oil leakage from trans bolt?

I'm taking my transmission out of my 89 5 speed 4.0.when I took one of the upper bellhousing bolts out the threaded hole in the back of the block started seeping engine oil.
W.T.F???Has this happened to anyone else?What would cause that....I'm stumped.While I'm on the subject,will someone tell me what size(and how many points) the top two bellhousing bolts are so I can go get the star head socket to get them out.Thanks

Well, that's not happened to me - I've not heard of it happening to anyone. Those holes should be "blind" - no communication with oil galleys at all... Are you sure you didn't have a "pool" of oil get into there? I'd check the hole with a bright light once I could get a good look into it.

As far as the upper bell bolts, they're going to want an E12 socket to remove. They're threaded 3/8"-16, so you can replace them with regular capscrews so you don't have to go through this again. Match up the underhead length for the new ones.

5-90

I assumed they were "blind" ,there should be no reason I have oil leaking out of there.

anyone else?is this something to be concerned about?

I can't really tell you anything until I know what you see in the hole. Lke I said, they're usually blind holes - if you have a valve cover gasket leak, it could pool oil in that area, and may cause something like that.

Until you get a look down the hole, I can't give you any more advice. I can't think of any reason for oil to be coming out from the bottom of the hole - I'm almost willing to be it dripped down from above.

Let me know if you find anything when you look - I don't have enough information to tell you anything else...

5-90

ok I feel stupid now...it wasn't leaking from the hole.

Don't feel too bad - we all do it every now and again...

What was it?

5-90

I recommend using studs on the upper holes. They will work as guides when mounting the tranny up.
Jeep on!
--Pete

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