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Rear main seal help

Gnarlyrider27

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Coarsegold CA
Ok so I bought a new rear main seal and been told different things. I been told by a few I can change it while the engine is still in the jeep and others say I have to pull the engine and remove the flywheel and all that. I want to do this the easiest way possible
 
Its not that bad of a job. I done it on mine about a month ago. You will want to jack up the jeep as much as possible. makes getting the oil pan out easier.
 
Ya the other day I hooked up my cherry picker to my bumper and lifted it up but only had to go up maybe a inch since its lifted. My other question is what are the bolts torqued too
 
4.0s are 2 piece. 2.5s are one piece.

Have YOU verified the leak, or are you embarking on this project on someone else's diagnosis?
 
I'd be looking up ABOVE first, and VERIFYING the source of the oil leak YOURSELF.
Everybody, who doesn't own or have to pay for or perform your vehicle repairs, loves to poke their noggin UNDER the Jeep and come out bearing the false bad news that your RMS is leaking.
Many mechanics, friends, and good old Uncle Bob seem to enjoy telling you it’s the rear main seal. Has a catastrophic ring to it, doesn’t it?
A simple leak at the back of the valve cover or other source could produce the same symptoms. You don’t need to be a mechanic to figure this out. If you have good eyesight and a dim flashlight, you’re good to go on your own. Don't jump on the RMS/oil pan gasket bandwagon right off the bat.

Almost any oil leak on your 4.0 is gonna drip from the RMS area for two simple reasons.
First off, the engine sits nose-up and any oil will run back to the RMS area. Secondly, the RMS area is also the lowest point on the engine. Simple physics and the old plumber's adage apply here. "$hit flows downhill".

Valve cover gasket, oil pressure sending unit, oil filter adapter seals and distributor gasket, in that order, have to be eliminated as possibilities first.
Revised 9-15-2012
 

Almost any oil leak on your 4.0 is gonna drip from the RMS area for two simple reasons...

Valve cover gasket, oil pressure sending unit, oil filter adapter seals and distributor gasket, in that order, have to be eliminated as possibilities first.

I'm glad you posted this. I'm noticing a lot of oil leaking on my XJ and it looked like rear main to me, from underneath. I will check the other places you mentioned though.
 
Well the RMS is bad. wasnt put in right from the guy I bought it from. What do I torque the bolts to on the rear main cap?

This might help (note specs listem MAY be specific to 1999)
For the rear main bearing cap it's 80ft lbs

Thou Shalt Not Post FSM Pages in Open Forum
 
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Ok thanks. Well fired it up this morning but waited to put oil in it and still leaking. And no its not leaking from the Valve cover oil filter or sending unit. That was the first thing I looked at at the very get go and ya. My last 92 xj with the 4.0 never leaked oil at all and my friends 90 xj doesnt leak either and everyone I know around me with them said theres never leak so not to sure whats going on.
 
Unfortunately, if it's still leaking then you didn't do something right. The very first time I did the seal change, I got impatient with the oil cover gasket. It didn't want to stay in place and I didn't want to wait to get some contact cement to make it happen. My impatience ended up being that the pan gasket didn't seat properly in the back. It leaked. Needless to say, three more seal jobs and no leaks and I learned another lesson.

If all your friends are saying they don't have leaks then I'm guessing they have some incredibly unique XJs and spend too much time with Tall Tail Tellers.
 
Well my old 92 xj that was all stock and has over 200k miles on it never leaked oil so I mean its a first hand thing with me. I had that jeep for 2 years and not one drop of oil and never touched anything on it besides the rear end because the C clips keep falling out but ya.
 
What year is the jeep you're working on? I know that the later xj's use a different seal and pan gasket than the older ones. The dealers were the only place I could find the seal and gasket when I did the rms on my '00.
 
Its a 92 just like my old one. But what is the chance of spinning the rear main bearing with it torqued to 100 pounds? A buddy told me thats what his are torqued too on his xj and he did his 3 years ago and no problems.
 
Do you have a link for a youtube video? I just really dont want to spin the bearing so I havent ran it since i replaced the seal. And I cant find anything on what I am asking on youtube
 
Nope. Only on the oil pan gasket but Because my buddy told me to torque the bolts for the rear main cap to 100 and there suppose to be at 80 I dont want to risk messing anything up.
 
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