Oil Pan Leak @ Rear Main Seal - Long Post

Looking for help with oil leak. Purchased a 92 XJ last week and it looked like the motor had been dipped in oil. Have read all posts on all repairs that we are attempting. Replaced valve cover gasket on Sat with no probs. Spent 15 hrs yesterday attempting to replace rear main seal and oil pan gasket. Attempt one was to drop pan, clean and prep as well as possible and put just a small amount of RTV on corners. This provided a leak of 2 drops per minute at the lower end of the horse shoe from pan below rear main seal. Rear main seal was put in correctly. 2nd attempt was to not remove as many componets and drop pan as far as possible and clean this rear area and put a lot of RTV in this cross section. This produced a leak of 1 drop per 5 minutes in same rear area. I went to my local dealer today to see if they have upgraded the 2 hole strap at rear of pan, not! Has anyone ever put a small shim above the 2 hole strap to tighten this area? Has anyone ever slighlty bent the flange in this area to tighten it up? Do I just drop pan again and RTV the heck out of this area? Should I let the Hi - Temp RTV cure B-4 starting? Do I use something else other than this RTV?? Any and all help is appreciated !!

Are you sure the oil pan is leaking? I have the same problem with my XJ. I dropped the pan, bought a new gasket and siliconed it up real good. The pan drips nothing anymore. I have found the leak but have to wait for next oil change. The oil filter connector. The little elbow-like thing that the filter screws on to. It is where my oil is leaking from. I am pretty sure this is it considering I can see the dried oil build up and it only leaks when the engine is running or just turned off so its at a high point. When its time to change to oil again I plan on disconnnecting that whole assembly and gasketing/siliconing it up. Now it leaks about 3-4 quarts a change. Just my personal experience.

Are you using the old 4-piece pan gasket, or the new 1-piece gasket?

Dealers have all upgraded to using the new style for all years. Parts houses haven't caught on that the new style can be used on the older engines. If you're using the old style, toss it (them) in the trash and get a 1-piece for a '96 4.0L. That gasket does not require any RTV except a small daub at the corners of the 'U' front and rear. If you try to RTV the rest, the whole gasket will slide out of position when you tighhten the bolts.

Be sure you straightened the flanges of the pan well, since you most likely bent them up a bit getting the pan off.

I´ve done few on the vehicle and one on a motor stand (which doesn´t count, way to easy).
I´m kind of a fanatic about having almost perfectly clean surfaces, before I apply the RTV. A roll of paper towels and a large can of brake cleaner, minimum. Wipe down everything in the motor that might drip, all the sealing surfaces absolutly, oil free.
Before I put the pan on, I check that the bolt holes arn´t cone shape. If the bolts were overtightened, on the last gasket, the bolt holes get pushed up a bit. Small body hammer and a board, to tap the metal around the holes flat again. Doesn´t have to be perfect, just close.
Some gaskets may need a few dabs of gasket cement (glue) at a few points to keep the gasket from slipping.
I tighten the bolts, just a touch tighter than finger tight. Use a light Loc Tite on the bolt threads. Go have lunch, pick up some tools, let everything sit for a couple of hours. Tighten the bolts, to torque specs. or use a small rathchet, snug then a quarter turn. I usually hold the head of the ratchet not the handle.
Overtightening the bolts, sometimes crushes the gasket, causing leaks. Make sure you get a little extra dab, of RTV by the ends of the rear main gasket and the corners where the pan gasket and bottom timing chain gasket meet.
I did one pan and didn´t Loc Tite the bolts, a few bolts fell out, the rest were pretty darned loose, pan didn´t leak a drop (good prep).
It really isn´t how tight you get the pan on there, it´s how clean the sealing surfaces are. I´ve never tried to do one, without taking the pan all the way out (a pain), but seemed the only way I was gonna get things clean enough, to do the job once.

Eagle posted while I was writing, if the gasket you get is rubber or already covered in silicon. The gasket cement (glue, just a dab here and there) in a few places and RTV in the corners is all your gonna need. Haven´t tried the 96 gasket Eagle recommended, I will next time, I listen to Eagles advice.

Ditto on making sure that pan is flat, find a good large steel table saw and lay the pan on it, run a feeler gague around it the edges. I've done the same thing with a valve cover, especially after a previous owner decided to rtv the heck out of it in an attempt to stop a leak and we've almost had to blast the thing off. Clean is also the way to go but I never went quite so far as to spray anything that *might* drip on it during reassembly, but that makes sense thinking about it, guess I'll carry a can of electro clean under with me next time. All this is true for whatever engine it is, 2.5L 4 or LT1.

Thanks Guys,
Great suggestions. We did use a new one pc gasket. Thinking back we did have some slightly coned shaped holes along the pan. The first attempt we used just a light film of RTV on the corners. The next attempt was an all at attempt to stop the leak, but things were no where near as clean. Also I must admit that I was tightening the bolts very tight, little by little. It seems that the leak has diminished so what today, maybe curing? I can't image that the leak would get better (less) with time.
One of todays projects was to replace all 3 o-rings in the oil filter housing, they were cooked! The o-rings cost $13 from the dealer, nothing special here, all of $3 worth of rings. I believe someone in the past has posted o-ring numbers to purchase from a bearing house at the right price, next time. Also replaced today was a 4 - 5 way valve above the oil filter that runs coolant into and out of water pump, heater core and so forth.
I sure hope this puts a end to several leaks dealing with our 2nd Jeep in the family.
Thank you again for all of your suggestions, I do appreciate all advise!