Rear Main Seal/Bearing Cap problem

History:
This is an 87 MJ that I put a reman'ed 4.0 in from my 90 XJ. Sold it about a year ago to a friend and just bought it back for my daughter. It has a very bad leak near the back of the pan which we figured was the rear main. I pulled it apart this AM and this is what I found:



So, how screwed am I? It looks like the leak was throught that oil pan seal for sure. Can I just use extra RTV? Can you replace just a bearing cap? I would like to kick the installers azz, but I installed it. I do not recall see this when I installed it.

O-John---You,re screwed big time...JK. Clean the cap real good and glue the pan seal to it.Ues the yellow weather strip adhesive to glue it in place.Be very careful with the re-install.Do -not over tighten the bolts.
HTH,
Wayne

Wayne Sihler said:

O-John---You,re screwed big time...JK. Clean the cap real good and glue the pan seal to it.Ues the yellow weather strip adhesive to glue it in place.Be very careful with the re-install.Do -not over tighten the bolts.
HTH,
Wayne

Click to expand...

Thanks Wayne, but what sucks is I got the good one piece oil pan gasket that makes the job so much easier. But, that will make it hard to glue it to the cap.

Clean the oil off of the cap using a solvent. Then use an RTV type glue thats made for oil pan gaskets, but only in this area. Assemble while the glue is still wet. Make sure to torque the bearing cap down. Then torque down all the oil pan bolts. Just take your time and watch the gasket. Let the glue dry before adding oil to engine and/or running it.

Thanks guys, I'll give it a shot tomorrow. Gotta watch the Steelers upset the Colts.

Update. I can not get this to seal. This vehicle may be shipped overseas and can not ship with leaks. Can I replace the bearing cap? I have a spare, would it require machining?

If you want to replace the broken cap with your spare, you'll need to make sure the spare is machined to the same specs as your broken original.

Two ideas for doing that:

1. Hold the two caps tightly together side by side. Examine them to see if the bearing surfaces are the same ... see if they follow the same arch.

2. Use Plastigauge. Torque down both caps on the plastigauge (one at a time, of course), and compare results.

If the replacement cap is too big, you'll have to replace the bearing or buy a new cap. If the replacement cap is too small, you can have it machined to the correct size.

And, of course, if the replacement cap is just right, you can bolt it right on

Good luck.