Oil Leak, slow hot start, what else?

[tommymac]

It's a long post but please help.

Its been a long time since I've visited this site. My 2005 F250, 6.0 has been pretty darn good, that is up until now. It was purchase Sept. 04 and has 49,000 miles on it. I just noticed that it is leaking oil, and after sitting overnight leaves a spot about the size of a half dollar coin on the garage floor. The drip is coming right off the bottom of the bell housing. What are the chances this is the "bed plate leak"? I did have it in for other work once, under 3/36 warranty, and did mention oil at the side of the block but the dealer said it was not a significant leak and did nothing. I would bet my house they did not note it in the service report either.

The other problem that I have, is that the engine will crank a long time before it starts when the engine is hot. Sometimes, but rarely, it cranks so long that I feel the need to stop cranking for a bit for fear of burning up the starter. Is there a specific problem that has been pinpointed as the cause for slow starts when these engines are hot? This is one of those tricky warranty issues, it seems dealers alway want to duplicate the problem. Well this might be hard to do in this case. Is there anything I can tell them that will get this fixed without them duplicating this problem?

HERE IS WHERE I REALLY NEED HELP. I am still covered under the factory pay up 100 dollar warranty. Should both of these issues be covered under one, 100 dollar warranty item or will I need to pony up 200 dollars? I live in northern Minnesota and from my experience there is not a good dealer around. Every one I know with these trucks (5 other people) has had issues trying to get their trucks fixed. What makes thing worse is that Ford Customer Service has been just terrible for me to work with in one other situation. Any service department suggestions? Specific mechanics? I am thinking about selling. Should I even get it fixed? I am sure it will trigger a caution if someone does a car fax report. I could go on and on.

Thanks in advance for your help!