Bad week for my XJ.

Well I heard that bad things happens in 3s. The starter went bad, oil is leaking from the rear main seal and coolant is leaking from the lower radiador hose.

Replaced the starter and forgot which bolt goes where since they're different and stripped the lower threads.:bawl:
Then replaced the lower radiator hose and still leaked coolant, so I put in a new water pump and thermostat, now I don't have heat.
I don't know how to approach the rear main seal, the service manual says to lower the front suspension and the chilton recommends to lift the engine either one don't mention removing the transmission cooling lines to access some of the bolts on the oil pan.

Also I changed the oil and filter and now oil is leaking thru the filter, looks like is comming from the adapter, maybe the seal broke.:flamemad:



Mike :hang:

I don't know if it can be the culprit, but did you swap the two hoses that go to the heater valve when you had the t-stat housing off? You just have to remove the two brackets that hold the cooling lines to the front corners of the pan-sometimes those brackets get stuck to the nut holding them on, so you have to use pliers to hold the brackets in place while you undo the nut. Usually you want to have the Jeep frame on jackstands and let the front axle droop--you might have to undo the end links of the sway bar. Others have had success unbolting the tranny from the x-member and jacking the tranny up a lil. I don't know if you still have the old oil filter around, but make sure the rubber seal is still on it and not stuck on the adapter. If it is the adapter leaking, you might need to get a t60 bit and the 3-piece seal kit for the adapter.

gradon said:

If it is the adapter leaking, you might need to get a t60 bit and the 3-piece seal kit for the adapter.

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as far as the oil filter neck leaking, i doubt o-rings just go out overnight.... UNLESS you messed w/ the o-rings.... OR you switched to a synthetic oil on a hi mileage motor.... double check the o-ring as gradon said though.... if its leaking from between the filter, and the neck, its most likely a left-over 0-ring from the old filter... is this the first oil change youve done?, or is this jeep new to you ? reason i ask, is because ive changed which oil filter my jeep takes, to use a larger filter... its conceiveable that the P.O. has done the same, but not X-out the oil filter label.... my engine WILL accept a stock filter, it'll screw on, and if your not ON-IT, you wont realize its slightly off....... off is off...

as far as the starter bolts stripped.... dude you gotta focus! this might cost you.... first thing, maybe find a chaser-tap, and try to chase the threads.... hopefully they arent really bad...

Fix the brokes tuff before you take anything else apart. Do the simple stuff first.
1.) starter
2.) coolant hose
3.) oil filter leak
Well, with no starter, the rest doesn't matter. So what's the gory details on the starter? Is it working now? Is it a 4.0?

You didn't put the hose on right when you did your stat, switch them around.. Like he said, cheap tap or tread chaser. Did you tighten your filter by hand or wrench?Did you make sure the seal is still on the old filter? Did you put a lite coat of oil on the seal of the filter? If you did all of these, remove the filter and snug the fitting up so it won't leak.. Now get to work so you can take it out to break it again, got to love a jeep

sounds to me like you may need a refresher in auto shop 101- no offense.

bleeding out the cooling system after repairs are made is crucial- look into that for starters.

Sorry for the late reply, and thanks for the suggestions. Starting with the coolant leak. When it started I changed the lower radiator hose making sure the clamps where secured to the mouth of the water pump and radiator. After about 2 months I notice a lot of coolant fluid under my jeep while seating for a whole day at the parking lot. So I changed the water pump. I managed to fix the lower threads on the bellhousing by retapping (spellcheck) the hole. Jeep is up and running now I havent tackle the oil pan yet. I guess I shouldn't have done to many things at the same time plus I was working 9pm to 5am shift that week.

Thanks,
Mike

It's hard enough to keep things straight with a normal work/sleep schedule. You should make a list to map out what and how you need to do things 'early' in your day. Don't start work on multiple systems; finish one at a time. Of course, some things are interconnected or obstructing access to others. This is where that little list comes in handy. Think it through and do the job in your head before you start unbolting things. Time spent staring is not necessarily time wasted.

Edit:
With the rampant mixing of metric and standard nuts and bolts on these things, you REALLY need to pay more attention to which goes where. Those little f-ups can cost you a lot of time and money!

xcm said:

as far as the oil filter neck leaking, i doubt o-rings just go out overnight.... UNLESS you messed w/ the o-rings.... OR you switched to a synthetic oil on a hi mileage motor.... double check the o-ring as gradon said though.... if its leaking from between the filter, and the neck, its most likely a left-over 0-ring from the old filter... is this the first oil change youve done?, or is this jeep new to you ? reason i ask, is because ive changed which oil filter my jeep takes, to use a larger filter... its conceiveable that the P.O. has done the same, but not X-out the oil filter label.... my engine WILL accept a stock filter, it'll screw on, and if your not ON-IT, you wont realize its slightly off....... off is off...

Click to expand...

I have this Jeep for 4 years and I've been changing oil and filter with no problems. I being using Penzoil regular motor oil and Fram filter, hand tight. Then I decided to switch to synthethic blend for high mileage vehicles and a Mobil filter, thats when I notice the oil leak from the neck.