Phantom Oil Leak?

Osprey413 · Mar 22, 2005

Ok, so here is the deal. About six months ago I was driving from Dallas to Fort Worth and I noticed a ton of smoke behind my Jeep. I pulled over and found that I had a massive amount of oil spraying down onto my exhaust. I didn't have time to call a tow truck, and my oil level and psi seemed fine, so I went on. Got to Fort Worth fine and turned off the Jeep. No more smoke at all, and no more leak. Drove it back to Dallas and it was fine. Didn't have another leak or problem for six months. Now, out of no where, while I was driving back to Dallas from Houston I get the same thing. Tons of smoke and oil everywhere. I check the oil level and it's fine, psi fine. I keep on driving and the smoke stops and the leak goes away. That was about a week ago. Yet again, I have no oil leak. I cannot figure out what is causing or where this oil leak is coming from. When it happens it seems like I have a hole in my oil pan there is so much oil, but then it just goes away and my oil level stays the same. Any ideas?

MachineMan · Mar 22, 2005

Your tranny is leaking fluid out the front onto the exhust pipe. Mine does this when the tranny overheats. So check you tranny fluid.

19Pioneer86 · Mar 22, 2005

if its a manual check clutch resivoir.

XJXJ · Mar 22, 2005

Osprey413 said:
Ok, so here is the deal. About six months ago I was driving from Dallas to Fort Worth and I noticed a ton of smoke behind my Jeep. I pulled over and found that I had a massive amount of oil spraying down onto my exhaust. I didn't have time to call a tow truck, and my oil level and psi seemed fine, so I went on. Got to Fort Worth fine and turned off the Jeep. No more smoke at all, and no more leak. Drove it back to Dallas and it was fine. Didn't have another leak or problem for six months. Now, out of no where, while I was driving back to Dallas from Houston I get the same thing. Tons of smoke and oil everywhere. I check the oil level and it's fine, psi fine. I keep on driving and the smoke stops and the leak goes away. That was about a week ago. Yet again, I have no oil leak. I cannot figure out what is causing or where this oil leak is coming from. When it happens it seems like I have a hole in my oil pan there is so much oil, but then it just goes away and my oil level stays the same. Any ideas?

Year? Transmission? 4.0 engine? Mileage?

Differential can puke gear oil hitting exhaust in some instances. Auto tranny as noted, maybe power steering pump? Clogged CCV plumbing? Looking under carriage can you see oil towards the front or the rear?

Mine did this when the pinion bearing shelled.

Dr. Dyno · Mar 22, 2005

MachineMan said:
Your tranny is leaking fluid out the front onto the exhust pipe. Mine does this when the tranny overheats. So check you tranny fluid.

I think you're onto something there. If the tranny has been overfilled, the fluid could spit out from the top of the tranny dipstick tube when it expands as it gets hot. The fluid then drips onto the exhaust, gets burnt, and the smoke gets blown out from the back by air rushing underneath the vehicle.

Osprey413 · Mar 22, 2005

It's a 4.0L with the auto tranny. It's either oil or tranny fluid. Front diffirential was dry, front half of the oil pan was dry. There was alot of fluid, and I haven't noticed any drops in transmition response, but I haven't checked the fluid level either. Just as a side note, how difficult is it to install a tranny fluid cooler on a Jeep that didn't come with the towing package? Is it simply bolt on, or would I need a completely new tranny? The fluid was brown btw and the smoke was a grey color. There was so much fluid that it completely covered my rear axle and flying up and hitting my tail gate. Auto tranny is making more sense, so I'll check the level later today. Maybe I have a good for that mechanical temp guage i have laying around?

Osprey413 · Mar 23, 2005

nuttinbuttmudd · Mar 23, 2005

you do any water crossing with this rig ?

if so for shits and grins pull your front diff fill plug and check the color of the gear lube

if milky white prob got water in it and it is making it flow over your breather tube is behind your engine up high ,the diff will be dry but not behind the engine wont

just a swag at it

swag = scientific wild ass guess

tranny fill tube is on oposite sides of the exhuast

the breather tube is on same side

MachineMan · Mar 23, 2005

I had a similar problem few days ago. My tranny overheated and spewed ATF fluid out the front which then dripped onto my exhuast pipe.

I just ordered a tranny cooler from Summitracing.com. My plan is to bypass the radiator exchanger and run it through the new cooler which will sit in front of my A/C cooler. Not sure yet how good its going to work out with an A/C and tranny cooler sitting in front of my radiator..

Phantom Oil Leak?

Osprey413

NAXJA Forum User

MachineMan

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19Pioneer86

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XJXJ

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Dr. Dyno

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Osprey413

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Osprey413

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nuttinbuttmudd

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MachineMan

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