Road trip problems

I left this morning at 0400. So far I've had problems with a siezed caliper, and a busted windshield. The caliper is fine now after lubing the centering pins but the windshield is still cracked.
I have 2 healthy fluid leaks that were not present before. I did a rear main several days ago and a pan gasket. While re-fueling for the first time this morning I noticed a 6"diameter puddle of oil form in minutes. This is the biggest leak. It appears to be concentrated around the bell housing inspection plate. I haven't been able to look much closer b/c now it's dark. The oil pan itself is not where it's gathering. I'm thinking I either did something wrong (put the seal in backwards, the pan gasket isn't sealing) or the seal between the motor and trans catastrophically gave away.
The smaller leak looks like it's coming from the area where the front driveshaft connects to the TC. I believe these are 2 separate leaks I need to deal with. The one on the TC has clearly slung fluid in a circular pattern up into the trans tunnel.
Nex tup is something at the front of the motor that is unhappy. It might be the tensioner crying out but it was too hot get in there and feel for play. At a stoplight it sounds like a can full of quarters and gets worse with rpms.
Tomorrow morning I am going to check all fluids, even TC and see what they read. The trans and oil both read full tonight. I am also going to try and figure out what is making all the noise up front. I do not have endless internet or I would spend hours looking for answers. If you could please offer any suggestions I would appreciate it. I will probably be ale to get internet again tomorrow morning briefly unless I can find WI-FI that I can steal.
I have a decent assortment of tools but it looks like I might be forced to repair in a parking lot. I have Lawn Chers number it's too late to call him tonight so I'll try tomorrow. This is a 96 4.0 auto with 113000 on it. TIA for any help.

-river

Full oil in motor and trans? Interesting.
Is your AC on? The AC will puddle out of the pass side frame rail when you stop. I assume though you checked to see that it wasn't just water

Fluid color will be a big clue. I assume you drove the vehicle around after doing the seal, but if may be that if you did not prelubricate the seal- or as you think, got it in backwards, that may be where the leak is.

I have had a kinked tranny line puddle under the Jeep and the hose has been known to rot at the crimp on the steel AT lines.

The leak on the front TC output sounds like a bad seal. Won't weep much, just enough to wet bottom of truck.

No clue on your rattle can. Personal inspection on that one I'm aftraid. A muffler or Cat will cause rattling, but will generally smooth with back pressure, and certainly will not appear to come from the front.

Sounds though like you have a source of help if things don't pan your way.

Ron

That noise in the front of the motor is most likely your mechanical clutch fan bearing,or idler pulley making that noise.When my mech fan clutch went bad it sounded similar to your description.When my idler pulley went bad it actually started to whistle.....

My money's on the fan clutch.

I wish I had a silver bullet answer for your main bearing seal leak. I'm actually a pretty good mechanic, but have a 50% success rate when replacing the main bearing seal. I don't think I've ever screwed up a pan seal though, during reassembly.
Overtightening the pan bolts can crush, split and crack the pan gasket. Or with the rubber gasket, overtightening the bolts can squeeze it out of the sealing area.
One way to get it right is to use gasket cement on a cork gasket. Gasket cement is almost like contact cememnt. It holds the gasket in place. I usually dab a little on the gasket between the bolt holes and near the bolt holes instead trying to glue the whole gasket. I figure I will probably have to take it off again some time.
Coating the gasket, one side or both sides with silicon can also cause it to squeeeze out fairly easy, when the bolts are tightened.
Stock pans come off hard and often get bent, you have to lay the pan on something flat and check that it isn't high in places. Judicial use of some small wood blocks and a hammer will usually straighten things back out good enough. You may also want to check the bolt holes on the pan, if the bolts have been overtightened, the bolt holes often protrude some and often make an almost cone shape, which spreads the holes on the new gasket causing cracks.
The two halves of the rear main gasket need a dab of silicon on both sides to make it a complete ring seal. Too much silicon can keep the back bearing cap from seating all the way. The book recommends coating the seal in dishwashing soap, I really don't know if this is for ease of installation and removal or because it helps with the seal. Smearing the crank, where the seal seats with oil, assembly lub or grease is a must, if it's dry the friction heat will burn up your new seal pretty quick.
I've had piss poor luck with FEL PRO rear main seals.
The front seal or yoke on the transfer often looks like it's leaking a lot of oil when it's actually just a seep and nothing to really worry about. The only way to know for sure is to pull the transfer oil filler plug and see how much fluid you've actually lost, if any.
The front seal/yoke can leak through the yoke as well as at the seal. The center bolt in the yoke has been know to come loose. There is a gasket/seal between the yoke and the shaft behind the yoke, that sometimes allows fuild to leak out through the splines and around the bolt.
Cleaning the windshield crack with a good solvent and carefully putting a very small bead of super glue on the crack, will help keep the crack from spreading. I've actually super glued a crack and had it suck (capillary action) some super glue through the crack to the middle layer of the three layer windshield (glass/adhessive/glass) and had it last for years.
I didn't get the year of your XJ, but if the breather tubes to the valve cover are plugged, it will force oil out the seals, rear main and timing chain cover. I had one rear main leak that dried up to almost nothing, after I cleaned my valve cover breather hoses out.
The noise form the front could be something on the belt, oil, coolant most any fluid will make it chirp or squeal. I reread your post again, the rattle from the front sounds like a set of bearings, fan or one of the smooth idler wheels. Be carefull when trying to localize the noise, belts and fan blades can be really painfull mistakes. Jeep pieces can be hard to find on occasion, some of the early Chevy truck idlers are the same. I've used 88 Chev C or K truck idler pulleys on my Renix before.
Good luck.

jeepdeepfreak said:

That noise in the front of the motor is most likely your mechanical clutch fan bearing,or idler pulley making that noise.When my mech fan clutch went bad it sounded similar to your description.
My money's on the fan clutch.

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That would be my guess. The bearing is a dealer only part, atleast around here is was, IIRC about 120$.

Good news: Idler pulley was loose and I tightened it up and that's good.

Bad news: I revved the motor up to check for the noise and the mechanical fan is now loose and hits the shroud. Looks like the clutch could be bad. Can anyone confirm that this is symptomatic of the fan clutch so I can start calling dealers?

Haven't done anything with the leaks yet.

riverfever said:

Good news: Idler pulley was loose and I tightened it up and that's good.

Bad news: I revved the motor up to check for the noise and the mechanical fan is now loose and hits the shroud. Looks like the clutch could be bad. Can anyone confirm that this is symptomatic of the fan clutch so I can start calling dealers?

Haven't done anything with the leaks yet.

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My experience was, idler/bearings went bad, which in turn f'd-up the clutch, or was it the other way around, but when one went, it took the other..
The clutch you should be able to get at a parts store.

Replace the clutch and the noise should disappear.How many miles are on the fan clutch now?It's probably due for replacement anyway.It's easy to replace.Four nuts and you might have to loosen up the radiator to get enough clearance to pull the fan.I.IRC. you don't have to take the belt off to replace it either.

hth.