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Crap - just got an oil leak...

B

binfordtools

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Michigan
Here I was bragging that my 2000 XJ didn't leak a drop of oil when I just noticed a small amount of oil in the driveway! It just turned over 70000 miles. It appears that it's leaking from the rear main. This sucks I was just getting ready to put my lift on. I read the jeeping.com article on doing this but have any of you done this? How hard was it?

Thanks
 
Before you pull out the 12 ga shot gun and do damage or yourself or the XJ why don't you get out the torque wrench and retighten the valve cover on your engine. The valve cover bolts do work loose and oil leaking at the rear of the head looks like a rear main leak.

Do that and you may fix the problem. Don't go crazy over it, my 88 XJ been doing it but I am not worried. I have not taken the time to recheck the valve cover bolt torques but will do it next time I thin of it.
 
Thank god somebody else is having this same problem as me. I just noticed my 99 doing the same today. It's been doing it a while as when you look back behind the engine at the top of the tranny, it's all oily looking.

Looks EXACTLY like a leak at the header too. Will go out there and tighten the bolts right now.

BTW, similar miles, i'm at 64K.

How common are rear main leaks in the 4.0??
 
When I bought my 94 I was leaking at all the major points. Valve cover bolts werent even finger tight...leaking there. Oil filter adapter o-rings were shot...leaking there. And rear main seal was shot...leaking big there. I did new valve cover gasket first. Then the orings. Still no big change. Then the rear main seal. Now Im completely drip free...for now.

Take everyones advice about checking the easy stuff first. The valve cover is by far the easiest to tighten/change. The o-rings are easy...as long as you hav good luck getting the adapter off. I didnt... The rear main is much easier than it seems. Just a messing oily job. Biggest pain is pulling the pan, and cleaning whats left of the cork gasket...if its cork. Other than that its just time consuming and messy. If you have a day to mess around, just pull the valve cover and reseal it. I used a new gasket along with some "right stuff". I KNOW that sucker isnt leaking now!

Good luck!

Justin
 
The oil Filter housing O Rings are also a common a culprit...

just went through that song and dance on my 91..

It still drips about 1-2 drops everytime I park it from the mainseal area..

I already tightened my valve cover nuts.. I didn't find any oil dripping down the back side and the nuts were all tight....

Before I go through the trouble of doing the mainseal I'll definately go through and replace/clean the CCV breather hoses. Then pull the valve cover and clean the insides, put a new Valve cover gasket in and then.... only then.. if it still leaks from the same place I'll drop the pan and do the mainseal..
 
Mine's leaking from the rear of the engine block. And I checked the bolts and they were pretty darn tight. So maybe the seals just shot?
 
99XJSPORT06 said:
Mine's leaking from the rear of the engine block. And I checked the bolts and they were pretty darn tight. So maybe the seals just shot?
Click to expand...

Do some searching, A leaky valve cover does a better impersonation of a leaky rear seal then a real leaky rear seal does LOL. Stick your hand behind the valve cover, if it comes away oily you got oil coming out from there.
A by the book method involves degreasing the motor so it's all squeaky clean then running it, at the highest point you find oil thats where you start looking, oil generally does not leak UP. However it can and is blown back alongside the motor when the oil filter mounting O rings start leaking as well as when you change the oil, alot of the oil that drains from the filter runs along the top of the starter and can look like a leak.
 
RichP said:
Do some searching, A leaky valve cover does a better impersonation of a leaky rear seal then a real leaky rear seal does LOL. Stick your hand behind the valve cover, if it comes away oily you got oil coming out from there.
A by the book method involves degreasing the motor so it's all squeaky clean then running it, at the highest point you find oil thats where you start looking, oil generally does not leak UP. However it can and is blown back alongside the motor when the oil filter mounting O rings start leaking as well as when you change the oil, alot of the oil that drains from the filter runs along the top of the starter and can look like a leak.
Click to expand...

Here's the thing though. It's not hitting pavement. It's running down the back of the engine and hitting the tranny. My t-case is leaking on to the driveway. And yes they are both separate leaks. I can see the ATF slowly running out of the output seal on the t-case.

Little too chilly to me washin the engine now...lol.

I'm home all week for spring break, and it supposed to be up in the 70's tomorrow and wednesday, so i'll wash it down then. I really do need to get the winter salt off of the engine.
 
haha my father had a car that had to have a quart of oil every fill up. o well i never needed an oil change. i wouldn't realy wory about a rear main till it starts sloshing out. the job is fairly simple to replace but it is a messy kinda long job.
 
If you do decide to clean the oil mess off your motor be sure to either bag your distributor and coil..... or have an air compressor handy to blast the extra water away from the spark plugs, distributor, and coil.

I cleaned up all the oil trying to figure out what was leaking.. Hit it with some degreaser and then rinsed it off with the hose.

Then drove around and noticed I hadn't tightened my oil filter housing enough when I changed the O rings in it... there was about a 1/4 turn left.. it hasn't dripped from THAT leak since..

However when I started it to drive around it was running on like 5 cylinders.

Then later when I got in it it wouldn't start very easily at all... and it ran even worse... like 2 cylinders!!

Got out the air compressor and sprayed all the electronics and after that it started on one turn of the key!

I think I need to add some Di-electric grease in the future to keep the moisture out..
 
Well, I'd like to tackle this thing this week or weekend sometime while i'm home for spring break.

I stopped by autozone tonight to get a price on a valve cover gasket, and was told it was *$53* and they'd have to order it. (why does everything that I need always have to be ordered????). $53 sounds a little pricey for a gasket. Anyone else think thats a little insane????
 
Just a hint for you guys that change your rear main.
Change your OIL PUMP. Use factory pump.
Well worth the extra time and extra money.
 
You're right, $53 is mighty steep for a valve cover gasket. I did mine about a month ago and I remember the gasket costing right around $6 from Autozone, and they had it in stock. Brand was Fetco. Go back and ask them to check it again...
 
99XJSPORT06 said:
Well, I'd like to tackle this thing this week or weekend sometime while i'm home for spring break.

I stopped by autozone tonight to get a price on a valve cover gasket, and was told it was *$53* and they'd have to order it. (why does everything that I need always have to be ordered????). $53 sounds a little pricey for a gasket. Anyone else think thats a little insane????
Click to expand...


$53 for one gasket? that is insane. I bought a complete engine gasket kit last week for $70
 
4Banger said:
$53 is quiet pricey. I think it shouldn't be more than $33 plus some change.
And yes, it is insane.
Click to expand...


$33 is still way to much. I noticed that Felpro prices have gone up in the past 6 months. last time i bought a rear main it was 14 bucks, last week it was $26 by itself. that's why i just bought the kit since i needed most of it, except the oil pan gasket.
 
nuttinbuttmudd said:
jeeps DONT LEAK!!! they mark there territory!
Click to expand...


well mine's marking it's territory with the t-case, and marking ITSELF with the valve cover gasket....LOL Guess my Jeep's a little retarded???

My jaw hit the floor when I was told that price. I even asked the guy to show me the computer screen, and he pointed out "Valve Cover Gasket" "99 Cherokee 4.0L l-6" "52.99" "out of stock"
 
I took a real careful look and it appears that my valve cover is not leaking. My oil filter housing has some seeping around it but nothing that would indicate that it is causing the drips. The drips are getting worse - bad enough that I had to start parking in the street! Funny thing is this all happened after I got my oil changed last time. They must have overfilled my oil because even with the dripping it is still overfilled. Maybe this caused the leak by creating too much crankcase pressure at high RPM with too much oil?

By the way - I always change my own oil. This was the first and last time I use a drive-through oil change place. I just got lazy this winter and had them do it. Now I have some huge ass oil leak. Thanks Uncle Ed's!

I bought all of the parts I need to do the rear main seal. Got my buddy at RBR Off-Road in Waterford (Michigan) to lend me his hoist for a Saturday so I guess I will tackle the job. Wish me luck!
 
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