Coming home from COFest

[riverfever]

We were tired of the rain and decided to head home tonight from Buena Vista. It was a fun weekend. We got to see some friends and met lots of new folks. We were really impressed with the way everything went. The dinner and raffle were a really nice touch.

As we were approaching Hartsel, we could see a convoy of vehicles coming in from the way back from Breck. We got behind the 8 or so lifted TJ's and a ZJ from Colorado 4x4. We were all chatting on the radio. Right at Lake George, the ZJ started to lose it's lights and slowed way down. He finally pulled over and I informed his group that he had a problem but they kept trucking. I tried to catch them but decided to turn around and check on him. The fuses for the alt. kept blowing. He got halfway between Florissant and Divide and lost it. I towed him on into Woodland where the rest were having Sonic. I was really glad to be able to help out the guy. I'm a little worried though. That Grand was heavy and even though I took it slow...I could smell something. I'm guessing it was the trans getting a bit hot. Should I be concerned? The fluid in there is about a year old. This was in my 96 with a 4.0/auto. I towed him right to my place and his buddies picked him up. They said they'd come back for it tomorrow. I really didn't drive mine anymore but up the driveway. Sorry for the dumb question.

-river

[YELLAHEEP]

Chris,

Is it possible that your XJ leaks bit around the exhaust and maybe wet around the floor pan near the exhaust?

I've had a couple experiences helping some guys out that tow their pop-up campers behind their XJ's and the usual leaks tend to get worse when towing and the exhaust gets hotter than usual..... maybe what you were smelling was the combination of hot exhaust and cooking off some oils on the tranny, floor pans and what not.

Just to be on the safe side, pull the trans dipstick and look/smell. Should still be redish and should not smell burned.

That tow shouldn't have been really all that hard on your rig so it kinda depends on the condition of the tranny before the tow.

[riverfever]

I replaced the rear main and pan gasket but still have an oil leak from somewhere that I'm tracking down. I def. have oil on the floor and it does leak down off the bell housing. I know it leaks more on the highway under load than around town. I just jumped to the conclusion that it had something to do with the trans. Makes perfect sense that the motor is under more load towing as well. I'll pull the dipstick tomorrow morning and check it out. Thank you.

[formatt]

Hey Chris... it was good to see you and heather!

Take a paper towel and rub the area just below the last two bolts on your valve cover, towards the back of the engine. 9 times out of 10, people mistake a rear main seal leak for a leaky valve cover. It'll leak out the back of the valve cover and run down the back of the block. It's super easy to spot and just as easy to fix.... 30 minutes and you're good.

If you're still not sure what I'm talking about, PM me and I'll shoot you my number and talk you through it.

__________________
matthew - 96 xj
formatt fabrications
www.formattfab.com (http://www.formattfab.com/)