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93 Jeep Cherokee Sport, mystery hose help.

G

GreedKills

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Arizona
1993 Jeep Cherokee Sport 4.0L 4x4

I've been browsing the forum for some time and while this is not what I wanted my first post to be, I do need some assistance. My oil pressure gauge has been acting funny for a while and today while leaving a friends, I noticed a hose hanging underneath the car. It starts from under the hood, drivers side and is plugged with some plastic. Drops down to fit....I don't know where?! It is covered in oil and appeared to have been zip tied and fallen out, where it proceeded to be destroyed by the drivetrain. I didnt see any major oil leaks anywhere I've been the past few days but my oil is BONE dry. Including pictures of a few different spots, any help is appreciated.

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http://img852.imageshack.us/img852/8307/img20110412163044.jpg
http://img715.imageshack.us/img715/1594/img20110412163319.jpg
http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/57/img20110412163338.jpg
http://img130.imageshack.us/img130/2806/img20110412163344.jpg
http://img856.imageshack.us/img856/7167/img20110412163352.jpg

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Guy at O'Reilly said it was oil all over it and it was not transmission. Dropped 6 quarts of oil in and it gulped it all down, you could hear it draining into the engine but no leak. I haven't started it yet, I can't figure out where the other end of the breather plugs into...somewhere under the heads?
 
That would be the vent hose that connects to the front axle housing, grab a flashlight and look on the back of the passenger side of the center section of the front axle, just above the axle's center line. there is a hole that hose plugs into. The oil on it is likely residual oil from a leaky power steering hose, trans cooler line, front crank seal, or valve cover gasket. Any of those would be easy to spot by oil all over the rest of the affected areas though.

The plastic piece is the fitting that goes into the diff. just push it back in, it lets the diff vent off pressure as the gear oil heats up, without allowing water to flow in should the diff be underwater (the reason for the hose attached to it).
 
On mine this is my front axle vent tube. If you follow it down it should go to the top of the pumpkin.

GreedKills said:
Here is one of the original pics with markers for which hose it is...drivers side.


10gn4u1.jpg
Click to expand...
 
The oil on the hose could be gear oil as well, I would pull the plug out of the front cover and make sure it's filled up to the level of the hole with gear oil. To be thorough you should pull the diff cover and drain/refill it with new oil as it needs to be changed out every once in awhile anyway whether it has been contaminated or not.
 
Would any kind of problem with this hose over a long period, drain a major chunk of oil? Or is there possibly another issue that has my oil drained down to nothing? I had not noticed any change in driveability. Last week it was lifted up to put 4 new tires on and they didn't say anything about a hose hanging down. Today when I saw it it was near the ground and thats why I noticed it. Old hose is torn up like it got in the drivetrain when it fell but as I stated earlier, I hadn't seen any major oil spots at home or work in the last week or two so it seems like it was a slow leak, whatever it was.
 
That is deffinetly the vent tube for the front axle. When you say your oil is bone dry, what oil are you talking about? The engine is bone dry? If the engine is bone dry then its leaking. If the diff was dry its because of the vent being gone. As far as oil leaks go, check the oil pan bolts, valve cover bolts, tranny pan bolts to see if any of them are loose. Rear main seals commonly leak on the 4.0 when it has high miles.
 
Yeah, engine is bone dry. It looks like it may be a loose seal on the pan or loose bolts. I will check all that, but I appreciate all the rapid responses on the hose and it was pretty much a consensus. I've got everything to replace it I just needed a destination.

The seals on the pumpkin on the rear axle are definitely leaking as well. I have a few things to take care of this weekend. :)

Thanks everyone!
 
if they put it on a lift and you have enough axle droop to tug on that hose then it would easily pop out. it would not cause an engine oil leak, no. if anything it would make oil seep out of the axle housing where the hole I mentioned earlier is.

As NorCalChris mentioned rear main leaks are pretty common, as are valve cover leaks... but you would notice if either of those are bad enough to drain the engine dry on the dipstick. Does the engine smoke at all? is it possible you're burning oil?
 
No engine smoking and no lift, it's stock. It's in my driveway and at work enough that I would see a steady drain but it's just the normal reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaallllllllllly slow drip in the front that it's had for a long time. Never had an issue just draining the oil though.
 
if it was empty most likely you just heard it draining into the oilpan. It's very odd that it would leak out of the engine that much and not leave a mark. When I said engine smoking I meant from the exhaust, not directly from the engine itself just to clarify.
 
On first start up does it smoke temporarily? Does it smoke when gears change? Does it smoke all the time? All three of those are signs of oil burning internally. Maybe the oil is leaking faster then you think and you took too long to change the oil. Normally when I see "bad" oil leaks I see oil on the rear window. Do you happen to have that?
 
It's part of the centersection, the hole faces rearward near where the passenger side axle tube enters the housing, but above the tube and inwards.
 
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