Need advice on changing out oil pan gasket and possibly rear main seal on '96 XJ 4.0

Any advice or tutorial links on changing out an oil pan gasket or RMS on my 4.0? Been watching all utube videos I can but could still use all the advice I can get. Whats the best gasket I can get for the job...Felpro?

Thanks

Personally I would get the rubber gasket from the dealer for the oil pan. The hardest part of the job will be getting all the old gasket off the block and pan.

Consider using thin copper wire because it is soft threaded in a couple of t/ bolt holes on your oil pan to hold t/ gasket in place. Then when you place t/ pan up to block hand thread in t/ bolts to secure it. Finish by pulling t/ wire out and torqueing all bolts to FSM specs. We went with a Victor Renz Reinz gasket but O.E. are great. Should you be able to read t/ English here possibly it will help. ciao.

FEL-PRO Perma Dry pans gaskets work fine. Use a dab of RTV silcone in the corners. Get them online or at Napa.
Best advice I can give is to pull the pan and let it sit overnight, or even better, for a couple days, allowing time for the oil to mostly stop dripping.
Oil dripping on your face and head is the worse part of the job.
Cover the floor under the engine with several layers of old cardboard.
Wear old clothes, they will get very oily.

Be careful not to scratch the main journal, use only plastic or brass tools to punch the old seal out. I use brass brazing rod.
Don't touch it with anything made of steel!

Rear main seal is pretty easy too. Just youtube jeep rear main seal and you'll get a couple videos. Use tons of dish soap makes it a lot easier. Fel Pro blue gaskets are awesome. Expensive but the weight makes it easier to install. I'm pretty sure you don't even need RTV but I still add some to the corners suggested on the videos.

I always use permadry. Prevents over torquing and seals up very nicely.

mechbullxj said:

Consider using thin copper wire because it is soft threaded in a couple of t/ bolt holes on your oil pan to hold t/ gasket in place. Then when you place t/ pan up to block hand thread in t/ bolts to secure it. Finish by pulling t/ wire out and torqueing all bolts to FSM specs. We went with a Victor Renz Reinz gasket but O.E. are great. Should you be able to read t/ English here possibly it will help. ciao.

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I really wish I had done this. I read all the suggestions to loosely tie the gasket in place and ended up not doing it. I used a little RTV on the corners as suggested and let dry a little and get tacky. It really seemed like that would have been enough to hold the gasket in place, it wasn't. Next time, I am used the thin copper wire or thread to hold it in place. The time it would have taken to tie even 1/3rd of the bolt holes would have been faster than dealing with the gasket shifting all over the place.

I also think I stripped the front 2 bolt holes so I ended up with a small leak there after all my touble :twak: .

Just got through this on my XJ. If you are doing the RMS make sure to invest in a decent set of brass punches that will fit securely into a 1/4" or 3/8" extension (or series of extensions). I personally wouldn't mess with changing the oil pump if its operating fine as others have said. Then you can stick that punch in the extension, and you'll have clearance to give it a few whacks with a hammer to pop that pesky upper RMS out.

Also, to eliminate any issues with the gasket (I went with the rubber Fel-Pro and have had no leaks for the month since I replaced it) use some of the skinny zip-ties to hold the gasket in place. Then, once you have a few bolts snugged up and the oil pan aligned, cut the zip ties and pull them out.

Do you have a 2000-01 XJ or earlier? If so, keep in mind the gasket is different and the way you apply the anaerobic sealant to the block differs than from earlier models (ask me how I know).