oil leak from the front of the motor

[Ben824]

I checked underneath my 97 4.0L XJ and there is a good amount of fresh oil residue on the oil pan that seems to be originating at the front of the pan. My first thought was the oil pan gasket went back at the front of the motor. But I wasn't sure if there was a common oil leak point at the front of the motor other than the oil pan gasket? I checked the valve cover gasket and it is dry. Checked the head gasket and it doesn't appear to be leaking either and my Jeep is running pretty good. So is there anything else up front that could be leaking? The Jeep has 230,000 miles on it now with the original motor but I have had this Jeep for 10 years and since it had 75,000 miles and I have taken VERY good care of this thing especially staying on top of oil changes.

 

[weebur]

Based on what you said you probably have the original pan gasket on the engine. With that kind of mileage your gasket has probably shrunk a little bit. I would clean the whole area around the gasket with brake cleaner and compressed air or rags then tighten up the bolts, not too tight though, just till they're firm. Then drive it for a while and check again, if the leak is still there then you, if it bothers you, should replace the pan gasket with a one-piece rubber Felpro gasket. With the pan off check your RMS and consider replacing it. Your excellent maintenance is a testament as to what these engines are capable off.

 

[Ben824]

Well the RMS has been replaced twice so the oil pan gasket isn't original. First time it was replaced around 130,000 miles pretty common at that age from what I have see. Then I noticed last summer it was starting to leak again so this time I thought I would save myself the $500 that I had to spend the last time and do it myself. I usually can handle most repairs that aren't major internal work in any drivetrain part. But I had oil leaks again from the beginning after I made the repair. So I think I didn't do it very good and at the time it was my only vehicle as I was away at college so I HAD to get it done fast. So this time I am back home living with my parents, yes another college graduate living with his parents because he followed the rules of society and went to college and has been let down by the system with no job and broke, have a spare car I could drive while I take my time with it.

I just wanted to make sure there wasn't something else up front that would leak oil.

And yes this is one tough motor! I have taken very good care of it and made a few upgrades to get the most out of it. I have a cold air intake, 99+ intake manifold, Banks header (been through 8 of these cracked all of them, if I had to do it again I would get APN), Magniflow high flow cat, Flowmaster 50 series single in dual out muffler, Dodge Neon 703 injectors (gave me the biggest boost in mileage), Firepower coil, Champion Aluminum radiator, and finally Royal Purple in everything but the transmission. With all of that I can still pull off about 16.5 mpg on the highway turning 33x12.50r15 BFG KM2s on steel wheels which I think is impressive for a Jeep with 230,000 miles on it.

 

[my2monkeys]

Check the Front Main Seal or Timing Chain Cover Seal (same thing) behind the Harmonic Dampener Pulley.

Check HB for rubber seperation while your at it. They need replacing every couple 100,000mi. or so.

 

[tudorXJ5sp]

I saw a weird one recently. guy had had shops replace valve cover gasket, as well as oil pan, brought it to friends shop still leaking...

Cherokee came in with bad oil leak, the water pump pully had ground a hole into timing cover.

someone had replaced the water pump in the past, & I think pulley was set too deep, friend when he replaced cover, put washers "shims" under pulley to move it out from cover. still going strong, without leaking.

 

[2X_01_Jeeps]

Cherokee came in with bad oil leak, the water pump pully had ground a hole into timing cover.

The harmonic balancer also can do this trick and it's normally MUCH closer to the timing cover and if the rubber layer gets loose things can move a little to touch the cover.

Timing cover bolts on my 2.5l '84 loosened after about 10 years.
And I've found loose timing cover bolts on my 2001 when I did the water pump.

So check the timing case cover.