Nolaws
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Santa Clarita
I was traveling up a pretty steep lengthy grade in my 98 4x4 XJ Sport on the freeway today at about 70 mph for several minutes running just over 3000 rpm in 3rd up the hill because I have a lift and 31" tires. At the top of the grade the road flattened out a bit and I dropped it into drive. I drove for several miles when I noticed what I thought was dust blowing up behind me. As I continued down the road the cloud got a little bigger until I realized it was smoke!
I started moving to the side of the road and it was smoking really bad, at one point there was so much I started to worry it might be a fire. When I pulled over and got out I saw a pretty fair amount of oil dripping down from the drive train onto the exhaust and ground which was causing the smoke. I shut the motor off and continued for several minutes using a lot expletives. I sat for a few minutes and considered calling a tow truck to take it home until I figured out I was at least 50+ miles from there.
Not wanting to spend the $200+ for a stupid tow thinking I was going to fork out even more cash to fix the truck, I started looking at where the oil was leaking from. Because the whole drive train was dripping oil, I couldn't tell. I checked the oil and trans levels and both were full. Now I am wondering if there is another place the oil could have come from?
I started the car and began looking for a leak and couldn't find any other then an occasional drip from the stuff that had been oil soaked. I made a u-turn and began heading home being real careful watching all the gages stopping several times to check if it was dripping. I stopped at a car parts store and got a couple of cans of Gunk spray cleaner and took the car to the local spray wash center and tried to get all the oil off so I would have a better chance to see where the oil was leaking from and took the car home. Where is the best places to check for oil leaks on the 4.0 I6 and has anyone had anything happen similar to this? Now I am totally paranoid seeing as the motor has almost 250,000 miles on it even though I made it home with no problems. I even thought maybe one of the locals might have played a trick with a balloon filled with oil near the manifold or something but I am doubting it.
Any help would be appreciated,
Thank You,
Robert


I started the car and began looking for a leak and couldn't find any other then an occasional drip from the stuff that had been oil soaked. I made a u-turn and began heading home being real careful watching all the gages stopping several times to check if it was dripping. I stopped at a car parts store and got a couple of cans of Gunk spray cleaner and took the car to the local spray wash center and tried to get all the oil off so I would have a better chance to see where the oil was leaking from and took the car home. Where is the best places to check for oil leaks on the 4.0 I6 and has anyone had anything happen similar to this? Now I am totally paranoid seeing as the motor has almost 250,000 miles on it even though I made it home with no problems. I even thought maybe one of the locals might have played a trick with a balloon filled with oil near the manifold or something but I am doubting it.
Any help would be appreciated,
Thank You,
Robert
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