oil leak...oil pressure sensor??

Ok so I have a oil leak that is driving me crazy! I have replaced the o-rings in the oil filter mount. the filter is installed correctly. I replaced the distributor because it was full of oil. I replaced the valve cover seal and cleaned out the vents. I am still getting lots of oil leaking from that side of the engine and dripping onto the exhaust. It is annoying to pull up some where and have smoke coming out from under the hood.

it is hard to see where it could be coming from. are there any good ways to check. The engine seems to be vented fine but I am not sure. I pulled the front vent hose while it was running and the air seemed to be flowing out fine. Is there a easy way to see it the case isn't vented good. I opened the oil fill cap and left it setting on the hole and reved the engine up and it didn't move. so there wasn't enough force to lift the cap. Could it be the oil pressure sensor leaking? that seems to be the last place it could be.

Please help me I have been searching on here all day. this is my last repair before I can start doing some add ons.

Thanks

Franklin

Can you be more specific about where it seems to leaking. Sounds like your saying it is leaking on the drivers side above the intake/exhaust manifolds, or is it leaking out the back onto the exhaust pipe down lower behind the engine? There is no exhaust piping near the oil pressure sensor, it is on the oil filter adapter.

What year is it?

In my experience, any oil leak near there will blow on to the exhaust, so it's probably worth a look. Usually the best way to look for these things is to clean the engine off really well, and then run it and see if you can see where it's coming from.

It doesn't take a lot of leaking to make smoke when it hits the crossover pipe, and I will confess that on two of the three XJ's I've owned, I partially solved the problem, not by fixing the leaks, but by fabricating a shield for the exhaust to deflect the oil.

I do wonder, though, about your venting. The front hose is supposed to be the intake, not the outlet, for the crankcase vent. Make sure that the vacuum line at the rear is not clogged.

Ordinarily, I'd say go ahead and replace the sender, since they're usually pretty cheap, but the XJ gauge senders can be pretty expensive. Since it is threaded with a standard 1/8 inch pipe thread, you could experiment by plugging it temporarily and see if the leak stops.

check the air box for oil. Thats what this one was doing before replacing the engine.

I do have some oil in the filter and from the tube going to it from the vent. what would cause that? could the vent going to the manifold be cloged? I will chek that tomorrow. What else should I look for.

Ok so I think I fixed it! I was wandering why there were 2 vents. once you guys told me the back is for out and the front is for in it made sense. here is what i did let me know what you think: I went to Lowes and got a 1/2" tube barb with 1/4" threads on the other side and I got a 1/2" radiator hose to handle the heat. I pit the barb in the manifold where the old clogged tinny tube went since it was the same threads. then I ran the hose over to the vent. I figured since the vent regulates the flow it should run fine...and it does no more leaking and it runs great the hose is looking good too! I don't think this hose will clog. after building 2 sandrails from the ground up it is normal to me to do things this way.