealant, just used the new O-ring. It has been bone dry for 2+ years since doing it.

[PowerstrokinIt F250]

thank alot for the help! but after i cleaned it all off i noticed someone before me must have tried to fix it with jb weld so i cleaned off as much of that as i could, then put quicksteel on it then jb weld over that. drove it all night not a drop. hopefully it holds up but i guess i didnt have much of a choice i dont think it was gonna come apart with as much jb weld as the guy before me used haha

[jesilvas]

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